When the lights dimmed before Sleeping With Siren’s show at The State Theatre on March 16, the crowd went wild. Fans screamed as their backdrop lit up and the musicians ran on stage.
The post-hardcore band gained popularity with their 2010 release “With Ears to See and Eyes to Hear,” and vocalist Kellin Quinn became famous for his wide range of tenor vocals. When Sleeping When Sirens recently returned to St. Petersburg for their “Take It or Leave It” tour, they brought opening acts Lions Lions, Dangerkids and Conditions to perform at the sold out show.
They began their concert with a new song called “These Things I’ve Done,” a track containing the band’s signature mix of hardcore music and catchy chorus.
The rest of the set consisted of a mix of songs from their debut album and their sophomore release “Let’s Cheers to This,” including more hard-hitting songs such as “Fire” and “A Trophy Father’s Trophy Son.” Quinn introduced the latter, dedicating it to audience members whose parents were not around while they were growing up. The song ended with the crowd chanting the line “is this what you call a family?”
The serious weight in the room was lifted with a few acoustic songs like “Roger Rabbit” from their latest EP “If You Were a Movie, This Would Be Your Soundtrack,” which is a song with an R&B feel that slightly drifts away from their usual sound.
After finishing their most popular song “If I’m James Dean, You’re Audrey Hepburn,” the band walked offstage and came back for a two song encore. During the encore crowd surfers made their way up to the stage, and many tried to hug Quinn while he was singing.
During their final song, “If You Can’t Hang,” the band encouraged as many audience members as possible to join them onstage, while they climbed onto the drummer’s platform to escape the crowd and finish the song. When Quinn was told by a security guard that there were enough people onstage, he just shrugged and conveniently sang the words “if you can’t hang, then there’s the door.”
