Photo Galleries in this article: The Midnight, New Constellations
The Midnight is out on their Time Machines tour in support of their newest release “SYNDICATE”, with them is Portland based duo New Constellations. It was a night of throwback vibes, like stepping back in a time machine. The Crystal Ballroom was flooded with neon pink and blue lights for most of the evening, with synths echoing throughout the venue, as if it were a club in the 1980s. The audience danced around, singing along to every song throughout the night.
New Constellations opened the evening to a warm welcome from their hometown. New Constellations is the duo of Harlee Case and Josh Smith, lifelong friends who mentioned they had been playing together for just under 10 years. They were excited to be releasing their debut album, “It Comes in Waves” later this month. Case provides dreamy vocals and fills in the duty on the synthesizer while Smith provides entrancing guitars.
New Constellations
The venue went dark, with a slow strobing blue light filling the stage on the beats of the opening song Sanctuary as the band took the stage. The crowd erupted as vocalist Tyler Lyle appeared drenched in blue lights and the music transitioned into Love Is an Ocean. Love Is an Ocean builds up like a wave, then a soothing jazz sax rings out from saxophonist Justin Klunk. The band continued flowing between the next couple of songs Friction and Gloria, before taking a moment to thank the crowd for coming out.
The party felt it truly started after the first notes of the 4th song of the night, Lost Boy started to play. The crowd nearly drowned out Lyle’s voice as they sang along with the chorus of the song; the whole floor was moving as people danced along to the beats. In a venue like Crystal Ballroom — known for its unique floating floors, you feel the springs move the floor up and down as people danced. This would continue throughout the night as Lyle welcomed the audience to participate in all the songs. As a special treat to the audience, Lyle welcomed back to the stage New Constellations’ Harlee Case to join in on vocals for the song Jason. The crowd ate up the duo’s pairing as they traded off throughout the verses.
There were many highlights to the night; it felt like we were in an infinite energy loop as the crowd fed The Midnight with our singing and dancing, which in turn fed the audience from the performances we were witnessing on stage. Every solo, whether sax, guitar, or keytar the band put the music front and center and the crowd would erupt with excitement. During a break in the music, Tyler Lyle took a moment to introduce us to his band and speak to the audience about how magical music is and can be. Asking the audience to all shout on the count of three, any song that changed their life, a loud but inaudible roar could be heard by hundreds of songs being yelled to the stage.
One major highlight of mine was just before the finish of the night, Justin Klunk took his saxophone out through the crowd, playing amongst the fans during the song Vampires. You could see the excitement on the fans faces has he was guided by a flashlight, weaving in and out of the audience. He eventually ended up high above the floor on the Crystal Ballroom’s balcony at the back of the venue, leaning over the railing with his sax, and he played just a jaw-dropping solo.
The band finished out their set with an encore with the songs The Summer is Ending Soon and Sunset, Lyle once again brought out both members New Constellations to dance with the band as the crowd was still just as electric as they were a couple of hours earlier. As the night came to an end, The Midnight could have played another hour of music and the crowd would still not be tired and would be wanting more. This is one of the most energetic crowds that I have experienced at a show in a long time.
The Midnight
The Midnight’s latest album “Syndicate” is now available to stream on all major platforms with a deluxe version being released on May 15th. The Time Machine Tour wraps up on May 15th at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. The full list of dates as they are available can be found on the band’s website.
