Last Sunday was a wild night for metalcore and hardcore fans as August Burns Red brought their Spring Horizons tour to Dallas, TX. With an absolutely stacked lineup made up of co-headliner The Amity Affliction and openers Boundaries and Heaven’s Gate, the fans were in for one of the most high-energy shows that I have attended this year.
Heaven’s Gate kicked off the night with a bang, opening with their song “Rain.” I love whenever the heaviest band of the lineup goes first because it always sets the vibe for the rest of the night. Everyone loosened up really quickly over the course of the band's 6-song set, starting up the first circle pits of the evening. I had never seen Heaven’s Gate before, so I had no idea what to expect, but after a couple of songs, I realized just how fun they were to see live. The music and the band members were absolutely ballistic from start to finish! If you are into hardcore music, this band definitely needs to be added to your playlist if they aren’t already.
Heaven's Gate
The energy didn’t let up after Heaven’s Gate either, because once the band exited the stage, fellow hardcore band Boundaries took their place in front of the audience. I’ve had the honor of seeing these guys open up for A Day to Remember on their last North American tour, and they were just as exciting as I remembered. Whenever Boundaries performs, it feels like there's electricity racing through the air. While most of their tours seem to have them as openers, this band has headliner energy. The members know how to interact with the crowd and keep everyone moving on the floor so well. Their music is incredibly fast and aggressive and makes it physically impossible to stand still when you hear it. Every time I have seen them over the past year, they always end up being one of my favorite performances of the night.
Boundaries
After two heavy openers, the first metalcore performance of the night took the stage. The Amity Affliction walked out as loud cheers from hundreds of fans erupted from the venue. The band opened up their set with “Kickboxer,” a song from their newest record that has yet to be released at the time of writing this. They included several other songs off the upcoming album, such as “Heaven Sent” and “House of Cards," and fans sang along just as loudly to the new singles as they did to the older and most loved songs from the band. While still having some gnarly breakdowns throughout their set, Amity was the first band of the night to feature clean vocals and choruses in their songs, adding an extra level of passion and emotion to their performance. The band ended their set with two fan favorites, “Pittsburgh” and “Soak Me in Bleach,” which had fans, both young and old, throwing up the horns and screaming along at the top of their lungs, making for a fantastic finale.
The Amity Affliction
The Amity Affliction
Finally, the house lights dropped once more as headliner August Burns Red stepped up to the mics. The band opened with a classic and very beloved by fans track, “Meddler.” The fans wasted absolutely no time making their way to the barricade once ABR started playing. During the first two songs alone, I remember seeing/having to dodge at least 15 crowd surfers who had already surfed their way to the front. Each one was just as excited as the person next to them. I could tell we were going to be in for a wild night already at this point.
August Burns Red
Similar to The Amity Affliction before them, ABR is playing two of their new singles from their upcoming record before diving into some old favorites. Fans went exceptionally crazy once “The Eleventh Hour” began to play, sending dozens more crowd surfers over the barricades, almost overwhelming the security guards at the barricade. Halfway through the band’s set, I got a chance to look around and see just how many different ages of people were in attendance. With a long, successful career that has spanned from the early 2000s to now, it was obvious that there would be a bunch of elder emos in attendance, but it was really great to see just how many younger kids were at the show as well. There was one little two-year-old boy in the front, massive headphones on and everything, that I kept seeing over the crowd. Several times during the set, I saw his father lift him up over his head, Simba from "The Lion King" style, and the joy written across his face was priceless. I always love when parents bring their younger kids to metal shows and pass on their love for the music and scene to the next generation.
August Burns Red
August Burns Red ended the night on a high note with “White Washed,” which opened up the biggest wall of death that I had seen the entire night. By the end of the song, the entire crowd was wearing massive grins and cheering for the band. This was one of my favorite shows that I have attended this year and was by far the most rowdy, which I love. If you haven’t seen any of these bands before, I would highly suggest checking them all out if you’re in for a fun experience. Also, be sure to check in later this week for The Amity Affliction’s new record release, “House of Cards," and in June for August Burns Red’s latest release, “Season of Surrender.”
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