August Burns Red North American Winter Tour – REVIEW

August Burns Red came to the House of Blues in Chicago on their North American Winter tour with supporting acts Silverstein, Texas In July and I, The Breather. You can check out our review after the break!

I attended the August Burns Red winter headliner with supporting acts Silverstein, Texas In July, and I, The Breather at the Chicago House of Blues. In short, the concert was nothing less than spectacular. I, The Breather took the stage first and before the curtain even lifted the crowd was going wild with anticipation and excitement. Throughout their entire set, they had the crowd jumping up and down to their bouncy breakdowns. Shawn Spann, the lead vocalist had a memorable moment where he set the mic on the stage, got on his hands and knees, and screamed into it without holding it. Both Shawn and one of the guitarists gave the crowd a ton of attention by jumping on top of the first row of kids. Everyone in the band had awesome stage presence and overall it was a great set to watch.

Texas in July was up next with a very hard hitting set that got the pit looking violent, and the crowd moving even more. Bassist Ben Witkowski had a death defying leap into the crowd during their third song that looked like it definitely hurt some of the kids in the front. It was probably the farthest I’ve seen anyone jump from a stage. Adam gray, drummer for TIJ was a huge focal point for many aspiring drummers because of his well known ability for stick flips while playing such technical parts. At one point, the band stopped and had the audience chant “I AM THE FIRE, THE WIND, AND THE SEA” which was cool to see that everyone knew the lyrics and was so passionate about them.

Silverstein got up next and played many of their older hits like “Smile In Your Sleep” and tracks off “Discovering the Waterfront”. During their set, the members switched instruments several times to play the same short song over and over again. Vocalist Shane Told went from singing, to guitar, to playing the drums. It was cool to see how versatile they were. The audience didn’t seem to know many of their new tracks off of “Rescue” and “Transitions”, but they still jumped with the band and got rowdy. The songs I recognized from Silverstein sounded straight from the CD. Shane’s voice was in perfect key all night (however his scream sounded completely different), and the band was mixed the best out of all three bands that had played.

August Burns Red took the stage next, and you could really tell the audience had been waiting all night for them. The band walked out to a screaming crowd (JB in his flip flops) and kicked off their set with “Empires”. ABR played tracks mainly off their newest release “Leveler” but also went back as far as their first CD “Thrill Seeker”. Everyone went nuts when they played their most well known songs “Backburner”, “Composure”, “Whitewashed”, and “Up Against The Ropes”. Before their encore, drummer Matt Greiner and Adam Grey got together for an incredible dual drum solo that had the crowd thirsty for more. The band came back out and played “Carpe Diem” and “Constellations” before ending the night. Jake Luhrs, singer of ABR, made it perfectly clear he would be by the merch table to talk with fans after the show. Often times, bands of that caliber stay away from the merch area so they don’t get mobbed. It showed me they still are grateful for fans no matter how big they get, and still want to interact and meet everyone. The show ended roughly around 10:15 pm, with just enough time for kids to buy some CD’s and t-shirts before the staff kicked everyone out.

Information about the review…
Tour: August Burns Red North American Winter Tour
Bands: August Burns Red, Silverstein, Texas In July and I, The Breather
Dates: February 18, 2012
Venue: House of Blues in Chicago, IL