Dice

“All in all, it’s complicated” were the mesmerizing lyrics that kicked off the first night of DICE’s North America tour, and it was truly an unforgettable night. Their biggest tour to date commenced on September 30th at Valley Bar, located in Phoenix, Arizona. DICE, an up and coming indie rock band from Perth Western, Australia, whose members consist of Ben Hodge (singer), Tom King (lead guitarist), Regan Beazley (bass), and Sam Barrrett-Lennard (drums) are on tour for their latest EP, Wings. Despite being released only four days earlier, to the highly anticipated tour debut, it did not stop the crowd from feverishly singing along with the new, soon to be, unforgettable hits.

First, the night opened with solo artist, Hendrix Frankenreiter, whose soulful music and amazing guitar solos perfectly set the mood for DICE’s performance. DICE took the stage with opening song “Stockholm” and then transitioned into their first ever released song “Reality”, DICE’s powerful performance of their new songs, “Oblivion” and “Champagne”, commanded the stage, leaving the audience lost in admiration.

Throughout the entire evening, you could feel the excitement radiating from each band member. Whether it was Barrrett-Lennard playing the drums while singing along in the background or King, playfully interacting with the other band members, their captivating smiles never dissipated. The audience members could truly feel the band’s undeniable excitement about performing for the amped up crowd in front of them. The chemistry among the band members was hypnotic and was evident on stage, which made their performance unique and infectious. It definitely felt like a family.

The show was riveting from the very beginning all the way through the end. There was never a dull moment with the band joking around on stage about how it was the first show that both King and Beazley got mics of their own to ”Double Espresso”, which had the crowd clapping to the beat of the song. Every song performed connected with at least one person in the crowd.

When DICE covered “End of the Beginning”, by Djo, it awoke the beast within the crowd. DICE’s hit song ”Stop Sign”, a highly anticipated fan favorite, was the last song on the set list. The band’s exceptional crowd interaction had the whole venue get down low right before the last beat drop and then had everyone jumping around until the end. Once the show came to a close, the band members slowly walked off the stage with beaming smiles, but little did they know, the show wasn’t over just yet. The crowd started voraciously chanting for one more song, which the band could not resist and reappeared back on stage.

Once on stage, the band members were looking back and forth at each other laughing and trying to decide what song to play. The crowd yelled out numerous suggestions while Hodge was joking around saying that they weren’t expecting to perform an unplanned encore. The encore performance of ”Eyes Ahead”, a more upbeat song, had the crowd throwing up their hands in unison with the lyrics “throw your hands up, to the reality of DICE”. This was a fitting conclusion to an extraordinary performance that sealed the magic of the night.