So this tour has been one I’ve been excited for since I saw the dates drop. I truly do love Fit For A King. They actually opened for For Today when I saw them at Green Street Club in Greensboro NC back in 2014, which was my first concert EVER. So they are sentimental for me. But, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t as excited for Silent Planet.
The weather was perfect when I arrived in Greensboro. It was nice and sunny but there was still a subtle wind that made it super comfortable. I arrived at 5:15pm to make sure I wasn’t late and didn’t miss any of the opening acts like my past two shows. Even though I got there 45 mins early there was still a line of 75 or so people in line when I walked up. When I got in line I was surprised to hear that apparently, Slipknot was performing the same night at the coliseum down the road, I never would have guessed by the time we all got into the venue because the show sold out and we quickly all became sardines. I also feel like that is a testament to just how much people love Fit For A King. Die-hard fans for sure. As we got inside, the venue filled up fast! I’m not sure what they capped out at, but it was so packed, more than I’ve ever seen at a venue. We were so tight and with no photo pit all of the photographers mostly stayed side stage because it was insane to try to shoot in that crowd.
The first band to kick off the night was WILTWITHER from South Carolina. Their Spotify shows they have a few singles there, with their newest release being “The Faces of Hell Painted on Saints.” Their set wasn’t too long but I can say the 4-5 songs they performed were amazing. I’m also pretty sure they had some fans in the crowd as well, or at least some friends because while I was side stage I couldn’t help but notice a surprising amount of people singing along and recording the performance with their phones! They are definitely a group I will be keeping a close eye on and you should do the same!
Up next was AVOID. They are a high-energy heavy rock band from Seattle, WA. The band consists of Benny Scholl (vocals) guitarists Nick Olson and Brandon Parker, Jason Daggett (bass), and David Dusseault (drums). They previously called themselves “Avoid the Void.” They have been quoted saying “There were many little reasons that came into play when changing the name, but at the end of the day it comes down to we weren’t Avoid The Void anymore. Under the 5 years we were ATV, our sound had evolved a lot, we had gone through a couple members, and we just weren’t where we wanted to be. AVOID was our way of being a brand new entity in the music scene, with staying true to our roots.” It looks like they caught the public’s eye when they released a cover of Foo Fighters “Weenie Beanie.” In June of 2021, they became the first band signed to Thriller Records after releasing their “HostAge At A BeAch House PArty” Music Video. It looks like they have several singles and EPs on Spotify as well as a full album from 2018 called “Alone” that consists of 10 songs. Their latest singles from ‘22 are “COWABUNGA” & “Split (kill it).” I’m not sure what their full setlist was but I can say for sure that they played “COWABUNGA” because I remember hearing Benny say the name & thinking to myself “What a name for a song.” Their stage presence was awesome. All of them smiled SO MUCH and hopped around and just looked like a bunch of high school friends having fun on stage. It was super cool to watch and seeing them smiling up there made me smile as well. It’s also important to note that before they left the stage after their set Benny said “Tell your mom we said hi…” I’m not kidding, I audibly gasped & laughed. It was hilarious. Their whole vibe reminded me of the early 2000’s, just the right amount of nostalgia for sure. I can’t wait to see them progress & how far they go. If you haven’t heard of them go save their new singles & give them a listen!
Following them was Hollow Front, a five-man band from Grand Rapids, MI. Their members are as follows; Tyler Tate (vocals), Dakota Alvarez (guitar/vocals), Devin Attard (drums) and Brandon Rummler (bass) & Lee Albrecht (guitar). The arrival of their debut album “Loose Threads” in June of 2020 saw Hollow Front declared an immediate must-watch, clocking over 1 Million streams in its first week and 4 Million + in a matter of months. Offering a moment of reprieve from the outside chaos and a reminder that we aren’t alone, “Loose Threads” – though released in the chokehold of an impossible global landscape – appears to have surfaced at its destined point in time. Formed only a few short years ago, they now find themselves signed to UNFD. They have since released two more albums with their fourth album set to release on May 27th of this year. I’d like to address the venue really quickly since I haven’t yet. As soon as they took the stage, people started stage diving and crowd surfing. I feel like this was the point of the night that things really started getting rowdy for sure. It was almost as if the air changed when they took the stage. Tyler’s vocals were BRUTAL in the best way. So much that he truly had me mesmerized at one point and all I could do was stand with my jaw on the floor. I had never even heard of them before this tour so I wasn’t sure what to expect at all. Their guitarist seemed to be having the time of his life, I caught him smiling super-wide several times. Devin kept doing some super cool drum stick tricks and flips that had me just as amazed as hearing Tyler’s vocals. Like I said I had never heard of them before so I know nothing about the songs they played. But I can say the crowd LOVED them & their stage presence was awesome. Their set had me feeling super pumped & ready for more. I went ahead and saved all their albums also because I loved their sound as well as the album art! Go give them a listen or a follow! You won’t regret it.
Soon enough they got the stage set up and Silent Planet took the stage. Silent Planet is an American metalcore band formed in Azusa, California, in 2009. The band chose their name from C. S. Lewis’ science fiction novel Out of the Silent Planet. The group consists of Garrett Russell (vocals), Mitchell Stark (guitar), Thomas Freckleton (bass), and Alex Camarena (drums). To date they have released four studio albums with their latest, Iridescent, released in November 2021. It has quickly become my favorite of all their albums.
