Metalcore giants August Burns Red brought the Leveler tour to Dallas with Erra and Fit For A King after postponing it in October.
Erra was up first and they got the crowd moving with a nice mix between the singer JT Cavey and guitarist Jesse Cash, really showing the progressive metalcore elements of the band. There were tons of breakdowns and lots of fast-paced chugging from guitar player Sean Price. The set was short and energetic and ended with possibly one of the biggest walls of death ever seen at House Of Blues Dallas ever.
Fit For A King is a band from Tyler, TX so Dallas is a local show for them. This was a very special concert for them for a few reasons. Lead singer Ryan Kirby and his wife had recently adopted children and this was the first time seeing their father perform so that was a huge thing for Kirby to live up to. Guitar player Bobby Lynge joined the band for the first time in over three years tonight and it’s like he hasn’t missed a thing. Fans were so happy to see him back. Last but not least, this is the last run for drummer Jared Easterling before he joins country artist Koe Wetzel as his drummer next year. With all that being said, the band commanded and directed the crowd with many circle pits and a wall of death to close out the set of fan-favorite songs ranging from “When Everything Means Nothing” to “Tower of Pain.” This August Burns Red performance was one for the books as frontman Jake Luhrs flew home for an emergency the night before. They had Mike from the band Convictions fill in for him who only had 12 hours to fully prepare for a whole album that was being played in full.The band took the stage while the intro from the album played. JB was still wearing his signature flip-flops he is known for wearing. From the second the first beat from Empire dropped, it was an onslaught of crowd-surfers and movement from the sold-out crowd. After the band played “Cutting Ties,” fill-in singer Mike talked about how honored he was to fill the large shoes of Jake Luhrs on this small run of dates. The band kept going and never stopped. Guitarist Brent Rambler and bass player Dustin Davidson swapped playing duties quite a bit through the night so it was awesome seeing how each member of the band is a multi-instrumentalist.
As the set closed out, drummer Matthew Greiner put on a calf-burning double bass drum solo to end the set of songs from the album Leveler. The lights went dark and everyone chanted, “We want more!” The lights came back on but dark red, and the band flew through a three-song encore ending with “Whitewashed.” The crowd went absolutely wild on this song. A kid crowd-surfed upright, almost doing a handstand. It was an amazing way to end a very nostalgic night.
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