Kublai Khan | Philadelphia, PA

On Sunday, April 21st, Kublai Khan’s last show of the first leg of their headline tour made its way to a sold-out show at Union Transfer in Philadelphia, PA. This leg of the tour brought along Momentum, Judiciary, and Sunami as support. 

From California, Momentum kicked off the night. They walked onto the stage starting with “Overkill” and “Forget 2 Live.” The crowd wasted no time forming a mosh pit. The band continued their set, picking songs that showed off their metallic and hardcore sounds. The band played fan favorite, “Bliss,” which got the entire crowd moving.  

Judiciary was up next. They kicked off their set playing “Blood” and ‘Engulfed.” They continued one song after another, which kept the crowd moving. Between the brutal riffs, sludgy sounds, and occasional callouts, this band soaked up the crowd’s energy. They played fan favorite, “Social Crusade,” which showcased their thrash and hardcore influences. 

Sunami took the stage next. Not even a moment later, the entire crowd started moving. The band started their set with “Gate Crasher,” “Six,” and “Dirty Work.” At one point during their set, two different mosh pits in the room eventually formed into one. The band’s live performance radiated into the crowd and set the tone for the rest of the night. 

Closing out the eventing was Kublai Khan. This was the band’s first headlining tour in a long time, and they wasted no time kicking off their set with fan favorite “Theory of Mind.” You could hear the entire crowd sing the lyrics with vocalist Matt Honeycutt. There was not one single person standing still as you could hear the pummeling hardcore riffs echo from wall to wall. As the band continued their set, Honeycutt called out to the crowd to increase the flurry of crowd surfers and to keep the security busy. They played a fan favorite, “Swan Song,” where the vocalist of Momentum took the stage to join vocals. The crowd energy was unmatched. Honeycutt would periodically stop singing just to hear the crowd yell the words back at him. Kublai Khan announced they would not be performing an encore, and then ended their night playing their top songs, “The Hammer” and “Antpile.”