Architects – St. Andrews Hall – 2.21.18

Architects, Stick To Your Gun & Counterparts
St. Andrews Hall – Detroit, MI – 2.21.2018
Photographer: Kyle Smutzki

The date was Wednesday, February 21st and the U.K. metal band, Architects were stopping by St. Andrews Hall for their “Doomsday” Tour; bringing along California legends, Stick To Your Guns, and the melodic hardcore professionals hailing from Ontario, Counterparts.

Despite being a Wednesday evening, the crowd still came out and packed up the venue, as soon as Counterparts took stage, you knew that a lot of people here were very anxious to see their set.

They opened up their set with “Bouquet,” off their latest album, You’re Not You Anymore, released in the fall of 2017 and then backed that song off with “Stranger” from 2015’s release Tragedy Will Find Us. 

I have seen Counterparts a handful of times and every time have left me always wishing they had time to play a few extra songs. This night they had enough time to play through 11 songs, and a stand out song for me was their performance of “You’re Not You Anymore”. This band truly never disappoints and tore the Hall apart with their set that covered all of the hits from Currents to You’re Not You Anymore.

Stick To Your Guns picked up right where Counterparts left off, opening their set with a new track “Married To The Noise,” from 2017’s TrueView brought with them what seemed to be “National Crowd Surf Day” because as soon as they started playing, everyone was finding their way up to stage for high-fives with front-man Jesse Barnett. Hardcore “OG’s” Chris Rawson and Josh James were in their usual forms, displaying jumps around the stage and roaring out every word alongside Jesse.

If you know anything about STYG, you know their art is often fueled by political messaged, and filled with knowledge and passion that made me drawn to this band in the first place. Their performance was nothing short of perfect and I think they were successful in leaving a mark on those who weren’t familiar with STYG yet.

At last, it was time for Architects to come through and end the night off, initiating their set off with “A Match Made In Heaven.” The energy in the Hall hit an all time high, and remained constant until their 15 song set was finished.

This was my first time catching these guys live, but I’ve seen many videos of them, and I already knew that they always brought a crazy onstage display with lighting and energy. What I saw this night blew everything I was expecting out of the water.  It’s not common to come across a vocalist in the genre that can hit every note and sound better than their recordings, but Sam Carter is a perfect candidate for an artist that will do so.

The band played a hand full of songs from their 2014 release, Lost Forever // Lost Together, 2016 release All Our Gods Have Abandoned us and their new single, “Doomsday” which is crazy heavy live. The band returned for an encore with “Nihilist” and “Gone With The Wind,” which was dedicated to founding member and guitarist, Tom Searle, who passed away last year after a battle with cancer.

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Architects

Stick To Your Guns

Counterparts