Breakthrough Even – FIRST CONCERT EVER

In this First Concert Ever segment, the post-hardcore band, Breakthrough Even, talks about the stories of their first experiences with live music. You can check out the story, after the break.

The first-ever concert we went to was back in 2008 when one of our favorite bands, Dream Theater, was on their “Progressive Nation” tour. The whole package consisted of Opeth, 3, and Between the Buried and Me, with Dream Theater headlining. At the time, we had no idea what to expect. Being massive fans of DT as well as Opeth, we were just stoked that they were coming to our city and playing at one of Atlanta’s coolest venues (The Tabernacle) and that we would actually be able to see these incredible musicians in person, right in front of us. I remember we spent several days prior just jamming all of our favorite songs and excitedly discussing what the setlist would be like!

When we finally made it inside of the venue, we were just in awe of the atmosphere. The place was packed and you could feel how incredibly stoked everyone was. Thinking back, it probably wasn’t all that difficult to look at us and tell that it was the first show we’d ever been to. We really had no idea how to act and we kept to ourselves so that probably made us terrible audience members, but at the time we were 1000% focused on the fact that we were witnessing performances from people we considered to be musical heroes. We didn’t care about anything else.

One of the interesting things about this concert is that it gave us a lot of perspective about what a show can look like. All of the bands that were on the bill played this super intense progressive music, but they had very distinct visual identities as well, and I think on a subconscious level it helped us understand just how important that can be when it comes to how your music impacts an audience. Being the headlining band, Dream Theater had a full-on stage production with a synced light show and everything, and it absolutely blew our minds. It made the music feel larger than life and it felt like every moment would stick with you forever. Between the Buried and Me was a highlight here as well. Their stage presence was absolutely insane and you’d forget that these are just normal dudes who happen to love creating music. This was actually the show that made us fans of that band and we had their album ‘Colors’ on repeat for weeks afterward.

Unfortunately, the night ended eventually and it was the sort of thing that was very bittersweet. I don’t think six hours have ever gone by so quickly! We got back home and the show was all we could talk about for days afterward. It was definitely something that solidified not only our love of the music we were into at the time but just music as a whole and the kind of experience it can be. I don’t think we’ve been the same since. We’ll never forget it!

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