Dance Gavin Dance Brings 'Tree City Sessions 3' To Indianapolis

Klover Jackson
May 25
3 min read

Kicking off the evening from across the Atlantic was French five-piece metalcore act Novelists. The band currently comprises Camille Contreras on vocals, Florestan Durand on guitar, Amaël Durand on drums, Nicolas Delestrade on bass, and Pierre Danel on guitar. Frontwoman Camille Contreras’s voice was the clear centerpiece; extraordinary in range and control, anchored by a stage presence that commanded the room from the first moment she stepped to the mic. Flanked by two guitarists, a bassist, and a drummer, Novelist arrived fully loaded. Their most recent album is CODA, released in 2025, was released on their own artist-run label ACKOR Music, with singles including "All for Nothing" and "Say My Name". Their music absolutely shreds, the kind of playing that makes you wonder how a band this tight wound up as the opener rather than higher on the bill. A genuinely exciting discovery for anyone who walked in not knowing them.

Following Novelists, Wolf and Bear brought something different, a groovy, swinging energy that felt like a natural on-ramp to the headliner's swancore world. The band comprises Cameron Nunez on guitar, Marcus Cisneros on clean vocals, Louie Baltazar on guitar, Jacob Koval on drums, Steven Fernandes on bass, and Blair de Leon on unclean vocals, who joined in 2025. Since Blair joined, the band has released singles “Apollo”, “Dr.Doot” and many more. The dynamic between their clean vocalist and metal vocalist gave their set real texture, toggling between melodic passages and aggressive bursts with ease. Tracks like "Rick Ranch" and "Street Rat" landed well with the crowd and made a strong case for catching this band on their own headline run. Their set sat right in the pocket of what the evening needed, not too similar to Dance Gavin Dance, but clearly cut from the same cloth to create an exhilarating anticipation for Dance Gavin Dance.

The Fall of Troy was the sentimental highlight for a lot of people in that crowd. The band is a trio consisting of Thomas Erak on guitars, vocals, and keyboards, Andrew Forsman on drums and percussion, and Jon-Henry "Hendo" Batts on bass and screamed vocals. Their most recent album is Mukiltearth (2020), and Thomas Erak also released a solo album titled "(AU)" through Equal Vision Records in January 2025. Thomas Erak is one of those performers who seems physically incapable of giving anything less than 100%, and when “F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X”. kicked in, that room lost its collective mind. Bucket list bands don't always deliver, this one absolutely did. From playing their music on Guitar Hero III , to finally seeing and hearing them live. A memory I’ll never forget.

Closing off this evening was the one and only Dance Gavin Dance. No slow build. No easing in. Dance Gavin Dance exploded onto the stage with "Animal Surgery" and the Egyptian Room instantly transformed into something that felt less like a concert and more like a communal event. Featuring unclean vocalist Jon Mess, lead guitarist Will Swan, clean vocalist and rhythm guitarist Andrew Wells, and drummer Matthew Mingus, along with touring members Sergio Medina and Martin Bianchini. Their 11th studio album Pantheon was released September 12, 2025.

‘Tree City Sessions 3’ dropped May 22, 2026, which was the same night as this show! Featuring re-recorded catalog cuts live at Pus Cavern. The band performed fan favorites, including “Elder Goose”, “Speed Demon”, “Midnight at McGuffy's” and many more. The band's energy was unrelenting from the first second , jumping, interacting with the crowd, and pulling the room into a circle pit within moments of starting. Indianapolis showed up for this one. By the band's own count, 197 crowd surfers passed over the barrier during their set; the highest number logged on their entire headlining tour to that point. A number the band called out themselves, which only amplified an already electric room. With a tour like this you definitely don’t want to miss. So with it still being the first leg of the tour check down below to see if this explosive package is coming to a city near you!