Show Recap: As I Lay Dying @ Gothic Theatre

my buddy Tahoe and I ventured down to the Gothic Theatre to catch one of our favorite bands; As I Lay Dying who were on tour with support from War Of Ages, Blessthefall, and Demon Hunter. When I originally saw this tour lineup I was very excited. I am a fan of AILD and War of Ages, I’ve listened to Blessthefall, and I was interested to hear Demon Hunter. I've been trying to catch War Of Ages live for awhile now after i missed them at Sonshine Festival last year, then they had to bail on the 10 for $10 Tour right before the Denver stop at the end of last summer. After seeing the show however I think this lineup was very poor.

First though, As I Lay Dying, the headliner. They always put on a stellar show and this was one of the better performances I’ve seen by them. Even though they just released a new record, The Powerless Rise, they only played 2 songs from the record. It always cool to hear new tracks live, but as a fan going to see a band live you want to hear the songs you know and love, and As I Lay Dying understands that. They played all of their big songs starting with the opener 94 Hours then into An Ocean Between Us. About 4 songs in they played the first track off the new record, Beyond Our Suffering, and it seemed to go over pretty well. Since their last record, An Ocean Between Us, was released about 3 years ago fans were hungry for new music, and i'm sure a good portion of the crowd had already gotten their hands on the new album and were singing along!

Speaking of singing along the energy in the Gothic was awesome. The show was sold out and the floor was energetic and supporting the bands well. with four huge records under their belt, As I Lay Dying is able to play a set that is filled with great songs, and every song incited the crowd more. So after Through Struggle and Beyond Our Suffering the band went off stage to get different guitars. this little break might have been the most impressive moment of the night when Jordan entertained us with an intense drum solo. for most of the Jordan was swinging his hair with all of his appendages going in different directs so that if you couldn't hear what he was playing you'd think it'd sound like a bunch of nonsense, except that its not! he's got to be one of the best drummers out there, just solid!

The middle of the set included songs Sound of Truth, Within Destruction, and Forsaken. As I Lay Dying was blasting through songs, rarely taking a second to talk between songs which i personally enjoy (less talk, more rock). This led into the 2nd new song of the night, Vacancy, which was an interesting choice. Tim Lambesis introduced the song as "a fast one" which was apparently the reason it was chosen, however there are much better songs on the new album that would have been great to hear but maybe they haven't prepped them for the live show yet. After Vacancy they played Confined, Meaning in Tragedy, and the crowd favorite I Never Wanted, which featured the crowd in full voice!

After the "last" song, Tim thanked the crowd and they left the stage. I'm personally a little done with planned encores but whatever, As I Lay Dying were obviously coming back to play some more, maybe Tim needed some air after playing at Denver's high altitude. A few minutes after chants of "one more song" the lights dimmed and on-stage spotlights began to search the crowd. combined with the darkness and the smoke this created an eerie effect, almost like flashlights searching through a dark foggy night. Then we were greeted with the sound of Nick's lead guitar, playing the epic intro Separation. Soon joined by Phil's guitar the encore was on, AILD played Separation, Nothing Left and finally Forever.

The great thing about As I Lay Dying's live set is that everyone in the band gets involved. Tim is a solid front-man with his strong vocals and confidence, he moves around the stage and gets the kids involved. Josh on bass and supports with clean vocals, while he's not the best singer around he's still gives a ton of energy to the crowd. I've already talked about how amazing Jordan is on the drums, it's great that he's up on an elevated drum-riser and instead of rocking a double-kick pedal, he goes with two separate bass drums with always looks great! And the guitarist are great, Nick and Phil totally compliment each other, and even though Phil is technically the rhythm guitarist, he gets his chance to show off his chops.

The supporting bands were alright. War of Ages opened the show, played a 5-song set including 2 new songs off their recent release Eternal. Then they also played their staples opening with Through the Flames and then closed with Standing Firm followed by All Consuming Fire. They added a little humor at the end of their set playing the intro to Enter Sandman (Metallica) then stopping with a "just joking!". Blessthefall was solid but maybe a little too choreographed. The had "dance moves" and just seemed out-of-place with these other metal bands. Demon Hunter had a ton of crowd support, but again i think they were out-of-place as well. True metal fans were not impressed with the band and voiced their opinion, but were usually drowned out by the very vocal Christian support.

