By Brian Murphy
With multiple Grammy nominations, a crossover collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion and a newly-released critically-acclaimed album, Spiritbox are riding high in 2025.
To kick off April, the Canadian metal band — comprised of vocalist Courtney LaPlante, guitarist Mike Stringer, bassist Josh Gilbert and drummer Zev Rose — embarked on the “Tsunami Sea” North American tour, which features 24 shows across North America.
Spiritbox, along with Loathe and Dying Wish, rode a wave of anticipation and excitement to their sold-out MGM National Harbor show, April 11.
The band’s highly anticipated sophomore album, “Tsunami Sea,” dropped March 7. The title and inspiration for the new album comes from Vancouver Island, where LaPlante grew up.
Since its release, Stringer has described “Fata Morgana” as a mission statement for the album. With it, the band comes out swinging and immediately sets a heavy tone. Both the album and the live show benefit greatly from such an emphatic introduction.
Before the audience had time to recover, Spiritbox next dove into “Black Rainbow,” which is quite possibly the heaviest track on the album. Kicking off a live performance with these two in-your-face tracks gives a very distinct ‘zero to 60’ type vibe, which induced a visceral reaction from those in attendance eager to form a pit and/or crowd surf as a sign of approval.
Mercifully, the melodic single “Perfect Soul” was next, giving fans a brief moment to catch their breath. It was the first track I was drawn to on Tsunami Sea, and it’s even better live. LaPlante’s soothing vocals had the packed venue swaying and singing along to the chorus.
After initial delays due to the pandemic, Spiritbox’s first album, Eternal Blue, dropped in 2021 and debuted at number 13 on the US Billboard 200 chart. Amazingly, when the band started working on the material that ultimately became Eternal Blue, they had played a total of just 10 shows together. By now, they’re a well-oiled machine averaging 3.6 million monthly listeners on Spotify and it definitely carries over to their live performances.
While the sellout crowd was eager to hear the new music, the biggest reaction of the night came halfway through the set when Spiritbox played “Secret Garden” and “Circle With Me” back-to-back. In relatively short order, LaPlante has established herself as one of the dominant and most dynamic voices of the genre.
Later in their set, Spiritbox performed all three tracks from 2022’s EP titled Rotoscope. Up first was “Rotoscope,” a slow-burning, atmospheric single featuring haunting vocals and lyrics that explore themes of introspection and self-discovery. The early hypnotic vibe of “Hysteria” could easily lull a concertgoer into a false sense of security before LaPlante’s intense vocals re-ignited the pit of thrashing metalheads in the center of the venue.
The night came to an emphatic conclusion with “Ride the Wave,” which works beautifully as both a closing number and a metaphor for where Spiritbox finds themselves these days. Clearly they’re a force of nature that’s riding high with the critically acclaimed release of their second album. I, for one, am excited to see where the wave takes them next.
Setlist
Fata Morgana
Black Rainbow
Perfect Soul
Jaded
The Void
Tsunami Sea
Secret Garden
Circle With Me
Rotoscope
Sew Me Up
Hysteria
Soft Spine
Holy Roller
No Loss, No Love
Crystal Roses
Ride the Wave