FoCo Faves Raid Craft Store

How Denver-based Gestalt is gaining a pretty legit fanbase in the northern Colorado region

Vocalist Zane Deluccie (right) and guitarist Cooper Dickerson (left) blend well together on an instrumental breakdown in Gestalt's 'Parking Lot.'

Hello and welcome back to the new (and sort of improved) Baggage Claim! The past few weeks away from school and work was a break both well-deserved and well-overdue, in my opinion. I hope you all had a great time spent with people that love and support you, because we're all going for that positive 2020 vision, baby.

But now we are back in business. With a new year comes new opportunities! New cats onstage, new shows and never-before-seen venues that I could only dream of.

There's no better way to celebrate the new year than by spending hundreds on new camera equipment, and that's exactly what I did. And "coincidentally", a killer line-up involving one of my favorite local bands, Gestalt, was just days away -- and you and I both know I HAD to do a review on it. So here we are.

Surprised? I thought not.

Anyways, the first thing I have to bring up about this show is that is was in a mysterious refurbishing/craft store in Fort Collins called Blast N Scrap (a.k.a. Who Gives A SCRAP). You heard me. They had a wall of old doors to block off the craft products (I guess?) and everything. The stage was tucked in the back, complete with tables and buckets of markers to color. You honestly never think about how much you want to draw and color until you're 20 and unexpectedly presented with both. The coloring station was so out of the blue -- almost like it was a glitch in the matrix -- that I wanted to do it even more? Regardless, I loved it. It was a new kind of craft store + after-hour mosh fest, and it was the perfect setting for this lineup.

Texas-based band Piss Poor -- experts at creating mosh pits and currently on tour!

In all honesty, I came to the concert only knowing Gestalt and their music. Yet, the bands beforehand really blew me out of the water. Listening to new music is always a trip, especially when the first time is live.

The first up was the Cagemates trio, featuring former Gestalt bassist David Maestas on the drums. Then the stage moved to ground-level as Piss Poor performed, practically throwing elbows WITH the audience. Their energy was probably the most unmatched out of the new bands I saw that night. Compared to Cagemates and Gestalt, Piss Poor was a lot heavier and worthy of the elbow-throwing. I have never heard so much noise come from four people. I'm 99.9% sure I heard, "This is for my high school principal: F*ck you!"somewhere during their set. And honestly? Same.

Lead singer of Moon Phase taking the spotlight towards the end of their set.

Next came Moon Phase, another Texas-based band that is currently on tour. I didn't get a chance to talk to any of the band members, but I heard that they've been around in northern Colorado a couple times -- as well as performed with Gestalt on more than one occasion. The guitars for this band particularly gave me the chills, they meshed so well together. They had a complementing weighted beat between the drums and bass with some rainy day ballad highlights from the dual guitars. They had a great stage presence and kept the audience on their toes.

Piss Poor, Cagemates and Moon Phase actually played again together the following night -- last Friday -- at the Seventh Circle in Denver. Currently, Piss Poor is back in Austin, TX for a show TONIGHT 1/15/20! What are the odds. (If Piss Poor reads this, I just followed you guys -- cool page.) Moon Phase is also reportedly back in Texas, continuing the tour back home.

The next to perform was Trash Fest, a band from Fort Collins, CO. This was my first time hearing them as they took the stage with strong, electrifying energy -- both in the meta and literal sense. They had energy, all right. So much righteous energy that they practically lit not one but TWO amps on fire! They're set got cut a little short, but I was no less surprised by their performance. That's the rock n roll lifestyle, baby.

Now, for the moment of truth. The final band was Gestalt -- a band that will undoubtedly always put on a spectacular show. This was my fifth time seeing them live, so I feel I can confidently say that they're getting better and better every time. I came expecting the classic Gestalt show: These four talented guys perform some high-energy, catchy ass songs and absolute chaos ensues in the audience for the entire set. And, by God, did they deliver. (Unfortunately, it seems I totally disregarded my need to film and stood directly in front of the speakers. I tried to fix the audio, but it's far from saving -- so if you don't want your ears to bleed, turn the volume down a smidge.)

Here's a clip of The Vape Song -- a favorite of mine from the band -- featuring the absolute mess that became the center of the audience. THIS DROP GIVES ME CHILLS EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

I think this shows just how reciprocal Gestalt shows are. It's like the band absorbs the audience's energy and dishes it back out, building it up from every opening chord to screaming finale. The attitude and energy is infectious. The only thing stopping me from impulsively jumping in that crowd was my dear camera, which is probably for the best. 130 lbs soaking wet doesn't do well with being flung around. Plus, it obviously helps that their songs are characteristically rockin' with a flavor dash of harmonious Gen-Z angst -- and therefore right up my alley in terms of taste. So hell yeah, you could say I was excited to see them again live.

As you've already noticed, I have A LOT more photos for this show than I did for my Jack Harlow review. First, I would have never been able to lug my camera into a Harlow show -- let's just set that record straight now. I'm not at that level (yet ;) ). BUT, I thought this smaller scale concert for Gestalt would be a great opportunity to test my luck at concert photography for, well, this blog. Obviously, I still have a long way to go in terms of equipment and experience, but I would say that my first time definitely could have gone a lot worse! Lightroom has honestly been a bitch to get a hang of, but it has worked wonders on the quality of these photos -- so I highly recommend that application to anyone getting in the photo biz. Check out more of my photos below! (Some of them just have cool colors that I wanted to play around with and no focus whatsoever, so be gentle.)

So, needless to say, the show was awesome and a great way to start off 2020. I'm really excited to not only start a new year but a new DECADE of sick shows, awesome interviews and now my own concert photography system for you guys. PLUS, I got a few more secret things in the works for 2020 that I can't wait for you all to see. So stay tuned!!!