Earlier this year it was announced that Anberlin would be disbanding after recording their seventh and final studio album and embarking upon one final tour. Somehow I completely missed this band during their heyday, but I’m glad that I got to see them live before they call it quits. The show last week at the Regency Ballroom was beyond capacity and seemed to be a fitting way to close out an impressive 12 year run with 7 albums selling more than 400,000 records along the way.
These guys should have been on my radar though, as guitarist Christian McAlhaney was previously in the Columbia Records band Acceptance and released the brilliant but terribly under-celebrated masterpiece Phantoms back in 2005. Acceptance was another one of those bands that was “supposed to be a breakout,” but the major label system destroyed any chance of that happening, so I am thrilled to see McAlhaney found a home with Anberlin. After this final tour I would expect him to eventually do something equally as brilliant.
Even though I didn’t recognize many of the songs that night, the fans were going absolutely crazy over these guys. This band has some incredibly dedicated fans and the entire crowd was hanging on every last note as Anberlin played their swan song for the Bay Area.
The band’s set weighed heavily on their two biggest albums, Never Take Friendship Personal and Cities. The most baffling thing that night though is the band’s choice to completely exclude any selections from their final album 2014’s Lowburn during their 22-song set.
San Luis Obispo based band Lakes, opened up the show and treated the capacity crowd to a selection of songs from their latest album Fire Ahead.
