CHICAGO, November 26th 2023

Dallas alternative metal band Narrow Head took Chicago's Concord Music Hall on Sunday night, in support for legendary Toledo, OH band Citizen on their Calling The Dogs tour. With their latest album Moments Of Clarity released back in February, followed by a headlining Spring tour across the U.S, The Texas quintet was more than prepared to rock the stage and bring the heat to Illinois on the last night of their opening run.

I was fortunate enough to catch them on that headlining tour back in May of this year, at Chicago's very own Lincoln Hall, on a sold-out show to over 500 people. Even though they played to a room about double the size of that on this Citizen tour, it's safe to say they didn't let the venue capacity deter them from playing the show like that no-barrier show at Lincoln Hall. Crowd surfers constantly poured over the barricade, and people moshed in the dead center of the audience, poking fun at the "sleepyheads at the front of the barrier". Lead vocalist Jacob Duarte even threw himself into the crowd during the song "Gearhead".

The band's setlist consisted mostly of songs from Moments Of Clarity, with a strong three track run of hard hitting songs "Sunday", "The Real", and the eponymous track "Moments Of Clarity", however they made sure to tack on a few fan-favorites, such as "Cool In Motion" later on in the set, and the crowd responded as expected. I could feel the floor beneath me shake violently to the rhythm of hundreds of fans jumping up and down.

Narrow Head, being an outfit made primarily from people that are all involved with the hardcore scene at some point, never fail to capture that impassioned, raw energy while still sounding far from a hardcore band. The guitars sound muddy and loud, the drums are hard-hitting, and they never shy away from throwing in some brutal screams onto some of their tracks – all while being able to lean into slower, groovy, more palatable songs. That is a combo that isn't exactly easy to create, however Narrow Head is able to combine all these influences with ease, and the live show is no different.

With this mixed bill of them, Modern Color, and Citizen, they we're able to bring even more variety to this incredible lineup on Sunday night, giving Citizen fans a proper warm up before their last hurrah on this tour.