As I Lay Dying made a tour stop in Colorado Springs at the Black Sheep this past Saturday. Support came from Winds of Plague, After the Burial and a local opener that I unfortunately missed.
A buddy of mine was TM/FOH for the headliner so I ventured on down to the Black Sheep around 3pm just to shoot the breeze. Holy crap! Doors weren’t until 7pm but there was already a line of prolly 20 people strong. Looked like the line for the new iPad with kids in lawn chairs and stuff…HaHaHa
Anyhoo, I went back home (venue is only about 20 min from the house) and by the time I got back to the Sheep the line of metal heads was almost all the way back to Iowa Ave. NICE!!! Well, not that much for the kids who stood in line but for the Black Sheep; SOLD OUT SHOW, which means about 450 peeps.
Like I mentioned, missed the local opener because we went to Taco Bell. The dudes from Try Redemption were also in there; they played at the Union Station that night and Jon Daigle (guitar) was wondering how many people would show up. I hope they had a decent turn out because Try Redemption is one of my favorite local bands.
We made it back to the Black Sheep right before After the Burial took stage. Wow, the Sheep was already a sweat box then and it didn’t get better over the course of the evening. Apparently I saw After the Burial live before because their guitarist Trent was enlightening me that we meet at Summer Slaughter a couple of years ago. Well sweetie, with no disrespect, I meet so many people all the god damn time and am so bad with names, but from now on I shall remember the band. I part because they kicked some major ass. Holy shit their performance was right on, tight as hell and they sounded beyond amazing. (Kudos to their FOH Brian Sankus)
Not to take anything away from Winds of Plague or As I Lay Dying, but I would almost say that After the Burial was the highlight of the night. And I am not alone in that opinion, tons of people said so afterwards.
Next up was Winds of Plague and since I have seen them so many times over the last couple of years I only stayed up front to shoot some pictures; this was an ordeal in itself. Like I said, the Black Sheep was sold out and the venue does not have a photo pit and I am way, way too old to fight with the teenybopper’s up front. Luckily the bands had two portable steps, ground level, on either side of the stage; used by the Security dudes to keep an eye on the mosh pit; and myself to stand/sit on to take pictures.
At this point quick shout out to the Security at the Black Sheep! Awesome job guys! They kept everything under control and to be honest, the patrons actually behaved rather well that night. I think there was only one fight and a couple drunk idiots that had to be removed.
After the Burial did not use the massive light gear that was set up, but Winds and As I Lay Dying used the hell out of it. Great light show, lots of fog and pretty to look at, but not to take pictures right next to on stage. Hence, my pictures of Winds and AILD are not all that great since I refuse to spend tons of time in post processing, who has that time anyways?
So, during Winds of Plague I was socializing and dear lord, also drinking way, way too much.
As I Lay Dying took the stage after a quick set change and they rocked the house. Kudos to their light tech and also my buddy Pete who made sure the band sounded as great as they did.
Then after everything was said and done, the gear off the stage, we commenced to party hardy. Holy shit, pretty sure they almost ran out of Crown that night. LOL
In all it was a great show and the Black Sheep management and staff made sure everyone went home satisfied. Until next time!
For more pictures of the bands click right HERE