LIVE(STREAM) REVIEW: Silverstein @ Out Of This World – Acoustic & Unplugged

All is well. Our intrepid heroes (aka post-hardcore legends SILVERSTEIN) have seemingly escaped the clutches of the alien race that, last we saw, forced them to play Discovering The Waterfront front to back last week in their perfect simulation of the band’s rehearsal space. This week, they’ve woken up in a field of alpacas and stumbled back to their original practice space for one last stream: a night of acoustic deep cuts. Or have they? That’s the mystery that pervade this final night of the band’s ambitious streaming series, and this night, perhaps more so than the first two, is certainly everything a die hard SILVERSTEIN fan could want.

The mood is entirely different from the very start of night three, with warm, rustic lighting replacing the harsh blues and whites of nights previous. This feels like a very intimate gathering, almost like a wedding band playing in a homespun barn. But the setlist is full of interesting surprises and deep cut after deep cut from the band’s discography. The first three tracks, Still Dreaming, a cut from the middle of 2007’s Arrivals and Departures, Where Are You from the band’s newest record A Beautiful Place To Drown, and one of the highlights of the evening, Replace You pulled from the band’s Transitions EP, all set a lush and sweet mood, with the latter track really pulling no punches with its beautiful melody that swoons like a country song, backed by a dreamy violin and backing vocals from all sides.

The vocals really get a chance to stand out in this show, with lead vocalist Shane Told really on full display one each track. Tracks played like Red Light Pledge show how melodic and powerful he really is as a singer, especially when the fullness of electric instruments are stripped away. It’s the heartbreak of the song and the pain in his voice that pulls like a magnet. But that’s not to say the instruments are slouches tonight. The guitars sound crisp and clean and mixed very well. And the sheer diversity of textures used also is highlighted on a deeper level on this third night. Cello, violin, and unique keyboard and synth tones are highlighted in songs like Aquamarine, another of the highlights of the evening with its melancholic hooks that, although they harken from 2017’s Dead Reflection, sound like a perfect recapture of the band’s prime use of hooks back at their height; an always an encouraging sign for a band that’s pushing 20 years together.

And that’s the real triumph of these three nights, especially this third night. Each of these songs sounds fresh, particularly when played acoustically. Songs like Arrivals and Departures from 2012’s This Is How The Wind Shifts are played as a duet between Told and guitarist/vocalist Paul-Marc Rousseau, and it adds a whole new dimension not heard before. The band also, for the first time in the three nights, dips into their Short Songs album, which only includes songs that are 90 seconds or less. Still, they present the care that the band puts into their songcraft, as tracks like One Last Dance and Sleep Around are tiny little gut punches of hooks that leave a mark just as much as the other tracks.

Surprise is another word of the day on night three, as SILVERSTEIN busts out tracks tailor made for fans of the band from day one. True Romance is a track that actually gets a bit more electric than most here, but it’s a welcome rarity that visibly incites passion from the band. California is another underknown and underappreciated track that the band absolutely crushes, bathed in the warmth of the lights and the resonant glow of the guitars.

The other surprise is the story of this final chapter. The band begins to get suspicious that they really didn’t make it back home, and sure enough, in a plot twist, SILVERSTEIN truly has never left their simulation and their disappearance is being investigated by two detectives who suspect something paranormal is afoot. But by the time the band plays their final song, the gorgeous and sentimental Toronto off of I Am Alive In Everything I Touch, they never seem to return home, as all that remains of them in the real world is a guitar hanging from a grove of wrecked trees. Will they ever make it home? That appears to be a tale for another stream. But with the last notes of the aching closing track building to an electric crescendo and the final thank yous from the band, the gravity of how hard they have worked and the effort they applied to tell a fun and engaging story while providing three nights of passionate performances of three different musical themes just becomes readily apparent.

This is a band that has provided its fans with three amazing nights of content that is filmed and mixed beautifully and adds that dash of humour to round it out. Any fan of the band certainly should be glad to have seen it, but it’s another step forward in what the streaming medium can be used for, and that a little theatre brings it that much closer to an actual live show experience. Bravo, SILVERSTEIN. Time to take a bow, if you ever make it out of that spaceship that is.

Rating: 8/10