I recently had the chance to catch As I Lay Dying on their co-headliner tour with The Devil Wears Prada, with support from For Today and The Chariot on March 12th in Nashville, TN. The lineup should tell you that this is a Christian metal tour, however, it was less preachy than I had thought, with For Today being the only band that really addressed that aspect, but more on that later.
When The Chariot kicked off their a ferocious set, with one guitarist stage diving into the crowd and continuing to play while crowd-surfing, I knew it would be crazy. Aside from Letlive, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an act perform with such energy—definitely a band worth seeing on this tour or a future one!
Up next, I was unsure what to expect from For Today, a band that I really hadn’t liked in the past, however, musically, they played a good set, and surprised me. The highlight for me, as a drummer, was drummer, David Puckett, who while talented, was also very fun to photograph (see the photo of his stick-twirling antics below!). Things took a turn for the awkward, however, when vocalist Mattie Montgomery, delivered a several-minute-long speech/rant about the “evils” of the Christian music industry in Nashville. Being an agnostic myself this was a little odd, but I got the feeling the majority of the concert-goers were more receptive to it. Eventually they got back to playing music, and the rest of their set was fine.
As I Lay Dying went on next, with vocalist Tim Lambesis in his usual athletic and energetic form, leaping and bounding across the stage and delivering his vocals flawlessly. They played a pretty long set, covering 14 songs from both their newer albums, and even played the track “Forever,” from their 2003 release, Frail Words Collapse, which was really cool, as I’ve never gotten to see them play such old material! As I Lay Dying put on a great show, and is definitely worth catching on this tour!
The Devil Wears Prada closed out the night with a lengthy set, and while I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve not always been a fan of frontman, Mike Hranica’s vocals, tonight, I had a change of heart. I think that TDWP is one of those bands that is really just better live than on CD. But I digress, they delivered a set featuring 14 songs and spanning their discography, with several from recent release, Dead Throne. The Devil Wears Prada was a good pick for co-headlining with As I Lay Dying – both bands put on killer sets, and managed to wow concert-goers.
Check out photos from each band’s set below.
[Nathan Katsiaficas Photography]
