Concert review: Coin w/ Aiden Bissett | 10.04.24, The Pageant (with photo gallery)

Photo of Coin’s Chase Lawrence by Laura Jerele

I felt like I was in a large-scale light installation meets indie pop dance club for the ages Friday night. I gotta say, Coin’s stage and lighting design is one for the books for how much they put into making their show visually stunning as well as how well they play within, and outside, of the norm of what to expect at a show. They had the darkest of elements that then exploded into a wash of immense and bright light thanks to a huge backdrop of light along with suspended, moving light boxes above them that made the space feel like it’s either closing in on you or instantly becoming massively expansive as they moved. There was definitely an artistic impact of these simple and powerful elements that worked incredibly well with their high energy (and heavier than you would expect) live sound. Coin, comprised of Chase Lawrence (lead vocals, synth), Ryan Winnen (drums), and Joe Memmel (lead guitarist) play their instruments loud and hard and their endurance never let up the entire night. 

A really strong contingent of the youth of today showed up to sing and dance, and sometimes provide some really high-pitched screams that filled the space between songs. Let’s face it, the screams happened a lot during the songs too! Honestly, it was a freaking blast to be around so many people having so much fun getting into a show. It was refreshing. The crowd didn’t let up for the 20+ song set, so it was a good call on The Pageant’s part that there were no tables and chairs for this. No one would dare sit with a show this vibey! Well done, St. Louis. 

A really fun, young and energetic opener, Aidan Bissett, has power-poppy songs that the crowd obviously already knew (based on the fact that they sang along to nearly every song to his set as well) and was a fabulous choice for this tour.  Playing a lot to the crowd, he really got the screaming youngsters with swooning crushes jumping! Clearly, I had a really fabulous time and I certainly won’t miss Coin on their next stop here! | Laura Jerele