Colorblind were barely into the opening stretch of their set when the floor at Summit Music Hall was already packed with fans throwing themselves into the music. Crowd surfers were making their way toward the barricade, a wall of death had opened in the pit, and there were still three bands left to perform.
On Friday, October 23, Catch Your Breath brought their “Not Broken Enough Tour” to a completely sold-out Summit Music Hall in Denver, joined by TX2, Arankai, and Colorblind. I’ve photographed plenty of heavy shows at Summit, but the atmosphere that night was exceptional. The audience arrived ready to participate, and every band gave them another reason to push the energy further.
The intensity was impressive on its own, but what made the show particularly memorable was how much personality each performance brought to the stage. The evening moved from Colorblind’s emotionally charged alternative metal through Arankai’s confrontational intensity and TX2’s theatrical, mall-goth spectacle before settling into the darker atmosphere of Catch Your Breath. The room rarely had an opportunity to recover between sets.
Colorblind opened the show with the kind of reception usually reserved for a much later act. From the beginning, it was clear that a significant portion of the audience already knew exactly who they were there to see.
The Austin band has developed a compelling sound that combines the melodic vulnerability of alternative rock with the heavier rhythms and aggressive vocals of modern metal. Their set, which included “Ghosts,” “Car Crash,” “Chemical Warfare,” and “God Complex,” moved comfortably between those approaches, giving the crowd plenty of opportunities to sing along before the heavier sections sent the floor into motion.
Watching a wall of death form during the opening band’s performance was a pretty remarkable introduction to the evening. Crowd surfers were already coming over the barricade, and the energy on the floor suggested that the audience had very little interest in pacing itself.
Colorblind’s ability to generate that response says a lot about the connection they’ve developed with listeners. Their music balances aggression with emotional accessibility, and the contrast gives their songs an immediacy that works particularly well in a live setting. By the time their set ended, they had established a standard the remaining performers would have to meet.
Arankai followed, and the already chaotic room found another gear.
The alternative metal artist has built a substantial following by combining heavy instrumentation, electronic influences, and emotionally direct songwriting. His music carries a particularly confrontational edge, with distorted guitars and aggressive vocal passages that make an immediate impression.
Throughout his performance, Arankai kept the audience involved, encouraging participation and feeding off the enormous response from the floor. The mosh pits were relentless, and there was an unmistakable sense of excitement between the stage and the fans packed into Summit.
Material including “I Hope It Hurts,” “Choke,” “Dead Throne,” and “Conquer” provided a strong showcase of his approach. The songs are heavy and frequently abrasive, but they retain enough melodic character to give the audience something to connect with beyond the physical intensity of the performance.
Arankai’s crowd interaction was particularly effective. He seemed completely comfortable working with an audience that was already operating at full intensity, giving the performance a sense of spontaneity while keeping the music firmly in control. His set was loud, aggressive, and thoroughly entertaining, with some of the wildest pits of the night.
By the time TX2 was preparing to take the stage, the audience had taken matters into its own hands. The entire room began chanting the artist’s name before the performance had even started, a reception that immediately demonstrated just how dedicated his following has become.
And when TX2 finally appeared, he made sure that enthusiasm was justified.
I’ve seen some energetic performances this year, but TX2 delivered one of the most physically animated sets I’ve photographed in recent memory. The Fort Collins-raised artist brought an enormous amount of movement and theatricality to the stage, matching the crowd’s excitement with a performance that seemed determined to use every available second.
His aesthetic was equally memorable. Drawing heavily from mall-goth fashion, emo culture, and the dramatic visual traditions of alternative rock, TX2 fully embraces a style that many artists would approach with considerably more restraint. There was nothing subtle about the presentation, and that confidence was a major part of its appeal.
