Live Review: Being As An Ocean

Words by Tiago Moreira // Pictures by Nuno Fangueiro

After four years and some changes of activity and three full-length albums the Alpine, California-based post-hardcore outfit Being As An Ocean graced Portugal with three performances. It was in the last of those three sets that the band led by Joel Quartuccio presented, in front of our own eyes, the extension of the emotional weight and involvement that has allowed the quartet gather some well-deserved recognition. Sure, the room was far from beingsold-out, but this was one of those precious shows where the intensity takes the space by its neck and shrinks into a comfortable and very familiar basement. If music’s most important property is the connectivity that’s made between who’s playing it and who’s listening to it, then Being As An Ocean already won the war because the levels of passion instigated by the ferocious, frustrated, loving, and hopeful sounds and message set down by the American band were fantastically embraced by the public. The sweat was dripping ceaselessly and the crowd surfing just from time to time stopped of being a constant, but the high point of the passionate performance was,
without question, the final moments where the stage is invaded by countless members of the audience who, together, sang along with Quartuccio.

The opening of such heavy experience was delivered by Portuguese hardcore outfit Backflip and tech/modern metal outfit The Voynich Code. Although their performances were competent and somewhat well-received and engaged by the public (but far from reaching any kind of astounding level) one left wondering the suitability of their presence in a bill headlined by Being As An Ocean.

The Voynich Code

Backflip

Being As An Ocean