At the Gates, Converge, Pallbearer and Vallenfyre played Webster Hall (pics & setlists)
photos by Greg Cristman, words by Andrew Sacher
At the Gates / Converge / Pallbearer @ Webster Hall – 4/12/15
The Decibel-presented At the Gates, Converge, Pallbearer, Vallenfyre tour wrapped up last night with a sold-out show at NYC’s Webster Hall. Vallenfyre, the death/doom supergroup with members of Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Doom, At the Gates and more, opened the show. They were a bit less my thing personally than the rest of the bill, but sounded tight. They also played a last-minute late show at Saint Vitus after the Inter Arma / Yautja show at that venue. Anyone go?
Up next was Pallbearer. They could only play a three-song set, due to the fact that they were opening and most of their songs near or pass the 10-minute mark, but their brief set had them sounding excellent as ever. I’d only seen them in smaller, darker venues before, but a big stage with smoke machines and a more elaborate light show suited them well. Not that that should come as a surprise — Pallbearer’s music is the kind of thing that towers over you in any environment, so seeing the band literally look bigger than ever only added to the intensity.
Converge followed, and they weren’t supporting a new album or anything (their most recent is still 2012’s All We Love We Leave Behind), but they cherry-picked a handful of favorites from Jane Doe and on, giving us “Dark Horse,” “Aimless Arrow,” “You Fail Me,” “Concubine,” and more in their all-killer set. Jacob Bannon is one of the most consistently exciting hardcore frontmen around, and last night’s show was no exception to this. His screams are constantly a force, his stage moves are iconic, and it’s always refreshing to see Bannon do his thing, considering how many imitators you see at other hardcore shows. And the rest of Converge is never a bore on stage either. Kurt Ballou’s fretwork is always dizzying to watch, and the sheer force that he, bassist Nate Newton and drummer Ben Koller can make as just a trio never ceases to amaze.
Finally At the Gates wrapped up the night, making their first NYC appearance since 2008. The difference this time though is they had a new album to support (2014’s At War With Reality), their first since 1995’s ridiculously influential Slaughter of the Soul. The new songs sounded great last night, but it was the Slaughter of the Soul songs that got the whole crowd going wild every time. After opening with “Death and the Labyrinth” off the new LP, they gave us the unbeatable one-two punch of “Slaughter of the Soul” into “Cold,” and for the next six and a half minutes the energy both on and off stage was at an ultimate high. Admittedly, it didn’t stay that way the entire time and their set did feel a little long (especially compared to Converge’s), but the show went out with a bang. They returned to the stage with SotS opener “Blinded by Fear,” gave a little hype-y stage banter before “Kingdom Gone” from their debut (“New York do you like death metal? Because we don’t like death metal… WE LOVE DEATH METAL!!!!), and ended the night on a high note with At War With Reality closer “The Night Eternal.”
More pictures, and AtG and Converge’s setlists, below…
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Vallenfyre
Pallbearer
Converge
At The Gates
CONVERGE SETLIST (via)
Eagles Become Vultures
Dark Horse
Aimless Arrow
You Fail Me
Trespasses
All We Love We Leave Behind
Predatory Glow
Reap What You Sow
Cutter
Worms Will Feed/Rats Will Feast
Concubine
Jane Doe
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AT THE GATES SETLIST (via)
El Altar del Dios Desconocido
Death and the Labyrinth
Slaughter of the Soul
Cold
At War With Reality
Terminal Spirit Disease
Raped by the Light of Christ
The Circular Ruins
Under a Serpent Sun
Windows
City of Mirrors
Suicide Nation
Heroes and Tombs
Nausea
Eater of Gods
World of Lies
Order From Chaos
The Book of Sand (The Abomination)
Encore:
Blinded by Fear
Kingdom Gone
The Night Eternal