music: model/actriz concert (12/17/2023)

so i saw model/actriz last night at the metro in chicago, and holy hell was it worth it. they were so fucking good oh my god.

first act was a rapper named kipp stone, but we got there kinda late so we missed most of his set. it was good though. the metro itself is not the kind of venue i like, which to be clear is like venues in general. dark rooms with bars. not a fan. generally prefer house shows and that sort of thing because you can talk to people. also the crowd was older and had a kind of vibe where it felt like they were all like software developers, but also we were on the balcony instead of the pit so maybe it was different down there. anyways!

i can't remember the entire set but they started with donkey show, mosquito, amaranth, then they did liar from their ep no, maybe something else, crossing guard and slate, and then they ended with pure mode, which was awesome because i was gettign worried they weren't gonna play pure mode. they didn't play any slower songs whic would have been interesting, but the energy was so fucking high oh my god. i wish i had been in the pit!!!! cole was getting down in there and touching people and shit. also he was pointing out people he remembered from the previous show, which makes me want to see them again and meet the group of randos who are following them around. i would totally be a cole haden groupie. not even joking a little bit. sorry parasocial relationship whatever but that fucker is not reading this, so.

cole as a performer/vocalist irl is like if you have an idea of how gay the music is based on dogsbody, take that and turn it up 2000%. it was incredible. his voice is a little higher in person and he also screams a lot more. he does a lot of drag-esque burlesque moves and shakes his ass everywhere and such. good for you man. it's so fun to watch, especially when you contrast it with the very aggressive dialed-in intensity of the not-cole dudes (jack, aaron and ruben) going crazy ham on these brutal sucker-punchy noise instrumentals. like you have a guy going insane 100% on these wicked car crash sounding guitar lines, and then the vocalist is right next to him like "i am going to do my gay little dance moves" and this is very good.

another thing is that there were a bunch of people wearing nametags that said hello my name is daniel. at the end of crossing guard instead of "from passenger to passenger... to this guy... and this guy" he said "to daniel... and daniel... and daniel" and then he was pointing out all of the daniels. i looked up their social media and couldn't find them talking about it, so maybe i just have to go catch another show and ask someone. unfortunately looks like i can't make any in the near future which SUCKS.

oh also! it's just pronounced model actress and not model actreez, which is what i had been saying. oops. oh yeah and the armed were there. didn't really give a shit and thus left.

in conclusion, i love this fucking band and i hope we cross paths again!