They started their set with “Panopticon” which was expected because it’s from the latest album. This really set the tone and quickly had the crowd screaming along. The crowd surfers during this set were insane. Like more than I have ever seen in my life in one night. They would crowd surf, jump on the stage, or if you were lucky enough, get a hand, be pulled up by Garrett or Mitchell, and then stage dive back into the crowd to do it again and again. I loved seeing this. Seeing everyone behave like that with so much life reminded me of how small shows were when I first started going to concerts. I feel like I forgot how fun small venues can be.
If you didn’t know, basically all of SP’s songs have a deeper meaning than what can be portrayed from the surface or title. Like a crowd favorite from the night “Panic Room” is written about a friend of Garrett’s who suffers from PTSD. I firmly believe they have a song for everyone. Something you can hear and relate to and feel like you are not alone in this world. I think that’s what I love most about them. A couple days before the show, unfortunately, we lost an amazing soul in music, Keaton Pierce from Too Close To Touch. Garrett took the time to take a moment and talk about depression, his struggles with mental health over quarantine, how the band saved him, how we’re not alone & then proceeded to perform “Trilogy” and dedicate it to Keaton. It was a truly beautiful moment and if you read my last few reviews you know I cry at everything so that was no surprise. Garrett also said he had laryngitis, which I literally never would have known if he hadn’t told us. His vocals were just as good as always and in case you didn’t know he usually always performs without shoes on! So it’s always so cool to see him jump around with no shoes. Makes me think of Ronnie Van Zant from Lynyrd Skynyrd. His stage presence is unmatched & he even dove into the crowd at one point and “Mic’d” a few people.
It was such a surreal moment being able to be there enjoying the show as well as photographing them. I’ve met Garrett several times, but the one time I will never forget was at Warped Tour in 2017. I missed half their set but got there for the end and then went to the merch table after to meet him. I remember asking what songs he played because I missed a few and there was one I wanted to hear. He took a photo of one of my tattoos because he said it was super cool and then I said “One day I’m going to be the one photographing you here at warped.” He laughed and then said that he was going to hold me to it. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen for Warped Tour, but it finally happened and for that I am beyond grateful. I can’t think of a single band in my opinion that is more deserving of fame and fortune than them. They all have such big hearts and deserve all the support they get. If you haven’t heard of them or listened to them please do. Their full setlist from that night was:
- Panopticon
- The Sound of Sleep
- Orphan
- Anhedonia
- Visible Unseen
- Native Blood
- Psychescape
- XX (City Grave)
- Panic Room
- Trilogy
Finally, it was time for our headliners. Fit For A King is an American metalcore band from Tyler, Texas formed in 2007 released two EPs in their early years. Their first studio album Descendants was self-released in 2011 and received solid reviews and charted to #8 on Billboard‘s Top Heatseekers charts. They were signed to Solid State Records in 2012 and has released five studio albums with them. Their most recent album is The Path that was released in 2020. Fit For A King consists of Ryan Kirby (vocals), Bobby Lynge (guitar), Ryan O’Leary (bass), Daniel Gailey (guitar), Trey Celaya (drums).
They dimmed the lights and all you could see were shadows coming onto the stage. The crowd noticed as well and started to cheer and scream. I remember feeling super anxious, almost like the feeling you get as you’re making your climb on a roller coaster. Finally, the lights flashed white and we could fully see the band in its entirety. They started the night with “Engraved”, the first track off of the Dark Skies album. I knew it instantly by the slow guitar riff fading in and then just like in the track everyone started clapping. As soon as Ryan leaned over the stage and into the crowd everyone screamed along “Make me a memory!” Just like that their set went off without a hitch. Like before fan after fan crowd surfed, was pulled on stage and then dove back into the crowd. At one point one guy jumped on stage that had a teddy bear onesie and then back into the crowd. It was hilarious but I wasn’t able to get a photo of him in time. Several people also got on stage and got confused and almost jumped into us photographers at the side stage. Thankfully the security was amazing and stopped them before they face-planted into us.
I was most excited for Ryan O’Leary. My editor told me the day before to make sure I kept an eye on him because he does tons of jumps and splits in the air. So I was super eager to get some awesome action shots of him. I didn’t get the mid-air split as I wanted, but I was able to get some that looked as if he was being abducted by aliens. Also later in the night, Ryan, made his way over to the bar for a drink and crowd surfed, bass and all back to the stage. It made me think of that video of Adam Dutkiewicz from Killswitch Engage at one of their shows he made his way to the bar for a shot, took the shot, did his solo at the bar, and then went back to the stage for the rest of the performance. It was super cool to see something similar happen in real life. The fact that Ryan crowd surfed back to the stage made what he did even cooler in my opinion.
The entire band had the same energy. All of them were jumping, spinning, & nonstop moving while they were on stage. That’s my favorite part about their performance; the stage presence. I love seeing how they interact with the crowd and they sure know how to do just that. I have to say the only thing about their set that disappointed me was the fact that they didn’t play the one song I really wanted to hear, “Hollow King.” It was the song that I first heard by them so it was just sentimental, but their setlist was still amazing. My favorite part had to have been why they performed “Backbreaker” and Ryan Kirby made the crowd scream “BACKBREAKER” as he held the mic above the crowd. If you haven’t got your ticket for this tour yet I highly suggest it! You don’t wanna miss this one trust me! This is what their setlist consisted of that night:
- Engraved
- Vendetta
- The Price Of Agony
- Breaking the Mirror
- Annihilation
- Backbreaker
- Shattered glass
- When Everything Means Nothing
- The Path
- Locked (in my head)
- Tower Of Pain.
Encore:
- Debts Of The Soul
- Oblivion
- God Of Fire (with AVOID)
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