Obituary officially launched their 'Barely Alive in America' tour in Charlotte last Friday, April 28th. The lineup packs a serious punch, with supporting acts Immolation, Blood Incantation, and Ingrown rounding things out.
There was a bit of a mix up when I went to pick up my photo pass which, unfortunately, caused me to miss Ingrown's set.
My night started with Blood Incantation.
Blood Incantation put together a solid performance. The highlight for me was definitely the instrumentation, these guys play very well together. I wish the vocals had been mixed higher though. I had a hard time hearing them for most of the show, with the occasional deep growl cutting through. We hit a technical issue when bass player Jeff Barrett briefly lost sound, but he and the rest of the band kept the show rolling and fixed the problem without missing a beat.
The crowd was a bit low energy up until this point, but that definitely changed with Immolation's arrival.
The New York death metal titans have been on the scene since before I was born. It should not come as a surprise to anyone that they know how to put on a show. Guitarist Robert Vigna's physicality and frontman Ross Dolan's stage presence had an immediate impact on the atmosphere. They got the crowd moving, kept the pit wide open, and I'm happy to say I had no problem at all hearing the vocals! Immolation closed their set with the title track from their 11th (and newest) studio album 'Acts of God'.
When I told my brother I was shooting this show he had two predictions for Obituary:
1) They'll open with 'Redneck Stomp'
2) That alone would be worth the price of admission
He was right on both counts.
It felt like a bomb went off when the opening riff blasted through the speakers. This song works insanely well live, and the crowd response was all the proof you could need. The pit went nuts, the crowd surfers started dropping over the rail, and the atmosphere in the venue was electric. When vocalist John Tardy charged onto the stage to launch into 'Sentence Day' the band somehow found a way to turn things up even higher. Obituary is one of those groups that has been around long enough that it can be hard, if not impossible, to find something new to say about them. And in this case that's good. They put on a fantastic show, brought an incredible amount of energy, and launched their headlining tour on a major high note.
The tour runs through the end of May and is absolutely packed with stops across the U.S. Check out the upcoming dates and grab your ticket here.
Photos and article by Dillon Reesor
Via Saucewithspoons