Concert Review: Iration

By: Juan Barragan
Iration
Seaside Stage at Del Mar Fairgrounds
August 2 2013

It’s that time of year where the surf meets the turf at Del Mar. With the horse racing season at its peak, the Summer Concert Series at the Del Mar Fairgrounds gave an opportunity for people of all ages to enjoy some music after they were done wagering on the horse races. The band that took the stage shortly after the last race was Iration. The gates opened a few hours before the show and despite the pleas of the security staff to not run, the people raced to the front of the stage, eager to be as close as possible to the band. After the last race started and horse jockey, Agapito Delgadillo, took the horse, Advisory, to win the last race of the night, the sun went down and the lights at Seaside Stage shined bright, preparing the crowd for a reggae experience they were not going to soon forget.

 

Iration took the stage and opened with “Automatic,” the title track off of their newest album. Iration played some songs off of this album and eventually started playing their hit songs. This was an interesting experience since this was the first concert Iration has had in San Diego since Kai Rediske, the second vocalist in the band, decided to quit. Rediske was the lead vocalist in the song, “Turn Around,” and Iration played this song in their set, sung instead by the remaining vocalist, Micah Pueschel. The departure of Rediske did not seem to affect the band in a negative manner, as “Turn Around” was performed just fine. The audience loudly sang along with the band, demonstrating their approval of Pueschel’s ability to sing the songs that Rediske used to sing.

 

The set turned out to be half of the new material from the new album, and half from Iration’s hits from other albums. This gave the crowd the opportunity to experience both the old and the new songs, and based off the cheers that were present after every song, it seems like the new material was well received. As it turns out, the crowd that night was the biggest crowd Iration has ever played for in San Diego County.

 

Near the end, Iration focused on playing only their hits, because they knew the crowd would sing every lyric. The band played, “I’m With You,” followed by “Summer Nights”, and finished with “Time Bomb.” At this point the crowd believe that the band was done after Pueschel thanked the crowd for coming out and the band left the stage. However, it was a pleasant surprise when the band came out after a few minutes for their encore. Iration chose to delight the crowd with a cover song for their encore, and they played “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The crowd went wild after this and Iration’s very last song for the night, “Falling,” was sung so loud that some members of the band grabbed their cameras in order to record the amazing moment they were experiencing.

Overall, Iration managed to gather a huge crowd for the night at the Del Mar Fairgrounds as the band kicked off their tour in support of their new album. This highly anticipated album, Automatic, is available for purchase at any location where good music is sold.