A mesmerizing live progressive metal experience that was melodic and heavy!
Finnish progressive metal band Wheel is currently wrapping up The Dark Side Tour 2026, a headlining tour across North America with support from progressive hard rock band Sound&Shape. What is cool about this tour is that, in addition to playing fan favorites, they are also playing songs they haven’t previously in North America, which included taking requests before the tour began. I am a huge Wheel fan and have seen them twice previously, including their first ever instrumental set last year in Seattle. I was not at all familiar with Sound&Shape and went in completely blind for them.
Sound&Shape
Sound&Shape is a power trio, which admittedly always impresses me to see live when it is pulled off well (King’s X comes to mind….so good live!), so I was quite curious since I was deliberately going in blind. And though they don’t at all sound like King’s X outside of the fact that both bands have progressive elements, Sound&Shape was super impressive and had no issues delivering an amazing set! Let me start with the drummer, who was literally incredible. I found myself constantly watching him, his technical prowess shining through on his polyrhythmic hits and fills, with bonus points for some great backing vocals while he was drumming! The bass player was also quite good, playing double duty with the keys at times, and also adding backing vocals. The guitarist served as the lead vocalist, with emotional vocals over his melodic playing. Much like King’s X, he was able to focus a lot on lead and allow the bass to carry the rhythm, with the drums adding a lot of texture. From a musical standpoint, it rarely got to what I would consider metal, definitely more in the hard rock vein, but the progressive fabric was thick, and I so enjoyed it. I love hearing a band I don’t know and falling in love, and Sound&Shape made a fan of me this night!
Setlist:
Sound&Shape played a 7-song set, which included two brand new songs. One of those songs, “Kiss the Killers,” had a killer prog groove and was one of my favorite songs of the night! The setlist was:
- Intro / Buried under Violets (new song)
- Sugar the Pill
- Beautiful Anger
- Heirlooms
- Kiss the Killers (new song)
- How To Talk to Ghosts
- Ruining the Fairytale
Wheel
I honestly think Wheel is one of my favorite bands that I sometimes forget is one of my favorites. Yeah, I realize that sounds weird. I listen to so much varied music between all the album reviews I write and shows I attend that I don’t always do the best job revisiting things I love. Whenever I do return to Wheel, I just get lost in their music. I love the melodies, the polymetric complexity, the impassioned vocals, and the crushing heaviness and djent. Live is even more so, becoming washed in the soundscapes they produce in ways that just consume me. I absolutely love Wheel.
Pre-show VIP
I chose to do the pre-show VIP, and it was fantastic. The band started out with an acoustic song, explaining how they wanted to do something different for the VIP experience, and how, for them, it was more terrifying performing one of their songs acoustically then doing the normal full set. There were 6 of us who paid for the experience, and we were all trying to guess which song they would do. None of us guessed correctly, but the song they did do, “Synchronise,” was fantastic. I always love hearing how a band interprets their songs in this way, and this one was stunning. It was also so cool hearing vocalist James really let go. He has a fabulous voice with a rich tambor, and even without a mic, it rang beautifully throughout the entire venue.
The VIP was much more informal than most I have gone to, making it super fun and more like we were just hanging out with the band. They did a Q&A session which included some of the nerdiest polymeter deep dives I have ever heard, including the rest of the band telling us to stop giving James more ideas! I absolutely loved their tour poster, but we found out that the band signing it wasn’t enough. James and bassist Jere added additional embellishments in addition to the band signatures, making each poster unique and fun. And of course there were pics with the band, and in addition to individual pics, we even got a pic with the entire group! It was among the best VIP sessions I have attended (and I have done MANY), and it comes highly recommended if you get the chance!
The Show
As I mentioned, I was super impressed with Sound&Shape, and they did a great job giving the required progressive warm up for Wheel. I was right up front as I tend to be, which ended up adding some extra cool things to the overall show. Just to begin, wow, this quartet is just phenomenal live. Their song compositions are quite complex, and I found that for songs I wasn’t quite as familiar with (believe it or not, I am not an expert on their entire discography, just their last 2 full lengths), I had to figure out how to head bang in polymeter! Knowing the complexity within, it is so impressive seeing the band play so tightly, stank faces on full display. And yes, Wheel knows how to remain in character. Just look at the pics below to see what I mean. Occasionally they give in since they are clearly having so much fun (I have evidence of smiles in the pics below as well), but they definitely do their thing when they are on stage, and it works. They repeatedly said how much they enjoy playing Seattle and were impressed at the crowd for a Monday night, and you could just feel the energy both from the band and the crowd. The slower melodic sections were mesmerizing, and the heavier sections induced crowd wide head banging and body movement. I mentioned being up front had some extra perks. There was a platform that extended out from where the band was set up, and James, Jere, and Jussi would all periodically move to this platform, where they would practically be in my face (or someone else depending on where they were on the platform) as they were playing, mostly remaining in character with their ultra serious expressions and powerful headbanging. Their engagement and love for the audience was so cool to see, and it really enriched the entire live experience. It was such an amazing show, and though they played for 90 minutes, it felt like less than half that. I could have easily listened to them all night.
Setlist:
For this tour, the band played a bunch of songs they had never played in North America before. They took requests before the tour started and used that as input for their setlist. One such song that apparently was one of their largest requests was “Resident Human,” which was amazing to experience live for the first time. Overall they played a 9-song set with a 3-song nearly 30 minute (!!) encore, with lots of fabulous songs spanning every album plus the COVID-era multi-song singles. And though they biased toward songs not played in North America, they also played a good selection of crowd favorites that they had performed live previously. The setlist was:
- Intro / Submission
- Up the Chain
- Where the Pieces Lie
- Fugue
- Ascend
- Resident Human
- Please
- Vultures
- Wheel
- [encore] Tyrant
- Empire
- Dissipating
Final Thoughts
This was such a great show, and honestly it will make it difficult for me to see Wheel when they are not the headliner, as the set will just feel way too short. That of course will not prevent me from seeing them, as they are clearly one of my favorites, and experiencing them live is something not to miss! I am also so happy to have found Sound&Shape, and I will be adding them to my listening rotation!