Musically, TX2 pulls together elements of pop punk, alternative metal, electronic music, and theatrical rock, creating songs designed around dramatic shifts in energy and intensely personal lyrics. The performance included “Black Wedding,” “Vendetta,” “Witch Hunt,” “Confession,” and “I Would Hate Me Too,” material that gives him plenty of opportunities to move between catchy melodic passages and outright aggression.
The enthusiasm in the room was extraordinary. Fans who had been chanting before he appeared remained fully engaged throughout the set, and TX2 never seemed content to simply stand at the microphone and let the backing music do the work. His physical commitment to the performance was remarkable, and the theatrical elements felt closely connected to his musical identity.
It would be easy to underestimate an artist whose presentation draws so openly from emo and mall-goth culture, particularly given how quickly those aesthetics are dismissed as nostalgia or internet spectacle. But TX2 demonstrated how effectively that imagery can support an energetic, genuinely engaging live performance. Whatever anyone thinks of the style, the crowd’s response was impossible to dismiss.
After the first three performances, I was genuinely curious how Catch Your Breath could follow such an overwhelming amount of energy. Rather than trying to compete with the spectacle that preceded them, the headliners took the evening in a different direction.
Catch Your Breath emerged with a dark, powerful, and deeply atmospheric set that brought a different emotional weight to the room. Their music is built around a combination of melodic hard rock, modern metal production, and vulnerable songwriting, with an emphasis on the feelings that exist underneath the aggression.
Frontman Josh Mowery has a particularly affecting vocal presence. His delivery can be restrained and intimate before opening into something far more forceful, and that dynamic gives the band’s songs their emotional impact. Supported by guitarist Teddy Herrera, bassist Cianan Madigan, and drummer Onell Hernandez, the music carries considerable weight without losing the melodic details that make it memorable.
The band’s performance drew from their growing catalog and the material surrounding Not Broken Enough, including songs such as “Lost,” “21 Gun Salute,” “Rewind,” and “Red Alert.” The songwriting explores some genuinely difficult emotional territory, and the packed room responded with an intensity that extended well beyond the heavier instrumental passages.
Crowd surfing continued throughout the headlining set, with fans making their way over the audience as the band moved through its material. There was no shortage of physical energy, but the atmosphere had changed. Where TX2 had brought theatrical excitement and Arankai had encouraged chaos in the pit, Catch Your Breath seemed to draw something more personal out of the audience.
The emotion in the room was overwhelming at times. Watching the crowd respond to Mowery’s vocals and the band’s darker material made it clear how deeply these songs have connected with their listeners. There was a collective intensity to the performance, with fans giving themselves completely to the music.
That connection helps explain the band’s rapid growth. Catch Your Breath writes about experiences that many people struggle to articulate, and their music gives those feelings a place to exist openly. The heavier arrangements create a physical release, while the melodies and lyrics give the songs an emotional foundation that resonates long after the show ends.
The group’s rise has been built in part around songs like “Dial Tone” and “Shame On Me,” which established their reputation for pairing accessible songwriting with intense emotional performances. Seeing the reaction at Summit, it was easy to understand why those songs have attracted such a committed audience.
Summit Music Hall is one of my favorite Denver venues for photographing heavy music because of how closely the stage and audience interact. On Friday, that relationship was particularly apparent. The room was completely packed, and the energy coming from the audience was every bit as important to the experience as what happened onstage.
I left impressed by every band on the lineup, but especially by how effectively each one managed to make the performance feel personal to its audience. The atmosphere never felt forced, and the intensity continued to build throughout the night despite the very different approaches of the four artists.
Catch Your Breath’s “Not Broken Enough Tour” delivered one of the wildest sold-out shows I’ve covered at Summit this year. Between the crowd surfers, the pits, the theatrical performances, and the extraordinary emotional response to the headliner, the evening was a reminder of how much this generation of alternative and heavy music means to the people who have found a home in it.
Concert photography by Zack Hartman Photography for The Concert Chronicles.
Explore the music: Colorblind | Arankai | TX2 | Catch Your Breath
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