Knocked Loose + Denzel Curry Hive Mind Chaos Takes Over SLC

Since the release of the iconic Knocked Loose single, “Hive Mind” featuring Denzel Curry that debuted earlier this year. It has been a song and duo that fans have wished to see live. Knocked Loose and Denzel Curry granted those wishes by forming the co-headline Hive Mind US Tour and Salt Lake City, UT was lucky enough to secure a date. It had been a little over two years since Utah had last seen Knocked Loose. Despite it being a Monday, over two-thousand fans showed up for what was going to be one of the most memorable shows to occur at The Union.

The night was kicked off by Boundaries and Superheaven. There was honestly no better start to the night than these two bands. From the minute that Boundaries stepped on stage, they took every second that was given to them to get the crowd warmed up from mosh-pits to crowd surfers. It helped even more that Salt Lake is no stranger to Boundaries. Having their fair share of frequent SLC stops Boundaries has accumulated a good following that it was one of my first few times seeing the fans lined up at the barricade know the words for the very first act of the night. We were lucky enough that this time around we got to hear a setlist that consisted of new songs off their latest album, Yearning: The Beautiful After. Superheaven was a great transition after Boundaries, after the high energy from the Boundaries set the alt-rock band was the perfect lull to keep energy steady enough but still give the crowd a sense of break before things picked back up again.

To no one’s surprise Denzel Curry immediately had the crowd back on their feet jumping around and screaming lyrics right alongside Denzel. Whether you were looking at fans or Denzel throughout the set there was not a single body standing still. He was able to get the crowd to maintain a consistent push moshpit during his entire set. As someone who’s never witnessed Denzel Curry live, this set was enough to guarantee that I walked away a fan. Quickly following Denzel’s set was Knocked Loose which is still a sentence I can’t believe I’m able to say.

The minute the side stage doors slowly shut, you could feel the shift in the room as everyone waited for Knocked Loose to take the stage, the intro being the breakdown from, “Killing You” mixed with the ominous start of “Deep In The Willow” I could not have imagined a better start to this set. Just like Denzel Curry a consistent mosh pit took place at the heart of the room, but the crowdsurfers won this time as there was a consistent streamline of bodies coming over the barricade during the entire show.

For anyone who doubted that the crowd couldn’t keep up the entire night, they were proved wrong especially during “Sit & Mourn” which some could consider one of the more “mellow” tracks of Knocked Loose. However, vocalist Bryan Garris called for anyone and everyone to crowd surf and that had to have been the most amount of crowdsurfers out of all the songs performed. The only time it seemed like the crowd had a small break was during the talking breaks, interludes, and the instrumental build up right before the breakdowns in their songs which never fail to cause an unsettling, edge of your seat feeling especially hearing it live. The setlist was perfectly curated to cover each era of their discography that fans could walk away fulfilled. Especially hearing “Hive Mind” live, which everyone was screaming at the top of their lungs and somehow was able to crank the energy higher than it was before, that it sent the roof falling apart (literally). There was no doubt how special it was to see that performance live in person.

With Salt Lake City being one of the handful of dates near the end of the US and despite that all the bands had showed up with making sure they gave their best energy to all the fans. This tour was different than most hardcore tours due to the lineup alone with the range of music genre. I never thought I’d tell people I would be going to a show with a hardcore and hip-hop artist headlining but here I am. Also, after the show hearing all the fans talk about how they’d never really listened to hip-hop and vice versa but being put in the scenario at this show made it really incredible and definitely memorable in so many ways. I applaud both Knocked Loose and Denzel Curry for coming together and putting on something really incredible and reaching all fan bases.