Killswitch Engage got the crowd moving on the Atonement North America 2022 tour with support from August Burns Red, and Light The Torch.
Light The Torch started off the night with lead singer Howard Jones, who used to be the Killswitch Engage frontman. He came out smiling from ear to ear, stating “tonight is just beginning.” They had a fast 10-song 25-minute high energy set that started with “More Than Dreaming” and also had such other rippers as “The Bitter End,” “Becoming The Martyr,” and ended with “Die Alone.”
August Burns Red was up next. The band hailing from Lancaster, PA took the stage with a presence that is well known. They started the night with the very riff- heavy “Truth Of A Liar” from their sophomore album, Messengers. Frontman Jake Luhrs was the puppet master of the crowd, captivating and moving them with the beat of the music. About midway through the set, Luhrs states, “I’m not going to be the frontman for this next song. You all are. I want nothing but crowd surfers.” They then played a cover of the theme from, Legend Of Zelda, which seamlessly transitioned into “Marianas Trench.” During “Marianas Trench,” the whole venue was lit with the lights from the crowds’ cell phones and lighters and whatever else they could use to cast a light. The band finished with the fan-favorite song “Whitewashed.” This song never fails to get an amazing reaction from the crowd and get a lot of movement going with the crowd.Killswitch Engage came out with a fire under them like nothing else of the night. The band came out to a modified version of House Of Pain’s “Jump Around,” but instead changed the lyrics to “Get F**king Drunk.” It then transitioned into “Unleashed,” which is a perfect opener since it had frontman Jesse Leach screaming, “let’s go!” The band made its way through the songs from their eight-album discography and included favorites such as “Hate By Design,” “My Last Serenade,” “In Due Time,” “This Fire,” “My Curse,” and finished the main set with “Strength Of The Mind.” The set was full of guitarist Adam D’s random pinch harmonics inserted at the perfect time in between guitar chugs.
As mentioned before, Light the Torch’s singer Howard Jones was actually the singer for Killswitch Engage for about 10 years and the albums that feature him were some that helped the band reach the level they are at now. At the end of “Strength Of The Mind,” Jesse Leach said, “It’s about that time for Howard to make his way back up here for you all” and from there the band rocketed into “Rose Of Sharyn” with Howard doing all the vocals on it. Jesse made his way back and the duo alternated singing and screaming duties on “The End Of Heartache” and finished up with “The Signal Fire” from Atonement.
At the end of the set, Leach stated, “You all have no idea how much pride I have in knowing everyone resonates with the fact that these heavy songs are about hope and love for yourself and one another. We are all the same. We all have issues, we all have day-to-day stuff that makes life hard.”
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