Sparks the Rescue brought their love for Vermont to their performance at the Higher Ground Showcase Lounge with Taken Alive and Major Moment.
The Showcase Lounge at Higher Ground is a special place that often gets overlooked compared to its big sister, the main ballroom. With a much smaller capacity of around 300 people, the room is set up similarly to the upstairs room at The Palladium. It’s a small space that creates an up-close and personal experience, with no barricade separating the crowd from the stage, just the floor and the performers. That setup brings a level of energy and intimacy to the shows there that makes the venue stand out.
Rock band Sparks the Rescue is currently on a tour around New England, and the first stop of the run brought them to Higher Ground’s Showcase Lounge in South Burlington, with support from Taken Alive and Major Moment. All three acts have strong local ties to the region and brought dedicated fan followings that filled the intimate venue with energy throughout the night.
First up was Major Moment from Boston. If you’re a fan of bands like Bad Omens, Starset, or Bring Me the Horizon , those cinematic, atmospheric-sounding heavy bands , then they are definitely a group worth checking out. Led by Sasha Razumova and Andrey Borzykin on vocals, the duo creates a beautiful balance of both heavy and soft vocal styles, while weaving in synth-driven elements that add an atmospheric edge to their sound. The result is catchy, headbanging, melodic music that feels both massive and emotional at the same time.
VIDEO FROM: MAJOR MOMENTS YOUTUBE
Next up was Taken Alive, an alt/punk emo local band that proved to be the perfect choice to keep the energy building before Sparks the Rescue took the stage. The band opened their set with the first track from their new 2026 album This World is Exhausting, immediately bringing a surge of energy into the room. Their mix of emo-driven melodies, punchy punk rhythms, and emotionally charged vocals connected quickly with the crowd, keeping the momentum of the night moving at full speed.The band began to form in 2022, and inn 2023 the band established themselves as Taken Alive and hitting streaming platforms with “Movies on Repeat”. The band conitinued to release singles throughout 2023 and 2024 with songs like “Matches”, “Don’t Sweat It” and “Stuck In Motion” before being signed to PNWK Records at the end of 2025 along with releasing “Ashes”
VIDEO FROM: TAKEN ALIVE
The newest singles, “Ashes” and “Spinning,” serve as the first taste of Taken Alive’s debut album This World is Exhausting. The songs — and really the album as a whole — capture everything that pop punk and emo fans love: emotionally charged lyrics, catchy riffs, massive choruses, and the kind of raw honesty that lets listeners fully embrace every emotion. It’s the perfect blend of vulnerability and energy, balancing heartfelt moments with explosive instrumentals and passionate vocals.
It also feels like the perfect time for the band to be emerging onto the scene. With the return of Vans Warped Tour and the continued resurgence of pop punk, post-hardcore, and emo music, a new generation of fans is discovering the beauty of sad songs mixed with screaming vocals, soaring guitar riffs, and hard-hitting breakdowns. Taken Alive fits naturally into that revival while still bringing their own modern energy and personality to the genre.
Based on the reaction they received and the momentum they continue to build throughout the Northeast, it would not be surprising at all to see them playing a Vans Warped Tour stage within the next few years. They have all the pieces of a band ready to break into something much bigger, and this feels like only the beginning.
VIDEO FROM: TAKEN ALIVE
The energy and connection stayed high throughout Taken Alive’s 10-song set. Between songs, the band took time to talk with the crowd and joke with each other on stage, creating a fun and relaxed atmosphere that made the performance feel personal rather than rehearsed. Their chemistry carried naturally into the music, helping every song land with even more impact.
If you’re a fan of bands like The Used or Jimmy Eat World, this is definitely a band worth putting on your radar. They’ve built a strong following throughout the Northeast and are currently gaining serious momentum in the Connecticut music scene, where they’ve also earned a reputation for supporting and uplifting their local community. With so many larger bands actively touring again, it feels like only a matter of time before Taken Alive gets the opportunity to hit the road with a bigger national act. Based on the response they received this night, the future looks incredibly bright for them.
TAKEN ALIVE SETLIST:
`1. Down and Out
2. Two Knuckles
3. Falling Knife
4. Matches
5. Don’t Sweat It
6. Ashes
7. Spinning
8. Subscribe To Stay Alive
9. Movies
10 Stuck In Motion
The crowd had fully packed the room by the time Sparks the Rescue took the stage, with fans traveling from all across the Northeast for the chance to see one of their favorite bands in such an intimate setting. The band opened with “Autumn” from their 2009 debut album Eyes to the Sun, instantly igniting a wave of nostalgia and energy throughout the venue.
