August Burns Red rolled through Nashville, TN on their current tour celebrating 10 years of their album Rescue and Restore on November 16, 2023, taking over Marathon Music Works for the night. They brought their friends in Crystal Lake, Brand of Sacrifice and Spite along for the party! Looking through the crowd as they filed in, you saw shirts that represented all of the bands. As any avid concert goer can attest, that usually means the bands are in for an epic crowd.
The night began with Crystal Lake bringing their brand of metal to Music City all the way from Tokyo, Japan. They came out to take no prisoners as they launched into a brutal set that saw plenty of head-banging from the crowd and band alike. There was no absence of energy on stage with the band feeding from what the crowd was giving them.
The night continued on with a crowd favorite, Brand of Sacrifice. From the moment they stepped on stage, they were encouraging the formation of circle pits and crowd surfing, giving a shout out to the house security team who were standing by at the ready to help those surfing concert goers. Playing a selection of songs that it was obvious that the crowd knew- they played through their set with intensity, all the while encouraging the crowd to interact with them. Some of the heavy hitting songs that made the setlist included Millennium, Exodus and Purge.
Another band that was clearly known to the crowd took the stage next, Spite. Starting the night with their song Made To Please, you knew you were in for a treat with these guys. It’s really hard to take your eyes off of Darius Tehrani as he performs. He is electric, and you never know what he is going to do next. He had the crowd eating out of his hand by the time the first note dropped, and they were loving every minute of it. As had been the case the rest of the night, the circle pits and crowd surfers were active, which the band thoroughly appreciated. This death core band knows how to put on a show with adding songs to their setlist such as IED, The Root of All Evil, and Snap.
Finally August Burns Red took the stage! You always know you are going to get a good light show with these guys, and this night was no exception. With their logo sitting center stage that changed colors based on the lighting theme of the moment, the audience was immersed in the show from the moment that Chop Suey came over the speakers to welcome the band to the stage. Complete with smoke canons, lasers and LED lighting, the stage was as visually stunning as it was musically. The main set was comprised entirely of the tracks from Rescue and Recovery, which is the album they are celebrating on this tour. The captive audience was singing along with every song as well as taking time to mosh and surf throughout the set. For the encore, then band broke out songs from other albums including White Washed, Bloodletter, Revival and Composure which the crowd absolutely adored. We are quickly rolling into the Holly Jolly Season, and of course a band that hosts a Christmas show every year could not let that go without marking the season. To start the encore off, they launched into their rendition of Carol of the Bells, complete with a red and green light motive to bring in the extra festive. Hearing them play their version of this song live is ALWAYS a treat because of the technical prowess required to pull off that riff. They never disappoint.
