For a long time, it looked as if Acceptance would end up being one of the great lost icons of rock and roll. Two years after they formed in Seattle they released “Lost For Words”, their first E.P, and immediately enjoyed local success. The band sold over 5000 copies of the E.P locally and suddenly found themselves being courted by major record labels from all over the country. Wisely, the band neglected to sign anything more than a professional management contract at first, and after recording a second E.P in 2002, the band signed to Columbia Records for the record’s release in 2003. The band seemed poised to become rock icons on the level of Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance but the year after their debut album, “Phantoms”, was released in 2005, the band split. Their singer Jason Vena decided to quit music in favour of a steady job and a family, and the band felt that they couldn’t continue as Acceptance without him.
However, after nearly a decade of relative silence, the band announced that they were going to reunite and play Asbury Park Skate And Surf Festival as the first date of a worldwide reunion tour in 2015. Their first new song in 10 years “Take You Away” was released in May of the same year, and ever since then, the band have enjoyed the kind of renaissance that most bands in their position would kill to have. For that, Acceptance are a band that come highly recommended.
Acceptance is the Christian rock band from Seattle, Washington, whose career saw fantastic amounts of success. They were formed in 1998, and released their first EP, “Lost for Words” in 2000, and then “Black Lines to Battlefields in 2003. Their full-length album, “Phantoms” was released in 2005.
Tonight is one of their final shows as a band with the audience spilling out the doors and lining the bars ordering drinks, some buying merchandise. Either way, the atmosphere in this room is special, and we’re all in for a fantastic night of live music. Their set is nostalgic for many with their eight-year career being completely laid upon the table this evening. “Different” is the song that opens the show, this evening. Led by the clean electric guitars before the full band comes in vocals and everything. “Take Cover” is the song that keeps the energy going in the middle of the set, everyone still singing the words to every song so far. “So Contagious” is the penultimate song of this mammoth set, he drawling vocals paired with the mid tempo minor key kind of song, fills this atmosphere with electricity. There are blood sweat and tears in this room as Acceptance, as they say, leave it all on the stage.