“But what do I do when I’m lonely…what do I do when I’m lost?”
Under hazy stage lights, the last words of Josh Taylor’s spoken word poem linger. A pause stills the audience. The Half Alive lead singer shifts on the stage box and adjusts his microphone grip to announce, “I’d like to play a song for us now.” Cheers from the crowd. He jokes, “I know I’ve been playing songs this whole time, so it’s not like it’s that special.” An audience member retorts: “It is special!”
Long Beach’s Half Alive — at their Oct. 18 House of Blues Anaheim concert — turned a setlist into a story, entertaining their audience with confessional music and energetic performance.
Singer Taylor, drummer Brett Kraemer, and bassist J. Tyler Johnson gained fame from their 2018 viral hit “still feel,” finding a faithful audience for their floaty, poetic alternative pop.
Since their first three-song EP, 2017’s 3, success has manifested in three tours and sold-out shows. And the ambition of their shows grows that success: concerts implement diverse lighting; set lists lengthened to accommodate their expanding discography; contemporary dance elements and mixed-medium visuals.
The House of Blues concert delivered that ambition and demonstrated the band’s creativity to an audience who still believes that yes, Half Alive is important.
From the start of the show, Half Alive’s visuals set them apart from other indie outfits. During their opening song “Tip Toes,” from their 2017 EP 3, a white tarp was held across the stage and backlit, creating silhouettes of the trio, with shadows of Taylor holding a microphone and Kraemer’s drum set in sharp focus.
The light remained a harsh white during the chaotic, sharp energy of “Tip Toes,” but turned soft at the edges with dreamy pinks, yellows, and purples merging to reflect the vulnerability of their next song, “The Fall.”
When the tarp finally fell, fans screamed the melancholy lyrics and jumped in unison to strobe lights while the three now-visible band members closed the second song with the lyrics “Take my voice, I’m giving it though / I don’t feel safe at all.”
After an enthusiastic greeting — “Welcome to the hometown show!” — Half Alive jumped into tracks from their newest album, 2022’s Conditions of a Punk, starting with the feel-good song “Summerland.” For a local fan project, the audience held up paper hearts as peach-hued stage lights illuminated Taylor’s smile, which remained through the melodic tracks “Brighton” and “High Up.”
At this point, fans and band were in total sync. Choruses were empathetically sung, verses conveying hope and wistfulness echoed by the crowd. During “Move Me,” royal blue stage lights illuminated the audience’s hands, which rose and fell like waves. The bridge — “Light my fire and burn the trees / No, I won’t get tired when I can’t breathe” — exploded from the stage, Taylor’s anguished singing punctuated by a jumping crowd.
The performance of “Everything Machine” differed sonically from the rest of the tech-focused, indie-pop track list, with lower, drawn-out vocals by Taylor layered over Johnson’s bass guitar. Kraemer’s cymbal-heavy drumming reached a crescendo at the chorus — “I could be your world, every single dream / I’ll be your everything machine” — while blinding stage lights flashed. Then a pause, as instruments fell away into silence. Johnson returned with a thumping bass line while Taylor finished the last verse to a stunned audience.
Taylor then took a seat on a stage block and performed a spoken word poem to Johnson’s piano. The audience fell into an attentive hush and as Taylor’s prose segued into a medley of songs from Half Alive’s 2019 debut album, Now, Not Yet. They traded the high-energy electronics of Conditions of a Punk for soft lights as the musicians sat at the lip of the stage with their instruments. The three of them performing with a stripped-down production evoked memories of their earliest releases.
Half Alive’s music has always stood out for being passionately introspective, but productions like “Beige” and “Hot Tea” moved the crowd to wave their phone lights in rhythm with Johnson’s ambient guitar licks. Longing permeated the tracks, emotion visible on Taylor’s face — a creased brow illuminated by purple stage lights.
The title song off Conditions of a Punk elicited singing from the crowd and more smiles from Taylor.
The sentimental “Creature” closed the show with a crescendo and reverberating note, leaving the dazed crowd silent for a moment before erupting into cheers.
The live production added a new dimension to already beloved tracks. Taylor’s vocals were rawer and more fluctuating than ever, and the bass and drums resonated far more live than they do digitally. The emotional choruses and heavy bridges hit harder when accompanied by the band member’s contemporary dancing.
At the House of Blues that night, Half Alive was fully alive, delivering a memorable performance of impassioned vocals and rousing instrumentals.