August Burns Red celebrate in style at The Roxian Pittsburgh

review and pix: David Mondine

In celebration of an album that essentially changed the entire metalcore scene, August Burns Red (ABR) went out on tour for “Constellations” 10^th birthday! In doing so, they also had the chance to experience one of the newest venues in the Pittsburgh area, the Roxian Theatre. Joining them on this long cross country tour was no other Silent Planet and Silverstein who were nothing short of spectacular Saturday night as well. Of course, most were there to see ABR perform “Constellations” in its entirety but the crowd raged just as hard for all the bands that night.

Starting off with the slow, cheerful walk of excitement and yelling, ABR showed nothing but class and love for the city of Pittsburgh as they were about to rip through “Constellations” for everyone at Roxian Theatre. Not a single moment was wasted for the fans to open up the pit as ABR starts to play “Thirty and Seven.” Even though you can tell that the band members from ABR were more than enjoying themselves, they were as serious and professional as could be as they kept on shredding through the next few songs. Something about ABR’s live shows has proven time and time again why they headline so many shows along with being a two time Grammy nominee. It is always an experience more so than anything else.

Whether you’re a diehard or even just a casual fan, most metalcore fans know of the songs “White Washed” and “Marianas Trench” and can more than likely guess how hard-hitting those are when played live. No need to worry, later on when there was a break in the action, the song “Meridian” slowed things down some and also allowed frontman Jake Luhrs to play the bass guitar while bassist Dustin Davidson switched over to guitar in order to have a proper jam session for this one. Afterward, Dustin stayed on guitar for another song while lead guitarist JB Brubaker played bass for a song. After “Constellations” was wrapped up, drummer Matt Greiner came back onto the stage first to show off another infamous drum solo of his while Dustin came on as well shortly after to play along on his drum setup. It seems like everyone in the band can play any instrument more than proficient enough! Talk about too much talent all wrapped up within one band.

With the encore wrapping up, an album played from front to back, and a total of seventeen songs plus one drum solo… it’s safe to say that the night was a huge success if not the entire tour if any of them came close to how insane Pittsburgh’s date was. It’s always a pleasure to see ABR perform and they somehow always seem to improve every time which oddly enough, is a scary thought if they can improve any more than they already have. From touring in a successful international band to family life at home to nonprofit organizations (not including anything else they do), this band has shown just how talented they are on more plains than just a concert stage.