August Burns Red and The Amity Affliction Deliver a Metal Marathon in New Haven
August Burns Red and The Amity Affliction arrived at College Street Music Hall in New Haven, Connecticut on just their second stop on the co-headlined Spring Horizons Tour. Supported by metalcore local legends Boundaries and New Haven’s own Dreamwake, the four bands finally shook Connecticut out of a never-ending cold snap and straight into spring.
DREAMWAKE
Since the pandemic, the music scene in Connecticut, especially within metal and hardcore, has found a new life. And kicking off a tour here gives the entire lineup a hometown advantage.
Dreamwake opened the night with its blend of metalcore and synthwave, highlighted by some serious saxophone playing. I’m not gonna lie, the middle school band nerd in me could never have imagined a metal band putting a woodwind instrument at its centerpiece. Of course, it’s fitting that sax player Kellon Rees topped off the 80’s nostalgia with an acid wash jean jacket and tinted aviators! Listen, it somehow worked and brought a pretty rad vibe to the early crowd. See what I did there?
BOUNDARIES
I am biased, I f*cking love Boundaries. The last time I covered them, they were just down the block at Toad’s Place wrapping their summer headline run, and that room was coming apart at the seams. You’re not going to find many crowds that match that level of energy, or the number of bodies moving towards the barricade at once. It’s no surprise Boundaries are in high demand as tourmates, because they walk on stage, set the tone, and every band after them has to put in extra work.
Mid-set, frontman Matt McDougal called for as many crowd surfers possible. That’s all it took. As many as five people were lifted up at once, security rushing to contain the massive wave of surfers. hey tore through at least ten songs, not just a quick opener set, and by the time they stepped off stage, it was clear we were in for a marathon of metal.
THE AMITY AFFLICTION
The Amity Affliction took the stage with for a bit of therapy, just a couple weeks before their latest album House of Cards arrives. Headlines from internal turbulence last year, surfaced again as the band was preparing for this tour. But none of that showed once the lights dropped, if anything it stoked the fire.
The Australian icons were backed by a towering production setup with video screens stretching two stories high. It’s the kind of stage production that perhaps frames for young bands what success looks like, or at least what fans now expect in this genre. Their set spanned most of their catalog as well as a handful of new songs from House of Cards.
AUGUST BURNS RED
By the time August Burns Red, some of the crowd had thinned out, perhaps a bit of loyalty to their co-headliner before them. But those who stayed were rewarded with one hell of a performance. The energy of the band runs straight through frontman Jake Luhrs, who delivers punishing vocals while locking eyes with fans along the barricade.
Between songs, Luhrs spoke about the community that surrounds heavy music. It’s easy to write that off as something you hear at every show. But when everything outside music halls just feels divided, it’s the one of the few places where we find common ground. And he was right, as I looked around, their were plenty of fans who I spotted the night before in Hartford, where The Black Dahlia Murder had headlined.
In the second half of the set, he challenged anyone who had never crowd surfed before to give it a shot. And for the next song, it nearly matched the surfing that Boundaries had earlier in the night. After more than four hours since Dreamwake to took the stage, the crowd that was still there wasn’t running on pre-show hype anymore. But the energy was still the same and they were committed to seeing it through to the end!
