Better Lovers | Evvntly Blog.

Highly Irresponsible Tour

12/1/2024 at The Regent, Los Angeles, CA

The night kicked off with a killer lineup: Cloakroom from Indiana brought their sludgy shoegaze vibes, Spy from the Bay Area delivered relentless hardcore punk, and Full of Hell from Maryland unleashed their chaotic noise-grind fury. But the real destruction began when Better Lovers took the stage.

Better Lovers opened with “Lie Between the Lines,” the first track on the album. Starting off soft and low-key, the song lures you in before unleashing a tsunami of crunchy riffs.

Greg Puciato, ex-vocalist of The Dillinger Escape Plan, was a force of nature, delivering raw, guttural screams that hit like a freight train. The crowd erupted, rushing the stage as crowd surfers and stage divers flew left and right. You had to be there to believe it.

The guitar work from Jordan Buckley (Every Time I Die) and Will Putney (Fit For An Autopsy) was nothing short of mind-blowing. Their fast-paced, hard-hitting riffs came out of nowhere, a mix of technical and aggressive guitar work. Stephen Micciche’s distorted bass tone kept the sound grounded and menacing, while Clayton Holyoak (also from Every Time I Die) hammered away on drums driving the pace and giving the band their crushing backbone.

The setlist blended fan favorites with deep cuts. Highlights included “Sacrificial Participant,” which had the pit in a frenzy, and “Love as an Act of Rebellion,” a crowd-pleaser with a soaring chorus. The band also threw in a surprise cover of Soundgarden’s “Rusty Cage,” putting their own spin on the classic.

And then came the finale. Greg came out wielding a flaming torch, breathing fire to the awe of everyone in the room. Instead of an encore, they launched straight into “30 Under 13,” the song that started it all, melting faces and leaving the crowd begging for more. Back in April 2023, a friend had told me to check out their debut single, the same song that closed the show tonight. Those first two seconds back then hit my ears, shot straight into my amygdala, and unleashed a dopamine rush so intense that I knew this was my new favorite band. Seeing it performed live a year and a half later was surreal, the perfect climax to an unforgettable night.

If you haven’t seen Better Lovers live yet, you’re missing out. Luckily, they’ll be hitting the road again in April 2025, supporting Poison the Well on their North American tour. Don’t make the mistake of missing them twice.