A fun music history fact that I love to think about, is that if it wasn’t for Pink Floyd concerts would not be the spectacle that they are today. Before Pink Floyd, bands were mostly just people performing with instruments on a stage. They were the band that took the idea of concert lighting and making it an aspect of the show. Bringing in stage dressing, themes, productions and truly making it a show. What they started all those years ago, other bands have latched onto that idea and implemented it to create their own unique stage shows. One band that is doing this better than most is Starset. Starset is a high concept band that isn’t just writing music but creating a story, lore, and a universe around the band. Because of this, they want to elevate their live shows to a full on production that takes fans out of a concert setting and brings them on a journey to the alternate world inhabited by Starset. Selling out the House of Blues in Anaheim, CA on the Immersion: The Final Chapter tour with no opener.

Starset likes to call their live shows Demonstrations, as they are revealing the truths behind their world. Stepping into the venue fans were greeted by a welcome screen sitting in the lobby of the House of Blues. This welcome screen projected a woman welcoming you to the facility on behalf of the New East. The New East being one of the mega corporations in Starset's world that is working to control the public. Before the band even went on stage, we were indoctrinated into a new world outside of our own.

Stepping into the actual concert space a white curtain draped across the stage. It was as if the revolutionaries were hiding their agenda before they finally had a moment to preach to the crowd. When the curtain finally dropped, we were faced with a double tier LCD wall screen. This screen was used to play short movie interludes between songs. These short movies helped to tell the story of the world. Talking about a biometric device implanted into the minds of the citizens called BMI. How tampering with the BMI or saying anything against the regime of the New East can land you in jail. And going on to show the first people that find a way to disable their BMI that leads to the potential freedom to come.

One of the most surreal aspects of this show was a giant LCD Fan apparatus setup right at the front of the stage. This apparatus held eight LCD fans, that when spinning at the appropriate RPM speed they will be able to display images just like a normal LCD screen across all eight fans. These fans also allowed for images to have more depth and a 3D aspect to them in a 2D plane. These fans were specifically displaying information from the resistance fighting against the New East. These were our James Bond/M5 moments of how we can help take down the establishment. With all of this stage dressing and production, this show could fill the stage of an arena, and Starset manages to pack it into a House of Blues stage. The only real downside to these fans was that the band was performing behind them. Though this is purposeful, as the band wants to become second to the overall show they are presenting. But if you are a person like me, who enjoys seeing the performers playing their instruments as well, it was difficult to see the band members.

Even though they can be hard to see at times, the band members are dressed in costumes. Almost as if the post-apocalyptic stylings of Mad Max had taken place in space. Cloaking the band members in armor and hiding their faces so they could not be tracked by the New East. Starset does encores differently as well, instead going into an Intermission. During this time, the LCD Fans were finally removed from the stage, and when the band came back to finish the show, they went through a costume change now looking more like a civilian. Blending into public to try and help us escape.

Walking into a Starset show is beyond anything you will experience at almost any other live event. The band carries lore behind them and story. They don’t exist to record an album, tour it, write new music, record a new album, rinse/repeat. They are trying to say something about society with their entire catalogue of music, and their stage show is the visual guide to what the meaning behind the music is. If we’re not careful, we can lose our autonomy as people and give too much of ourselves to technology. The human race has an innate freedom, and we should not give that up for anything. Take the time to enjoy life and be who you want to be. Though this tour is called Immersion: The Final Chapter, Starset is not done with their live Demonstrations, and they plan on going back into the studio soon. Will you help take up the charge against the New East next time they come to your town?