Article by Cale Easter // Photo by Stephanie Hahne
Blue lights fill the once dark room as a low hum emerges from the speakers surrounding the stage. The first member to enter was Andrew Fisher, wearing a Depeche Mode t-shirt. Andrew Fisher is the founding member and lead vocalist of Basement, formed in the English town Ipswich in 2009. Andrew is accompanied onto the stage by his brother James, the drummer; Ronan Crix, the lead guitarist; Alex Henery on rhythm guitar; and bassist Duncan Stewart. Basement began this tour on October 7th in Brooklyn and has 3 dates left after their stop in Chicago to play the House of Blues. They would bring along Hi-Vis, Big Boy, and Lowertown to support them. This tour coincides with the release of Wired, their fifth studio album that was released in May of this year. While their earlier EP’s were often called pop-punk, the band has come into their own with a sound reminiscent of emo and post-hardcore greats.
With Basement coming on well after 3 hours past doors opening, it could be expected that they would be greeted with a tired crowd from the incredible openers. This however was not the case, as the lull caused by the changing of the bands ceased as soon as the lights hit. Basement opened their set with 3 tracks off of their new album in quick succession before greeting the crowd with their name. They would transition from this introduction into their hit song “Covet,” which garnered the band a new, younger following after its success on platforms like Tik Tok. When Fisher leaned into the microphone to deliver the first words of the song, his voice was drowned out by a cacophony of fans singing along. With every flash of their strobe lights, the crowd seemed to grow louder, as if feeding off the immense energy erupting from the stage.
From this point on in the show, the view of the stage would become permanently obscured by a constant wave of crowd surfers, feet flailing in the air as they were guided towards the seven security guards posted in front of the stage. The band would keep its pace with a few more songs off their 2012 album Colourmeinkindness before shifting to the high octane singles off the new album. With 5 songs to go however, the vibe of the set shifted, as they went into more melodic, slower pieces. The crowd went from flying through the air to every eye in the venue glued to the stage, listening in solemn reverence to the beauty unfolding before them. Once they finished “Broken by Design” off of their new album, they thanked the crowd for coming out, announced that they had three songs left to play, and then turned the dial back to fast and loud as they played “Crickets Throw Their Voice” right into “Pine.” As they threw guitar pics and setlists into the crowd, covered in the light from the glowing eyes of the cat featured on Wired’s album cover, which towered over them all set, they were met with an onslaught of cheers from the crowd, still filled with energy and emotion over four hours after doors opened.
Basement will finish off this tour in the northeast, before heading on a European tour in 2027. Their newest album can be listened to wherever music is streamed.
