Show Me the Body at The Royale, 9/24
The first time I saw Show Me the Body live was in August of 2022, in my hometown of Reno, Nevada. It was one of the best hardcore shows I have ever been to. The crowd was lively, the band was electric, and the openers were all great. I went into the show blind, just knowing that a lot of my friends liked their music and expecting a hardcore show. However, by the end of the show I was quite impressed and still think of it to this day as one of the best shows I ever went to in Reno. Afterwards, I listened to them and found a discography wildly different from the performance I remembered. It was offbeat and blithe, merging hardcore and hip-hop with ease.
Coming from the West Coast, the Boston music scene has been somewhat of a series of disappointments. After living here for a year and exploring the different venues and local scenes, I concluded that the Boston Hardcore scene was vastly different from what I was exposed to in high school: you really had to search for it. There are a few venues that host local hardcore shows, as well as larger venues, like the Royale, which accommodate touring bands. Naturally, whenever a good band I know tours through Boston, I make it a point to see them. For Show Me The Body, I was excited to see how the show would compare to the one I saw 2 years ago.
In Reno, I spent a lot of time at a small music venue called The Holland Project. They put on shows nearly every weekend and always accommodated touring bands that weren’t going to fill stadiums or larger venues, such as Show Me The Body. This is why I was surprised to see that SMTB would be playing at The Royale in Boston, a 1,220 capacity venue that includes a separate balcony section and a bar. As I expected, it was not a full house on a Tuesday night in September. The crowd was excited to be there, but unfortunately, only half the floor was filled, including the large space left open for the pit. Besides this small critique, the other aspects of the show were great. In between every set, a DJ would come on stage, keeping things interesting and the crowd engaged. There were three openers, not counting the DJ. The first and last band before SMTB were more in the vein of traditional hardcore, while the middle was somewhat of an experimental rap group—not my cup of tea if I'm being honest. This mix of openers, however, directly reflects SMTB’s musical profile. Their newest album and performance on Tuesday was certainly Death Grips-esque: blending hardcore with hip hop for a raunchy, aggressive and energetic vibe. I would certainly recommend listening to SMTB. Their newest album CORPUS II and 2022’s Trouble The Water are my favorites, and 2019’s Dog Whistle has some solid songs. However, without seeing them live, I argue that you can’t fully appreciate them.
This fact can be evidenced by my plus one who came along to the show. He had never heard of Show Me the Body before I mentioned it. I forced him to listen to some of their top songs before the concert, and he claimed that he “wasn’t crazy about it.” Come Tuesday night, however, by the end of their set, he was grateful that I had brought him to the show, agreeing that they had lived up to the hype, and even wanting to listen to more hardcore music afterwards. The lead vocalist was constantly making funny faces and occasionally whipping out his banjo, which, combined with the guitar, drums, and raunchy vocals made for a great sound. There were also some exciting moments of interaction between the fans and band, like when a super fan who happened to have a SMTB tattoo right across his forehead, did an amazing mic grab, as well as the occasional crowd surf. These instances cemented the appreciation that the band has towards their supportive community.
The show was good, however, it wasn’t as special as the one I remember so fondly. This is due to a big factor I mentioned earlier: the size of the venue and the size of the crowd. It would have been a more enjoyable and energetic show if they had booked with a venue even slightly smaller. Besides this, I think that every aspect that could be controlled was in alignment with Show Me the Body’s energy and artistic vision, from the giant white and black tapestry backdrop to the press passes, both featuring their iconic 3 coffin logo. I cannot recommend Show Me the Body enough to anyone who enjoys Death Grips, hardcore, punk, heavier music, and genre-bending bands, whether that means listening to them on Spotify, supporting their label (Corpus Records), or their entire Corpus brand. This brand, which describes itself as a community, includes a music production studio, radio channel, self defense classes taught in New York City, and of course, a record label featuring SMTB and a few other music projects. Although the show did not live up entirely to my memories, I was still incredibly grateful to experience them live once again.
