Live Review: Hidden In Plain View in Asbury Park, NJ

House of Independents, Asbury Park, NJ – 28 January

“This feeling never dies; The fever never breaks”

I’m admittedly very biased here, but it would be hard to argue that any state has impacted music the way NJ has. It might be the water, it might be the fumes off the Parkways or it could be the hereditary chip on our shoulder that comes from living in the shadows of NYC and Philly. Doesn’t much matter what gave the denizens of Jersey the “fuck you, I’m going to do this better than anyone else” mentality, it exists, and for the most part, Garden State bands do in fact do it better than anyone else. 

That was backed up when I got to see Hidden in Plain View at The House Of Independents in Asbury Park with Latewaves and Zachary West And The Good Grief. Its been quite some time since I last saw them but Hidden In Plain View are one of those bands you can always count on putting on a great performance. So when I caught wind of a show that featured HIPV and Latewaves I immediately jumped on it. There were no let downs to be had.

Openers Zachary West and The Good Grief are either already huge and somehow slipped beneath my radar or they brought an entourage because the crowd was into it and knew nearly every word of their tight and fun indie-rock set. No matter what drew the crowd tonight there is no doubt that they are well on their way to headliner status any time now. Their EP Head Empty was produced by Rob Freeman and was something I quickly decided I needed to pick up. 

Supporting act Latewaves put out one of the best albums of 2021, Hell To Pay, and I was really stoked to get to check out a live set. I was not disappointed.  

The trio came out blazing with a masterclass in rock songwriting and execution, blasting through a couple tracks off the full length and other previously released cuts while peppering in a few new tracks recorded last December hopefully with a release soon to come. The three-piece from Asbury Park performed flawlessly and even an odd tangent about a joke Zachary West didn’t tell couldn’t derail the set.  

As the closer, HIPV had a much longer setlist than any time I’ve seen them in the past, which worked out beautifully.  Frontman Joe Reo did not slow down throughout the first half of the set, keeping the crowd pumped as the band barrelled through their oeuvre, with a heavy focus on Life In Dreaming.  The band absolutely crushed the opening portion of the set, brimming with charisma and energy.  Reo touched every square inch of the stage and noted he was feeling quite nimble despite guitarist/songwriter Rob Freeman apologies that the crew has gotten too old to bounce as much.  

The 5-piece slowed things down a bit as Freeman was left alone the stage for an acoustic take on “The Lake House” from 2007’s Resolution.  The best part of the show may have come from this short interlude, as Reo sat on the drum riser and looked on with admiration and sincere support for his long-time friend.  Sometimes the most important moments of the set don’t come from the music but the relationships on stage.

The band rejoined and immediately brought the crowd back into an undulating wave of limbs shouting along in synchronized blasts of emotional connections. 

There wasn’t a single moment that any of us were not connected to the sounds pumping out of the amps.  Hidden In Plain View may not be the first band you think of from NJ, hell, they probably aren’t even the first Jersey band you think of on Drive-Thru Records, but while they commandeer the stage, they are nobody’s second fiddle.  Hidden In Plain View were a perfect reminder of everything that makes New Jersey’s music scene such an absolute delight, and Latewaves and Zachary West and The Good Grief proved the future of Garden State rock is in very capable hands.