Where do I even begin. My close friends from home and I went back to Columbus, Ohio the night before the big day February 22nd. We were all excited (clearly) about seeing COIN in concert again. The first time we saw them they were opening for Saint Motel. After that show, we fell in love with them because of their amazing stage presence. Since they recently released their newest album, How Will You Know If You Never Try, they went on a North American tour. We bought our tickets over the summer and patiently waited for this day to come.
To everyone reading this who understands what I’m about to say, I appreciate you. We woke up at six in the morning to start getting ready to wait in line ALL DAY just so we could get good spots. We made it in line around 8:45 and noticed a giant tent camped out in front of us. Now, I have been downright obsessed with bands, but the earliest I ever got in line was seven in the morning. I cannot image how it would feel to camp out on the streets for a night. So we respected those girls and sat behind them in the rain with blankets that covered our legs and our winter coats wrapped around our bodies until the doors opened later that night.
If you’ve ever been to a concert, you can understand the rush of adrenaline that comes over you when they open the doors and they start scanning your tickets. I can only describe it as the best and worst feeling ever. You’re excited to get inside and grab a good spot, but you’re still panicking over wether your ticket is going to scan or not and how many people managed to get in front of you.
We got spots on the barricade all the way to the right which we were pretty happy about. We waited for the opening band, The Aces, to come on. Now, I know I’m supposed to be reviewing COIN, but honestly The Aces were amazing. I can’t find the right words to describe them. They are an all girl band and they were cool. Seriously, I wanted to be friends with all of them. They were talented musicians and encouraged the crowd to dance and sing along with them.
Shortly after, COIN got on stage and opened with a new single they released called Growing Pains. Growing Pains, like a lot of other COIN songs, deal with growing up and aging. The lead singer, Chase Lawrence, turns 30 in 2020 and a lot of the music he writes deals with his struggling of getting older. This song has grown rapidly in popularity and it’s was definitely the perfect song to open with because it has a good beat to dance to. There are parts in the song where the lyrics are sung a little louder, so it was therapeutic yelling them in the venue. During the song, the giant screen placed behind the drummer would flash pictures of the band members when they were little which was adorable. At another time during the song, years flashed before our eyes and stopped right at 2020.
Then they continued into their next song, I Don’t Wanna Dance which was a single that was released before their newest album. This is another song with a faster beat. It kept the crowd jumping up and down and singing along as Chase moved around the stage, putting the microphones towards our faces. Ryan, who plays the drums, looked like he was having such a good time playing that song particularly. The stage lighting for this song was also something I need to mention. Purple and pink beams were shot in the air covering the whole front of the stage, and that along with the fog made them invisible at times. It was interesting to watch and made the show that much more enjoyable.
In fact, their stage equipment for the show was pretty entertaining for every song. The lighting pictured above was used for their song titled Heart Eyes which is an upbeat romantic song. During one of their more emotional and slower songs, Malibu 1992, they had waves rolling while the sun was setting in shades of yellow and orange. The lighting is important to a show in my opinion because it truly does set the mood for the song they are playing. Heart Eyes was dreamy while Malibu 1992 took you straight to the beach. I appreciate artists that take the time to think about that for their shows.
Overall, COIN never fails to amaze me. A lot of people still have no idea who they are. When I tell people they are the artists of the song Talk Too Much, (which you should listen to if you never have), most of the time people will say, “Ooh, yeah I like that song. I have heard of them!” They are definitely more of an alternative rock band, and if that’s not your taste in music, I can understand why you haven’t heard of them before. Despite that though, they are talented artists that truly enjoy what they do. That makes them so special to watch live on stage. You can clearly tell they like being up there. They laugh with one another while still playing their songs and they like to dance around. Chase Lawrence does a fantastic job of interacting with the crowd and his fans especially. He stood on the barricade right in front of me and my friends and even crowd surfed. I think that’s another reason why COIN shows are always so fun to go to.
After the concert was over, me and my friends waited by their tour bus for about an hour and a half to meet Chase. When he finally came out, everyone in line was respectful and polite. Talking to him was kinda crazy though because he was so genuine and made an effort to say something nice to every single person he met. For example, he complimented my shoes so then I complimented his whole outfit before we took a picture together. (I made the joke to my friends I would never take those shoes off again.) I love artists that take the time to meet their fans after a show because it creates an even stronger bond. Seeing how charismatic he was towards everyone is also something I will remember when listening to COIN. So naturally, I think they best way to end this article is to add the picture of me and Chase!