If you told my middle school self that she’d eventually be photographing August Burns Red, she would’ve probably called you a liar. Thankfully for me though, it wasn’t a lie and I got the chance to see them at one of their recent stops on their Through the Thorns tour. This was my first time seeing them perform live and, I won’t lie, I briefly debated whether it was actually worth it to go to a concert on a Tuesday night when I had to go to work the next morning. It ended up being 110% worth it though. Not only was August Burns Red fantastic, but all of their openers were equally as amazing.
The first two acts to take the stage were Void of Vision and Hollow Front–both of whom I hadn’t heard before so I had no idea what to expect from either of them. Void of Vision was up first and they got the show off to a fantastic start with their immediate energy. Lead vocalist, Jack Bergin had a fantastic stage presence and looked as though he was born to be a performer.
Next up was Hollow Front who hyped up the crowd’s energy even higher–so high, in fact, that some of the crowd started up a mosh pit.
Each of these bands brought so much energy to the stage that they could’ve easily been mistaken as a headlining act, so I was definitely excited to see how the next two bands performed.
Up next was We Came as Romans. I was personally pretty excited for their set as I’ve been a fan of them for over 10 years. Unsurprisingly, they put on an amazing show and the crowd seemed to love every minute of it. We Came as Romans matched, and then exceeded, the energy levels of the previous sets and after the first couple of songs, fans started crowd-surfing and the mosh pit seemed to double in size. Towards the end of their set, they slowed things down a little bit with their song, “Learning to Survive” which they played as a tribute to former band-member Kyle Pavone. Despite the slight energy shift, the crowd stayed engaged by singing along and then continuing to mosh and crowd-surf when the tempo picked back up again.
By the end of the third set, I didn’t know how the crowd was going to keep up their energy levels but even in the brief period between We Came as Romans and August Burns Red, everyone remained excited and energetic. While waiting for the last set, the venue began playing music over the speakers–first Fall out Boy, then some My Chemical Romance, and then a System of a Down song came on…or at least, that’s what I thought it was.
As it turns out, August Burns Red opened their set with a cover of “Chop Suey”, which was definitely something I wasn’t expecting. As soon as I realized they were playing, I rushed up to the photo pit to get some pictures of them. I must not have been the only one who was surprised because while I rushed up to the photo pit, fans were rushing from the bar back to the venue floor to watch the show and, in some cases, to start moshing again. After “Chop Suey”, the next song on the setlist was “Vengeance” which is from their 2021 album also titled Vengeance.
If you’re looking for a high energy concert, I definitely recommend catching August Burns Red. There’s a little bit less than a month left on their current tour so be sure to catch them while you can! You can get your tickets from https://augustburnsred.com/#tour. Whether you’re a current fan or not yet a fan, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed by any of the bands on this tour.
