A couple things about this tour stood out to me, as I glanced upon the poster above. The first being that I was seeing the first three bands for the first time, so I was wondering what I was going to experience. The second was that this was the venue, The Ironworks. It was pretty much brand new, only being used within the last year, and this was my first time at this venue. Closer to home than usual, with free parking, and a good atmosphere, I was ready to see The Plot In You for the second time, and for some “kids” to “die” tonight. Opening band, Erra, has been receiving some good praise from the musical community. Hailing from Alabama, this progressive metalcore band combines elements of several bands, Born of Osiris and Periphery being a couple examples, and combine them with fantastic clean vocals courtesy of guitarist Jesse Cash. Fans of their Tragic Hero debut full length, Impulse, will be impressed by their live performance. Good stage presence, coupled with being spot on with their recorded material, make for a nice performance. The crowd got into them much more than I thought they would, despite being pretty new to the scene, and even newer to Pittsburgh.
I had only heard of the following band, For All I Am, maybe once or twice before. Also a fairly new band to the scene, they hail from Chicago, and are currently signed to widely acclaimed record label, Equal Vision. The band follows a slightly similar approach to Erra, although less progressive, and adding more emphasis on heavier elements. For my first time seeing/hearing them, they weren’t bad. They got a finicky Pittsburgh crowd to open a pit a couple times, and even had a few die hard fans up front for their performance.
Now comes the “surprise twist” of the night. I was already a fan of My Ticket Home before seeing them this night. But not seeing them before had me wondering what exactly to expect. Not just from them, but from the crowd. I didn’t expect what was about to unfold; a STELLAR performance from these guys. They opened with “Fear Complex”, a very potent blood boiler, to those who haven’t heard To Create A Cure, their full length album. Immediately, my girlfriend and friends up at the front, were being leaped on, pushed, slammed against the stage, and subject to various other punishments from this suddenly ignited crowd. When Nick Giumenti wasn’t belting out his screams, Derek Blevins was singing with all his might, and it seriously sounded like everyone in the venue was singing along with him, or bouncing up and down to songs like “Who Is 67?” and my personal all time MTH favorite “Desertion”. You wouldn’t think a band like this would get this kind of following, but man, they absolutely destroyed this night. I’ll say it again, a STELLAR performance from My Ticket Home.
After being rocked by such a nasty performance by MTH, I had to recover quickly. The inevitable dark atmosphere settled in, as The Plot In You began setting up. I had seen these guys before, in a tiny venue downtown, and they stole the show that night. What came was that same intensity from that night. Designated mad man/lead vocalist, Landon Tewers, was sporting a cast on his right wrist this night, but that did nothing to hinder his performance. Their first song out of the gate was “Wife Beater”, an old song with a violent, disgusting music video. Flashbacks of the video met the performance, as Landon screamed, and the crowd lost its senses. “Neighbors”, “Bully”, and “Rat Poison” decimated the crowd, with stage diving and moshing aplenty. As they proceeded with “Filth”, my night had come to a close, as we were all bumrushed into the stage, causing my friend to injure her knee. I may have missed “Miscarriage”, but the night, and performance were still fantastic.
This was the last night of this small tour, so check out these bands on any other tours they’re on when you get the chance. Disappointment won’t be a factor, I can vouch for that.
