August Burns Red & The Amity Affliction Heat Up The Fillmore
After a stressful start to spring including getting sick with whatever illness was in full force in the middle of March, to moving, to going out to Boston to run the Boston Marathon, it was nice to look forward to a short break from the grind of the day to day. However, I am too easily restless and was itching to get back out to a show, and what better way to get back into it than catching one of my favorite bands, August Burns Red. As I made my way to Minneapolis to The Fillmore to catch the Spring Horizons co-headlong tour with The Amity Affliction, I couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of anticipation and eagerness to be fully immersed in a live show.
First up for the night was Australian metal band Heavensgate. Yet again a band I didn’t familiarize myself with prior to seeing them live, but it is one of the best ways to experience music for the first time. As soon as their set started, Heavensgate was no frills and right to business, wasting no time grinding through their short and sweet set. The band had a perfect blend of blasting metal riffs and double bass and more melodic, dual vocals mixed in a few of their tracks. Heavensgate’s opening track (I believe it was “RAIN”) also had one of the heaviest breakdowns/metal drops I’ve heard in a minute and was a nice surprise.
Boundaries was next in line to take the stage. From the start the Connecticut based metal band came out swinging, instantly cranking the energy in The Fillmore up several notches. Maybe this experience was more unique to me, but I found Boundaries' set to evoke a local metal show vibe, which was so fun to experience. Even with the constant calls for circle pits, crowd surfers, and head banging, it didn’t feel like much effort was needed on the part of the band to get the crowd going and engaged. The crowd came alive with each song that passed, constantly moving along to each song, with an onslaught of crowdsurfers appearing every few songs. Boundaries also brought out the lead vocalist from Heavensgate to do guest vocals, a nice added element to their set.
The penultimate band of the evening was the one and only The Amity Affliction. I’ll be honest, I don’t have a clear memory of catching this band live before. I’m sure I have as an opener or on a festival at some point along the way, but nothing distinct comes to mind. While I have not been up to speed on the band’s discography, I felt like I was one of the few in the crowd that fell into that category. It was as though the band burst out on stage with a fit of energy that radiated through the crowd. The stage, complete with a full LED screen backdrop behind drummer Joe Longobardi that displayed lyrics and other imagery during the band’s set, was bursting with energy, with lead vocalist Joel Birch endlessly bouncing from one end to the other. The band played a sampling of a little of everything from their discography, and it was just fun to watch how much the band seemed to enjoy being on stage. In what felt like no time at all, the band signaled the end of their set, closing it out with “Soak Me In Bleach.”
Closing out the night was Pennsylvania metalcore vets August Burns Red. I have lost count of the number of times and different locations I’ve been able to see this band live over the years, but it always feels like a little dose of home for me to be at one of their shows. I’ve been lucky that August Burns Red seems to like to tour frequently; it feels like their live show has become an annual experience and ritual for me. This night at The Fillmore was no different: August Burns Red stormed the stage opening with a trifecta of “Meddler,” “Back Burner,” and “Invisible Enemy.” I appreciate that the band has done a few milestone album tours, since it feels like it opens their setlist up to a little more variety: a sprinkle of deeper cuts, and a dash of new material, all while leaving the staples of their set feeling fresh. It was great to catch a couple of tracks off of their new record “Season of Surrender” as well as a couple of my favorites “Marianas Trench” and “Empire.” It also wouldn’t be an August Burns Red show without an amazing drum solo from drummer Mat Greiner, complete with additional percussion from JB Brubaker, Dustin Davidson, and Brent Rambler - it truly bewilders me how insanely talented Matt & the rest of the band are, and I will never not be taken aback by that when seeing them live. All in all, August Burns Red & The Amity Affliction proved to be a well deserved escape from the mundane day to day and I hope I can carry on the annual tradition of catching August Burns Red live for a few more years.
