Starset @ Irving Plaza - New York, NY
Photos and words courtesy of Ana C Santos | December 4th 2021
It’s been over two years since STARSET was last in New York City. At the time, I remember leaving that particular show with such a buzz of excitement because the band felt like it was literally blasting into the stratosphere. A new album, Divisions, had just come out and the conceptually-driven band was poised to tour and expand its intriguing lore. And then the pandemic hit. Fast forward two years and a couple of months later, STARSET returned with its fourth studio album, Horizons and New York City was ready.
Playing in the newly remodeled Irving Plaza, STARSET blasted off with a symbiotic exchange of energy between the stage and the audience that felt purely electrifying. For the first time since I discovered them accidentally in another NYC stage in 2014, STARSET played as a full seven-piece ensemble - something that frontman Dustin Bates revealed had always been his vision. Clad in Mad-Maxian dystopian aesthetic for the first half of the show before donning their staple space suits, the band swept through an extremely well balanced setlist. While it naturally focused more heavily on new songs from 2019’s Divisions, and Horizons there was a helping of older stand out tracks like “Monster,” “Carnivore,” “Satellite” and the finisher “My Demons” to make veteran fans happy.
With a track record of incredible shows (which the band calls demonstrations), strong performances and an ever-growing fanbase invested in the sci-fi saga that has been unfolding over the last four albums (not to mention a novel and comic book), I’m looking forward to what STARSET has in store for us next.
Setlist:
01. The Breach
02. Where The Skies End
03. Infected
04. Carnivore
05. Let It Die
06. Trials
07. Manifest
08. Echo
09. Monster
10. Point of No Return
11. It Has Begun
12. Earthrise
13. Satellite
14. Devolution
15. For Whom the Bell Tolls
16. Ricochet
17. Die for You
18. My Demons