What makes Sparks the Rescue stand out is the vocal chemistry between Alex Roy and Marty McMorrow. The contrast between Alex’s melodic vocals and Marty’s grittier delivery gives the band their signature pop punk and post-hardcore sound, creating songs that feel both anthemic and emotionally raw.
The band originally formed in 1999 when Toby McAllister, Ben Briggs, and Nathan Spencer were still in junior high school. By 2006, with the additions of Marty McMorrow, Alex Roy, and Patrick O’Connell, the band evolved from its skate-punk roots into the pop punk/post-hardcore sound they are known for today. Between 2009 and 2014, Sparks the Rescue toured heavily, appearing on Vans Warped Tour in 2010 and sharing stages with bands like The All-American Rejects.
Last year, the band celebrated their 20th anniversary with a massive hometown show at the iconic State Theatre. It was there they announced this current spring tour, with select dates also featuring Wheatus, Signal the Escape, and The Sophomore Beat. The sold-out anniversary show proved just how lasting the band’s impact has been, with longtime fans packing the venue and celebrating the music that has stayed with them for more than two decades.
Their performance at Higher Ground captured the feeling of lifelong friends still loving every second of making music together for fans who have supported them for decades. The setlist almost felt secondary to the experience itself, serving more as a loose outline for where the night could go. It didn’t take long for the band to go off script, with fans throughout the room shouting out requests and the band happily leaning into the spontaneity of the moment.
Throughout the night, Sparks the Rescue joked that many of their songs were actually “about Vermont,” setting up tracks by telling the crowd exactly that before launching into the next song. The running joke landed perfectly with the audience, especially in a room full of Vermont fans who connected deeply with the band’s lyrics, energy, and nostalgic sound. It added another layer of personality to a performance that already felt intimate, genuine, and driven by the connection between the band and the crowd.
Sparks the Rescue has stayed busy releasing new music over the last few years, with their most recent single, “Chase The Dawn,” arriving in November 2025. The track captures the spirit of the band’s earlier material while blending it with the experience and maturity that comes from spending more than two decades in the scene. It still carries the infectious hooks, emotional lyrics, and energetic pop punk/post-hardcore sound that longtime fans fell in love with, but with a more refined and confident edge that reflects how much the band has grown over the years.
Other recent singles include “Ice Storm of ’98” and “Collarbone,” the latter becoming such a crowd favorite that fans continued shouting for it throughout the night, even after the band had already played it. The song’s catchy hooks and contagious energy made it impossible not to get pulled into, perfectly capturing the nostalgic yet fresh sound that Sparks the Rescue continues to deliver after all these years. It makes up wish we were in the middle of a Vans Warped Tour mosh pit with thousands of fellow pop/punk post hardcore fans living our best lives while getting all our angst out. Hopefully they are another band that we see take the newly revived Vans Warped Tour in the future. Until then, we will leave with you “Collarbone” and a list of tour dates to see if you can get to one of their shows. We 100 percent recommend taking the trek to catch them!
VIDEO FROM: SPARKS THE RESCUE
SPRING TOUR DATES
5/7 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
5/8 – Portland, ME @ Live at Madrid’s +
5/9 – Philadelphia, PA @ Milkboy $
5/10 – Brooklyn, NY @ The Woodshop
5/14 – Portsmouth, NH @ The Press Room *
5/15 – Amherst, MA @ The Drake *
5/16 – Albany, NY @ Empire Underground *
5/17 – Worcester, MA @ Palladium Upstairs $*
$ – with Wheatus
* – with Signal The Escape
+ – with The Sophomore Beat
A VERY LOOSE SETLIST FOR THE HIGHER GROUND SHOW
- Autumn
- Pine Street State
- Bath Skate Park
- My Heart Radio
- Skeleton
- The Scene (Your Bedroom)
- Collarbone
- Hello Mexico
- We Love Like Vampires
- Chemistry Set
- Ice Storm of 98′
- Chase The Dawn
- Getting Clean In the Dirty South
- Nurse! Nurse! (Im Losing My Patients)
- Saco Boys Have No Class
SPARKS THE RESCUE
Linktree| Facebook | Instagram | Youtube | Spotify
TAKEN ALIVE
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Youtube | Spotify
MAJOR MOMENT
Website | Facebook | Instagram | X | Youtube | Spotify
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