Polyphia Sells Out Terminal 5 to Kick Off Halloween
Terminal 5 sold out and packed in for Polyphia’s return to Manhattan, New York during the week of Halloween. The instrumentalists transcended the audience into a world of smooth progressive rock, kicking off halloweekend with a magnificently magical performance. After a year of awaiting their return, New York suffused all three floors of Terminal 5 to warmly welcome back Polyphia to the city that never sleeps.
Polyphia is a 2010 instrumentally-focused progressive rock band based in Plano, Texas. The group currently consists of guitarists Tim Henson and Scott LePage, bassist Clay Gober, and drummer Clay Aeschliman. Polyphia’s individualized sound is rooted in metal-focused tones popularized in their earlier releases. Over time, the band has evolved into a more progressive label, intertwining elements from electronic and hip-hop music with their standard rock-esque sound. Since forming Polyphia over 13 years ago, the band has released four studio albums, two EPs, and numerous singles. Their fourth album, Remember That You Will Die, was released in October of 2022 and was their second release to chart, debuting at number 33 on Billboard 200.
After forming in 2010, Polyphia first witnessed mainstream success after a guitar play-through of their hit “Impassion” reached a viral status on YouTube. In a 2013 interview, the band elaborated on their stage name, detailing “[Polyphia] comes from the word ‘Polyphony’ meaning ‘music whose texture is defined by the interweaving of several melodic lines.’” The band applies this definition to their musicianship in a literal sense, capitalizing on multi-dimensional, instrumentally-centred productions, “As people, all of us have a unique and personal identity that makes us dynamic and purposeful, and our band means to convey this quality within all of us through our music; never diminishing the potential of others and thriving in unity.” Despite Polyphia being famed for their trending classical guitar covers on Youtube, their studio releases glorify each instrumentalist's talents individually, in this way, the music is never overridden by one single musician. There is always something new for the ear to uncover in a Polyphia track.
In their most recent release, Remember That You Will Die, listeners further follow the experimental journey of drummer Clay Aeschliman as he adapts more trap percussion and hip-hop stylings. This is all to say, Polyphia is evolving further with every release to cater to new masses, leaving their loyal fans constantly on the edge of their seat with the unexpected. The band's fourth album continues to build upon their genre-bending background, further exploring trends in rap and incorporating components of bubblegum pop and bossa nova.
As always, Polyphia stopped in New York and delivered a performance nothing short of spectacular. With no frontman to guide the crowd, the audience fed off the energy of all five members who naturally belong on a stage and perform as if their talents are simply second nature. Polyphia puts on a show that’ll have you speechless, staring at the musicians from start to finish in utter amazement. The skill set of each individual artist goes beyond what words can describe. All five members of Polyphia are polished, well-versed, and practiced instrumentalists who, when put on a stage, sincerely appreciate their instruments and those willing to listen. In accordance with the stage name, Polyphia strategically carved out parts of their setlist to let each musician have a highlighted solo which further seamlessly flowed into the next song of the tour setlist. Overall, the entire set was thoroughly planned out with little time for the crowd’s eyes to wander off the stage. Each song trickled into the next smoothly with either a spotlighted solo or a light show to entertain the crowd in between guitar changes. The production in Terminal 5 was top-notch and not one instrument outshined another despite the complexity of each. Polyphia sold out Terminal 5 almost immediately and definitely did not disappoint the masses that packed in.
The crowd response to Polyphia was just as extraordinary as the band's unparalleled sound. The group has attracted a fanbase that ranges across so many genres of music, Polyphia is truly a band anyone can appreciate whether they typically stream their music or not. The band's setlist catered to everyone in the audience, incorporating their earlier sounding metal-core hits with some of their more pop-oriented recent releases. The band pleased die-hard fans first by beginning their set with their harder tracks. In response, mosh pits opened here and there, fans began to fly through arms to get closer. It was almost as if we had been attending a metal concert, until halfway through, the band shifted to their current, bubblegum-pop productions. The energy of the crowd almost entirely flipped upside down, as if we suddenly entered a pop-rap concert where everyone knows the lyrics and is dancing along with strangers. Ultimately, Polyphia has one of those shows anyone can be entertained at and enjoy without feeling pressured by not knowing the lyrics or every single song by heart.
Over the last thirteen years, Polyphia has solidified their spot as one of the leading instrumentally-based bands of the progressive-rock genre. Their performance is one for the books and definitely something you won’t want to miss out. The band is constantly touring the world so keep up below to find out when they’ll be in your city next!