The show was great, the only disappointing thing for me was that none of the bands talked about their faith, or even mentioned Christ at all. This may have been because it was already assumed to be Christian bands, like Third Day doesn't need to announce what they believe at their shows, but still I've seen AILD before and it's always encouraging to hear bands with such credibility encourage the fans in this way. Maybe next time they'll start adding some of their new songs to their set.







War of Ages:

Show Recap: 10 for $10 Tour

So at last, the 10 for $10 came and went through Denver. I usually have pretty positive reviews of shows, i think i'm easily entertained when it comes to live music so the fact that i was not impressed with the 10 for $10 should say something. But i have to admit, over the years i've slowly moved away from "tough guy" hardcore bands like Bane, Champion, Madball, and therefore i was a little bit out of my element last night.

the 10 for $10 Tour is basically built on the idea of 10 bands for $10. When this tour was announced it was advertised with Poison the Well as the headliner, and Madball, Bane, and Vision of Disorder supporting on different legs of the tour. The tour had a pool of bands that were supporting at different stops along the way and at first it was not certain which bands would be coming to Denver. Obviously i was hoping to see Madball and Vision, along with This Is Hell, Crime in Stereo, Bane, and War of Ages, the rest of the bands i didn't know a lot about.

Well, it probably couldn't have gone much worse. Madball and Vision weren't playing the Denver date, therefore Bane was the headliner with Poison the Well. I've seen Bane before and they were good, but i've never really become a fan. i've never listened to Poison the Well so i wasn't excited to see them. Basically i was paying $10 to see War of Ages, Crime in Stereo and This is Hell, which is definitely worth the $10. War of Ages is a band i've been wanting to see for a while, and although they played at Sonshine in Minnesota when i was there, i had to miss the last night of the concert therefore missing War of Ages.

The doors opened at 3p, which meant the bands would start just before 4p. Since the first 6 bands on the tour were rotating every night, it was impossible to predict when War of Ages would be playing, so i played it safe and got there early (4p). As i walked in on the first band i immediately recognized them as Denver's own Crooked Ways. Right at the end of their song they announced that they had been a last-minute replacement for War of Ages, who had left the tour to go home to handle some family emergency.

bummer.

That basically ruined my night, so i had a pessimistic view of the rest of the bands. so let me start the negativity with Crooked Ways. I'm always down to support local bands, but i just cannot get into these guys. i've mentioned them before, i just think they're uncreative and trying to hard to "validate" themselves as hardcore kids, and it gets annoying.

After them we saw another Colorado hardcore band, from Ft. Lupton, Come Forth By Night. They were pretty bad too. The crowd wasn't really into them, unfortunately, and they just didn't seem to be playing well, the guitarist was having all sorts of trouble with his equipment. but the killer for me was their last song, a cover of Pennywise's Bro Hymn. Now i think this is lame on many levels. first, Pennywise is an active punk band, skate punk for that matter. even though the cover had a hardcore twist to it, it's still a skate punk song from a band that most hardcore kids would never associate themselves with. its almost like saying you liked Blink-182 at some point *gasp!. secondly, the song is a hit for Pennywise, it's their most recognizable song. you don't take the one song that has made a band popular and use it to incite a crowd response and use it as your closer. i just don't get it, i thought it was lame, and weak. i'll probably be hunted down for saying it.

After that we saw Trapped Under Ice. they were terrible too, energetic though, but i just didn't get it, maybe i'm getting too old for hardcore.

After that was our big surprise of the night, A Ghost Inside. Wow, they were incredible! ton of energy, great sounding songs, very tight band that seemed to know what they were doing. i'll be checking these guys out for sure.

Then it was Crime in Stereo, who everyone apparently really likes (including myself) but they always seem to be playing on wierd lineups that doesn't really fit their style. CIS is much more melodic, and slower paced than hardcore bands. i loved them though, the singer was on key this time (unlike this time) and they were really tight.





After that was Death Before Dishonor. Solid tough-guy hardcore, they were good, but didn't blow me away. this video i took is great, some kid stage-dives and then apparently didn't get up, the band stops to check on him, and then starts back up, check it out:



After that we saw This Is Hell, a band i've been wanting to see for a long time yet i always miss their shows. They were a little bit of a letdown, but i don't think it their fault. it appeared that the crowd was starting to get tired and just didn't have the energy for TIH. I have to say their drummer is ridiculous, he was amazing. my buddy Isaac Fratini told me awhile back to check him out and he was right, the dude is solid!





After This Is Hell we left, i would have liked to see Bane, but i just didn't have much interest in the other bands and i was hungry.