COIN embarks on the I’m Not Afraid of Tour Anymore, their first headlining tour since the release of their last album, Uncanny Valley, in 2022. This tour is to accompany the release of their 2024 album, ‘I’m Not Afraid of Music Anymore.’

Coin’s stage plot has clearly been a long term build with careful and meticulous decisions. To paint the picture; reading the stage from left to right stands Joe Memmel on guitar and backup vocals, Chase Lawrence on lead vocals and Ryan Winnen on drums, then Taylor Cotton as a guest touring member. Under their feet lay a light and psychedelic rug. What stole the show, however, lay behind the entire stage and the sides of the drum platform are larger than life LED walls that are used to support custom visuals for each song on the set. These same LED walls can be found in a long stripe cornering the back of the stage. In a rectangular U shape, in the front of the stage, also lay a surrounding wall of intimidators that almost act as a cage to keep the band inside.

As the Raleigh show was a mere 2 days before Halloween, Lawrence asks who in the house dressed up. To my surprise, there were quite a few yells. Lawrence, addressing his normal attire, proceeds to say, ‘this is not a costume, this is reality.’

To open up one of their older songs, Boyfriend, Lawrence opens up about the catalyst of ‘I’m Not Afraid of Music Anymore.’ He discusses that for a long time, the band experienced debilitating fear of being themselves as a public entity, of touring the mass perception that comes with that.

This really opens up the conversation of how common this is in the music or entertainment industry. When he stated this, my mind immediately went to Bo Burnham’s monologue from the Kanye West Rant in his Make Happy Netflix special. In this special, Burhnam talked about panic attacks he would experience for a long period of time during his touring career, even sometimes while performing himself. His monologue perfectly describes what its like to function as someone with an anxiety disorder, and how both distracting and debilitating it may be.

With this plus the midst of the death of One Direction star Liam Payne, survivors coming out about Sean Combs, and other recent scandals in the second half of this year, I want this tour and this era of music to spark a conversation of the mental health of stars that we idolize through the community we have. We, as fans, have no possibility of empathizing simply because of our lack of accessibility to them on an emotional level.

Bringing it back to the simplicity of a concert, fans buy tickets to a concert expecting to experience a high energy and high effort from the acts they’re paying to see. However, to the artists, this is also a job. Not every day is going to be 100%. And for those who struggle with invisible mental issues, simply getting on the stage is all the effort that they can afford to give. I’d like to circle back to the stage plot of Coin’s tour again; the overuse of technical visual support, it almost acts like a cage to keep them safe. It is something to separate the band from the fan, even if that’s not the primary intention.

In conclusion, Lawrence closes up the statement saying, ‘Well, on another note, we’re also not afraid of our old songs anymore. Here’s Boyfriend!’ As someone who commonly likes older tracks by bands I’ve been a long time fan of, this statement warmed my heart.

This setlist was absolutely stacked with equal parts older music and newer tracks. Songs such as Youuu, sandwiched in between You Are The Traffic and Let It All Out. With 6 official albums, sometimes its difficult to find a good balance to appease every band. Coin, in my opinion, is one of the best at understanding how to create a great storyline with a set list and to consider all timelines of their career in their set.

The band ends their set with a timeless track released in 2020, Crash My Car. The crowd erupts in dancing and bopping, as the show comes to a close.

Aidan Bissett accompanies Coin on their 2024 tour; a pop/indie inspired songwriter who first gained traction in their career during the pandemic. Bissett was a great asset to this tour; as someone who is not knowledgeable about his discography, his music is still incredibly enjoyable live if you don’t know any of his lyrics.

Although the first leg of the I’m Not Afraid of Tour Anymore tour is over, they will pick back up in February in the West. Don’t miss your chance to see this tour while you have the chance!