Bush w/ Starcrawler• February 3, 2023• The Complex
Reviewed and Photographed by Josilyn Wakkuri Lybbert
On Friday, February 3rd, Bush, accompanied by Starcrawler, brought their tour to Salt Lake City! Excited concerts goers made their way to The Complex, ready for a night of rock and grunge music! I got there about thirty minutes prior to the start of the show. Fans ranging from teenagers and up piled into the Rockwell room in the venue. The merchandise table had a noticeably long line!
Starcrawler
Formed in 2015, Starcrawler, a rock band from Los Angeles, CA, was the first act of the night. Consisting of members Arrow de Wilde, Henri Cash, Tim Franco, Seth Carolina, and Bill Cas, they all took the stage with more energy than I could ever dream of having! I stayed in awe of that the entire performance! The lead singer, Arrow, had her head banging skills down! She impressively whipped her long hair throughout the entire set, not missing a beat once! Bill Cash also joined in and matched that energy for some of the set. They were a lot of fun to watch!
Their music reminded me of a lot of rock music I’ve heard from the early 2000s. I would’ve never guessed that they had only started in 2015! Some people seemed to know the words to their songs from the get-go. They were clearly excited to be there and see Starcrawler! As the set went on, more and more people joined in that enthusiasm. Soon most, if not all, of the crowd were jumping, clapping, and dancing along with the band!
The lights for their set glowed various versions of pink, purple, red, and green. They really enhanced moments throughout their performance! At certain moments, the lights would portray the band almost solely as silhouettes. While at other times they were all lit up! A lot of times it seems like support bands’ lighting doesn’t have as much personalization as the headliner. But theirs were a great addition!
Starcrawler played for around forty-five minutes and captured everyone’s attention the whole time! As they closed out their time, some band members exited the stage by jumping off the front of it and giving high fives! One person even got to play one of the band member’s guitars while he exited. He then proceeded to drink someone in the crowd’s drink!
When I first arrived at the venue, I noticed that the venue was about half full. By the time the opener was over, the crowd had grown substantially in the forty-five minutes since the set started! And by the time my photo duties were done for Bush, it was almost impossible to try to make my way out of the area I was photographing from! People packed the house for Bush!
BUSH
The London-born band, Bush, which began in 1992 included members Gavin Rossdale, Chris Traynor, Corey Britz, and Nik Hughes. As they all took the stage, the brightest, most powerful white and red strobe lights I’ve yet to experience at a show began to flash! It created an epic entrance for the band as people caught views of each of the members in a few quick flashes. Then they all glowed red and the show kicked off! It was apparent they were so happy to be there and ready to provide some great entertainment for the remainder of the evening!
I immediately noticed that the lead singer, Gavin, had such a spring in his step. Really, I swear that he never stopped bouncing and jumping around on stage! Again, incredible energy that I wish I could emulate! The rest of the band initially seemed more mellow in comparison to Gavin, until they weren’t! In their own way and at their own times, they had energetic bursts. It was fun to see each of their personalities present themselves through their stage presence. Each member of the band was very interactive with the audience, and the crowd loved that! They would walk to the edge of the stage at different times and sing or acknowledge individual fans, which is always so fun to see!
Gavin even went down to the barricade and the audience surrounding him was so thrilled! He also thanked the crowd for coming out to show, especially since it was cold. At one point, the band asked for the doors to be closed that had been left open since it was so cold outside. He said that they had been to Salt Lake City a few times before and were happy to be back!
As the night continued, the excitement and energy in the venue grew and grew! When the band clapped, the audience followed. People were dancing and jumping, and taking full advantage of the fun night Bush was providing! The strobe lights continued to flash adding to the thriving atmosphere. I could tell that Gavin had a powerful voice that suited his songs well! However, I, along with others noticed that the sound was so loud it was hard to make out the words that were being sung. Even so, the musicality came through clearly and left no room to doubt their talent!
During the song, “1000 Years,” it seemed like a portion of the crowd took the time to use the restroom or grab a drink during the slower song, while the large number that was still in the room seemed moved by the song. People quickly came back in time to catch the song, “Heavy Is The Ocean,” during which the room was filled with gorgeous blue and green lights that were fitting to the song! The crowd was particularly excited for the song, “The Little Things.” They cheered so loud when they announced that it was the next song! Then Bush left and returned for an encore, which included one of their most well-known songs, “Glycerine.” Fans loved every minute of the encore and took full advantage to enjoy the last few songs!
Bush and Starcrawler both provided an evening filled with incredible talent and showmanship! There was no doubt that the crowd had the time of their lives dancing and singing to such upbeat, high-energy music! I think I can speak for all in attendance that we look forward to both bands returning in the future!