A chilling winter night in St. Louis can be depressing as flurries fell from the sky… Unless you were at The Pageant on February 22. You hopped in one of the ever-lasting lines into the venue which is home to many local concert lovers as they revel with their favorite artists. Standing in thirty degree weather for forty-five minutes was totally worth it that Tuesday night…
As always, The Pageant stage was lit up with smoke surrounding the set that featured Palaye Royale’s flower aesthetic all over their instruments. The pit was full by 7:30, filled with fans of all ages awaiting their favorite artists. At exactly 8, the room went dark and was filled with anticipation as 20-year-old poutyface took the stage. Opening with her biggest hit which currently has over 5 million Spotify streams, “DEATHWISH” held the biggest energy at the beginning of the night. Performing tracks such as “Pretty Boy,” “HEY NEIGHBOR,” and “Fboys Anonymous,” poutyface incorporates rock, pop and hiphop. With heavy bass, upbeat grooves and quite the light show, poutyface will have you wanting to catch her headlining shows. Closing out her twenty-five minute set with unreleased track “Rag Doll,” she concluded her night gaining so much respect from the crowd. “This was our second show ever as a band, so thank you for showing up.”, poutyface shouted as the stage went dark.
The venue began filling up more during the sold out show as Palaye Royale took the stage at 8:40. Emerging from stage left (mostly) the ever so dramatic and fashion-art rock band took the stage as the crowd went wild. Repetitive guitars riffs from Sebastian Danzig and Andrew Berkley Martin echoed throughout the scene with “Nightmares”as the crowd awaited lead singer Remington Leith. Once Remington made his fashionably dramatic entrance, all members on stage perfectly synced together. Highlighting local alt-rock station 105.7 The Point was one of the first radio stations to play the band, Palaye Royale is always thrilled to play St. Louis. Traveling through their setlist with hits like “Hang On To Yourself”, “Fucking With My Head” and “You’ll Be Fine,” the ultimate crowd-favorite “Get Higher” kept fans soaring. Encouraging the crowd to jump freely and be embraced by the band, the captivating melodies had every single person ascending. New “recovering goth” bass queen Jennie Vee (former bassist with Courtney Love and current for Eagles Of Death Metal) blends in so perfectly, making her shine bright amongst the boys. “They’re so fun!”, one fan shouted. “Can I get a hell yeah? Can I get a fuck yeah? Can I get a St. Louis?”, Remington kept screaming into the crowd. “We’ve got a special treat for you… It’s a song called ‘Teenagers’ by My Chemical Romance!” Remington shouted as he sprinted across the stage. As Palaye flew through their set, they ended with one of their earliest hits “Mr. Doctor Man.” After soaring through the night by leaping into the crowd and jumping off amps, Remington leapt into his brother Emerson Barret’s drum set and stated, “We are Palaye Royale. Good night.” As Emerson has always been known for presenting mysterious vibes, he nonchalantly blew kisses to the crowd and threw drumsticks before knocking over a mic stand as he left the stage. “You guys have been fantastic. Thank you.”, Sebastian stated as he exited. What seemed like such a short set from a powerful band, the stage was silent once again as the crowd was left craving more.
House lights darkened at exactly 9:40 as the venue went silent for what seemed to be the longest five minutes. The curtain fell at 9:50 as Yungblud made his melodramatic appearance and welcomed fans to his show. Kicking off his set with “strawberry lipstick” and leading into “parents,” the twenty-four-year-ol artist was in awe within his first five minutes as he was positively overwhelmed with the response. But it was “I Love You, Will You Marry Me” where fans screamed the lyrics to him, which left him utterly shocked. Throughout his set, he performed essential tracks such as “weird!”, “fleabag”, “loner” and “kill somebody.” Yungblud’s last song before his encore was “I Think I’m OKAY” which features Machine-Gun Kelly and Travis Barker. The crowd was producing their highest energy during the track as the stage went dark yet again. Yungblud’s encore featured “braindead!”, “god save me, but don’t drown me out” and “Machine Gun (F**k the NRA).” Before his final track was performed, Yungblud utilized his time to embrace his supporters surrounding him by expressing his love for them. As “Machine Gun” began, the crowd soared to new heights as the track quickly encouraged everyone to act insane. In the middle of the song Yungblud encouraged everyone to go as mental as they possibly could stating, “If you wanna come get in the pit, come get in.” He invited everyone who was adventurous and ecstatic enough to join his pit as the night ended on the highest level possible. After his last track was performed, Yungblud checked to make sure every person who moshed was safe and doing well. You could see it in his eyes he genuinely looked at every single person in front of him and how loyal he is to fans.
What seemed like a night that would last forever eventually came to a close with such magic from each artist. Each person who experienced any show during the “Life On Mars” Tour was encouraged to feel internally accepted from each artist as all three acts blended together as one in that sense.
