Photos + Review: Neck Deep @ SKYway Theater (Minneapolis, MN)

Neck Deep (Wrexham, UK)
February 10, 2024
Skyway Theater in Minneapolis, MN

Time is fickle. Time is fluid. Time is relative.

I don’t know how the night I first saw Neck Deep in 2018 was already five years ago, when it really feels like just a handful of months ago.

Time just seems to go fast now for me, and go figure that this new Neck Deep last week really snuck up on me, not knowing that it was a thing until a couple days beforehand. I’m glad that I did find out about this show as it’ll go down as the one that converted me from casual fan of the band, to full-fledged. 

Neck Deep this time around played the Skyway Theater in downtown Minneapolis, and what a way for it to make up for last time I had seen the band. The nutshell feeling from that initial show was part FOMO, and part half glass empty. I was super excited to photograph them but me and the other photographers promptly got escorted out of the pit, so I was bummed to not be able to get the types of photos I’d want without the time. But good thing that the music, the energy, and vibe of that night carried the rest of the way.

Neck Deep have significantly gotten better since that last time I’ve seen them. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a pit that genuinely felt dangerous, but last week will be put in that spot. From the get go with “Dumbstruck Dumbf**k” opening the set, the tone was set quickly: a fast paced, happy, energetic, catchy, night.

This was one of those nights where song after song brought me to thoughts of “oh damn, this song is a jam!” Enough time has passed where the band are able to curate a fantastic setlist of nothing but banger. They passed my mark of what makes a good night, in that it didn’t feel like it dragged at all and all of a sudden it was the end of the night.

Highlights of the night were getting to hear “Don’t Wait” played live, even without Sam from Architects being there for his screams (but also especially instead of even, because Ben killed it doing the screams himself). Then later Ben coming out telling the crowd the Vikings suck after bringing up Manchester United, which was returned by a quality boo and skol chant. “She’s a God” was fun and a new favorite song, and who can deny the joy that is seeing “December (Again)”? 

One of my favorite feelings is the reinvigoration I get and feel on my walk out of a show and towards my car to go home. This night provided an abundance of that feeling, and I’m so glad that I realized in time that this show was going on.