Knocked Loose rivets West Des Moines, Iowa

In celebration of their EP released in 2021, hardcore band Knocked Loose brought their A Tear In The Fabric Of Life Tour to the Val Air Ballroom in West Des Moines, Iowa on April 28th. Supporting them were Movements, Kublai Khan and Koyo. 

Koyo started their set jumping.

Despite their guitarist having injured his foot and playing the entire set with a boot and crutches, they had incredible energy. It was fairly obvious not many people had been previously familiar with the band by the way the crowd stood still during the first song. But, Koyo was hard to ignore. By the time they played the third song in their set, most of the room could be seen headbanging along and at the end of the night, their merch table had a line just as long as the other bands on the bill.

Up next was Texas hardcore band Kublai Khan. Although the set was exactly everything a fan would expect it to be (vocalist Matt Honeycutt even addressed this during a speech to the crowd, explaining that they weren’t trying to pretend they were doing something new with their music), the band brought variety by including Isaac Hale of Knocked Loose for a special guest appearance on one of their songs.

Clearly a fan-favorite, Kublai Khan had the packed house shouting the words and violently moshing along throughout their entire set. 

Easily the softest band of the night — but, by no means any lesser — Movements followed, giving the crowd a chance to breathe before the chaos that comes with Knocked Loose ensued. Acknowledging the contrast of the band’s sound compared to the other bands on the lineup, Patrick Miranda (vocalist) told the crowd toward the end of their set, “We have just a few more songs left. I promise you can go back to beating each other up in about 15 minutes or so.” Movements wrapped up their set with an emotional performance of their hit song “Daylily”, bringing several people in the crowd to tears.

Knocked Loose then closed out the night, starting their set with “Where the Light Divides the Holler” and finishing with “Permanent”. They played the entirety of the tour’s namesake EP (although, they did not perform the songs in the order they appear). Songs from their first two full-length albums were intermixed, rounding out their unpredictable, riveting set.

Photography by Jayme Bigger

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