REVIEW: Half Alive @ Brighton Music Hall 1/25

By Jarrad Levy

You probably don’t know who Half Alive are — but you will. Having only five songs released, one would wonder — rightfully so — how the band could run a full tour as the main act. After all, the show would be ridiculously short and be quite predictable given there would be such a small pool of songs to pull from. While the show was shorter than most concerts, Half Alive were able to keep their concert interesting, unpredictable, and, most importantly, fun, by playing the songs that have already become fan favorites, some unreleased songs, two covers, and lots of breathtaking and unique choreographed dance breaks.

The band opened with “The Fall,” a track about the love of writing and the fear of making mediocre art. Immediately, the band set themselves apart through their stage setup. The second the opening notes to the opener began playing, neon lights started firing around the stage with the stage lights shooting blue light to the ceiling, making the venue feel much more open and comfortable. Half Alive continued their set with “Awake at Night,” where they presented something quite unique in live music: choreographed dancing. This became a theme through the night, where two dancers would intermittently come on stage and dance with lead singer, Josh Taylor, in ways that seemed physically impossible. At times they would position themselves into completely inhuman shapes and find unexpected ways out of them. This original stage presence was striking and extremely refreshing to see.

Taylor followed with “Tip Toes” and then two unreleased songs, all still with the spectacular dancing. During “Tip Toes,” he took an extended break from the song during the bridge, wowed the crowd with his dancing, and went back into the song seamlessly. It was what I had been waiting to see him do all night, as it felt like a natural evolution of what he was doing on stage when he was beginning the dances at the end of each respective song.

Half Alive ended their main set with acoustic covers of Alicia Keys’ “If I Ain’t Got You” and Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud.” While this was a new side of the band to see, as they are more in the realm of synth-pop-rock, I would have rather seen more unreleased music by the band, as it felt like instead of giving the crowd a treat, they were scratching the bottom of the barrel to fill out a setlist that they could not even extend to an hour.

The band closed their set with their two latest releases, “arrow” and “still feel.” They were delightfully energetic during the encore, but once they left the stage I was left the feeling of “that’s it?” I was having so much fun during the show, but the concert felt cut short due to the fact that band has such little content released. It truly is upsetting, as if Half Alive had released a full album before this tour, the show would have been extended by at least half an hour, and leave me much more fulfilled with what I got. Granted, Half Alive was energetic, unique, entertaining, and most importantly played some really great music. Thus, although the show’s length was disappointing, any opportunity ti see them should be taken, as they are fantastic, and only scratching the surface of what they are capable of.