August Burns Red – The Fillmore – 6.26.19

 

This past Wednesday evening, The Fillmore had its walls shaken as the Grammy-Nominated metal-core group August Burns Red took the stage. Detroit was one of the first stops on their anniversary tour, celebrating the 10 year milestone of their album Constellations.

Currently starting in the US, the group is only a fraction of their way through this world tour, with stops lined in seven additional countries, including Australia and several European countries. August Burns Red is being supported on their American leg of their tour by veteran rock band Silverstein, and the metalcore group Silent Planet.

Starting off the night, Silent Planet took the stage as the opener. The band released their third album When the End Began late 2018, and has continued gaining traction in the metal-core scene since.

Vocalist Garrett Russell had a few messages to convey to the audience. Russell, while not only being a superb vocalist with his lyricism and deliverance, also holds a master’s degree in psychology. His statements about mental health and dealing with diseases such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and PTSD all reflect his time spent in the field as a mental health therapist.

Russell had a talking point in between songs where spoke upon his friend who had been living with PTSD from going overseas to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan. Once he concluded his message of support for sufferers of PTSD, he then dedicated the song “Panic Room” to all in the room that related with what he spoke. The band ended their set with their song “Depths II”, leaving the crowd anticipated and ecstatic for Silverstein’s slot.

It was now time for Canadian band Silverstein to take the stage, as the direct support to the headliner. The group took an approach to their set that would appease both new fans and old fans alike. With playing their heavy hitting recent hits such as “Massachusetts” and “A Midwestern State of Emergency”, the five-piece also pulled out some of their older, yet familiar hits like “Smile in Your Sleep”, “My Heroine”, and “Smashed Into Pieces”, in honor of the occasion of ABR’s own 10 year anniversary of their music.

Vocalist Shane Told spoke about how excited him and his group are to be touring with ABR once again. The two groups had met back when ABR’s album Constellations was first released. He couldn’t express more gratitude about touring on this anniversary tour with them and seeing the album go from the infant stage it was in when it came out, to being the matured and critically acclaimed piece of music that it is today.

Silverstein was also extremely excited to be in a city so close to them, as they are native to Toronto, just a drive across the border. Acting at that excitement, Silverstein had released their new single featuring Caleb Shomo (Beartooth) called “Burn it Down” the day of this concert, and they performed it live for the very first time. It was a spectacle for all the fans that had the opportunity to listen to the heavy hitting track before the show. The group performed amazingly, with their energetic charisma and consistent sound, it left the crowd awaiting the final act of the night: August Burns Red.

This Grammy-Nominated quintet was not about to disappoint their fans with an anniversary performance of this stature. The first moment of the set began with the room being completely shout out from any light. The only thing that followed was the flaming “U” stage prop illuminating the stage. Drummer Matt Greiner greeted the audience by standing on his drum throne and screaming towards the crowd. Soon after, the rest of the group came out from side-stage and greeted the crowd with their Jake Luhrs excited demeanors, almost as if they were about to participate in the crowd themselves.

Vocalist Jake Luhrs grabbed his mic and stole the attention of the room as he perched upon the center riser of the stage. Being one of the first stops of the tour, it was a palpable excitement-filled expression written all over his face.

“Usually we don’t play beautiful venues like this, and this is awesome,” Luhrs remarked in-between songs.

As they played the album in its entirety, Luhrs took a moment to mention that he had some specific guests in the crowd that he wanted to acknowledge. Before performing the song “The Escape Artist”, Luhrs had dedicated the song to the late We Came as Romans vocalist Kyle Pavone. Family members including Kyle’s siblings were in attendance of the show, and the dedication of the song left the crowd to give an “already”-standing ovation.

The sincerity and appreciation from the group was vocalized in between every song, showing their gratitude for keeping the music they had released 10 years ago alive and well.

The band played the entirety of Constellations, with Luhrs taking both a vocalist and an instrumental role throughout the set. With a top of the line light set up and unparalleled musicianship, ABR exceeded their fans’ expectations with their concise and flawless performance of their 10 year old, celebrated album.

Their world tour will be concluding with their show on December 7th in Amsterdam. Visit their website here to see upcoming tour dates and stream the 2019 remixed version of Constellations here.

Silent Planet

 

 

Silverstein

 

August Burns Red