Beartooth started this European/UK tour out with all dates completely sold out in advance. That itself speaks for the band and for the line-up of this tour.
Special guests on that tour were Higher Power and The Amity Affliction.
Leeds (UK)-based band Higher Power is, according to their facebook page, a Hardcore band. I don’t totally agree, because they are in fact not that heavy. They definitely have a funky vibe to their music. Whatever you want to call it, they might still be a relatively new band, but with their introduction to a wider audience through this tour, they hopefully will get more followers. Higher Power released two records so far, their latest one ’27 Miles Underwater’, came out in January 2020.
Though usually the opening band has to play to only parts of the audience, since people tend to come in later when the first band is not that popular, that day, it was already pretty packed, when they started at 7 pm. The band played an energetic set. They were absolutely able to get the crowd going, though they only played roughly 30 minutes and I hope they will soon get another chance to hop onto another tour.
For me, on the one hand The Amity Affliction and Beartooth are a good band combination for a show, but The Amity Affliction themselves are equally popular. They played the same venue only last year, so at least a double-headliner show would’ve probably made sense.
But anyway, at 8 pm it was stage-time for The Amity Affliction. They are one of the most popular Australian Metalcore-acts. Their worlwide popularity, outside of Australia, constantly grew over the last years. The Amity Affliction released their seventh studio record ‘Everyone Loves You…Once You Leave Them’ the day after the Munich show. Fans were already able to get the vinyl and CD at the Merch table. We were lucky to get an early listen and let me tell you, it’s a great record. They went a bit heavier on this one, which is something many fans hoped for. For a review on ELYOYLT, check this out:
They opened their set with the first two tracks of the new record ‘Coffin’ and ‘All My Friends Are Dead’. The latter has been the first song they shared of ‘Everyone Loves You…Once You Leave Them’ a few months ago. They played another new one during their set – ‘Soak Me In Bleach’. Apart from that, the setlist covered mostly the more recent records ‘Misery’ and ‘Let The Ocean Take Me’, but judging by the fan reactions, they didn’t mind. There was some heavy crowd surfing going on and security had their hands full with getting people back on safe grounds. The band seemingly enjoyed themselves. What’s remarkable about The Amity Affliction is, that their performance focusses mainly on the music, not on special lighting or extra effects. Forty-five minutes went by too fast, but Joel Birch said in an interview that they’d come back to Europe in 2020, so there’s hope for more TAA live in 2020.
Set-list:
- Coffin
- All My Friends Are Dead
- Open Letter
- Feels Like I’m Dying
- Soak Me In Bleach
- Shine On
- Ivy (Doomsday)
- Don’t Lean On Me
- Pittsburgh
- Death’s Hand
By 9.15 pm it was time for Beartooth to enter the stage. Beartooth is a band that went big pretty fast. From playing really small clubs over here just a few years ago to selling out a whole tour in advance with middle-sized venues is not too bad. They released their latest record ‘Disease’ already in September 2018. The band is working on LP4, also while being on the road, so hopefully we’ll be looking at a new record in 2020.
When Beartooth went out on stage, you could tell that they were pumped and ready to deliver an energetic set. The set-list covered all three records, with a little more focus on ‘Disease’ though. The atmosphere was great and the front rows went nuts. The fans sang along to songs really loud. It seems like lately people at shows warm up to participate more. People tended to be much more reluctant. I love that they loosen up though. Much more fun to watch some interactions. Bands probably won’t mind that either. For some songs in more than one meaning, it got hot. The band didn’t just bring confetti, but they also had pyros and fire fountains on stage, which added an impressive visual to their performance.
The band promised to come back soon. Let’s hope so. Maybe they can even switch to a bigger venue next time, though I would like them to stay at that venue size, because the closeness to the audience gets somehow lost in bigger venues.
Set-list:
- The Lines
- Enemy
- Hated
- Aggressive
- Afterall
- Bad Listener
- I Have A Problem
- You Never Know
- Manipulation
- Fire
- Beaten In Lips
- Sick Of Me
- Body Bag
- Disease
- In Between (encore)
So far, no further tour dates have been announced for Beartooth. The Amity Affliction will be out on the road in the US with Sleeping With Sirens. Don’t miss that one. Should be fun!
Venue: Tonhalle
Date: 02/20/2020
~ Alex
For more information on the bands, follow their social media:
Beartooth
https://www.facebook.com/BEARTOOTHband/
https://www.beartoothband.com/
https://twitter.com/beartoothband
https://www.instagram.com/beartoothband/
The Amity Affliction
https://www.facebook.com/theamityafflictionofficial/
http://www.theamityaffliction.net/
https://www.instagram.com/theamityaffliction/
https://twitter.com/amityaffliction
Higher Power
https://www.facebook.com/higherpowerleeds/
https://www.higherpowerleeds.com/
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