Making my way into Sound Control ready for opening act Napoleon the first thing I noticed was it was already rammed to the bright red rafters and dripping with sweat before anyone had even started playing.
Napoleon roundhouse kick things off with a tight performance, which the crowd lapped up: jumping around, circle pitting and grinning manically in the front row. Napoleon’s performance was dominated by vocalist Wes Thompson who strutting around the ring with the bouncy footwork of a boxer, with the occasional bout of dad dancing. The drums and bass working together providing energy and groove, Bass player Jacob Brelsford spinning like a top for most of the set. A genuinely enjoyable set.
August Burns Red put on a strong contender for one of my top 10 gigs of all time, certainly the best this year. I’d generally thought the term bringing the house down was a euphemism, but tonight with sound control literally shaking it felt like a very real prospect.
This was a whole band performance and they absolutely owned Sound Control tonight. The performance was dominated by the presence of vocalist Jake Luhrs gave an animated, sweat flinging performance which whipped the already high energy crowd into a frenzy.
Band members running between three platforms at the front of stage to showcase their musicianship, with soaring leads and brutal riffs, mixing with a relentless, hard-hitting rhythm section. The talent of the rhythm section would be showcased later in the set when Dustin Davidson joining Matt Greiner on the drums to deliver a drumline style solo which dropped a few jaws to the floor.
The energy of the crowd was intense, singing along, jumping so much the floor was moving up and down with them. Crowd surfers were thrown with barely a pause into the dangerously narrow strip at the front which passes as sound controls photo-pit. There was an air of something special tonight, new tracks like ‘Invisible Enemy’ went down well with the audience.
When JB jumped on to the shoulders of the resident Pit Troll and rode around the circle pit playing a solo in the audience, the crowd surrounding him arms aloft was an incredible moment. At the end of the gig it was nice to see all of the band spend time with the fans at the front.
Amazing Performance!
WORDS AND PHOTOS BY RICH PRICE