Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @AlanHasPicks
Every band has an actual start date that they can say is their official beginning. Likewise, every album has an actual official release date. Somewhere along the way, some band somewhere was probably in-between albums and decided that their anniversary would make a great reason to tour… and well, the idea caught on, and is still going strong.
No one appears to like anniversaries more than August Burns Red. They have had quite a few anniversary tours — there was the 10th anniversary of their album Messengers in 2016, the 10th anniversary of their album Constellations in 2019, and the 10th anniversary of their album Leveler in 2021. For each of these tours, the entire album was performed. Now in 2023, there is the current 20th anniversary tour… not of an album, but of the band itself!
Occasionally, the dedicated staff of Spinning Platters gets the opportunity to watch, photograph, and/or review a show outside of our comfortable Bay Area confines, and with all the torrential rain and wind (and snow in some places) in and around the Bay Area, our resident metalhead took a quick trip down to Sin City to escape the weather and watch, photograph, and review the 20th anniversary of August Burns Red.
The stage at the House of Blues in Las Vegas is six feet high, and August Burns Red really enjoy their ego risers at the front of the stage, adding another two feet, so photographing this show may have been a bit of a challenge, but after stepping out of the photo pit in the front, watching it from the back was amazing.
Their lighting guy may have been working harder than the band was! Every other second of every song had a different blinding array of lights, from the horizontal lights on the sides of the drums to the moving lights above, behind, and on the sides of the stage. It definitely had the feeling of being at a giant arena show!
1. Composure – Messengers 2007
2. Your Little Suburbia Is in Ruins – Thrill Seeker 2005
3. Fault Line – Rescue & Restore 2013
4. Ancestry – Death Below 2023
5. Empire – Leveler 2011
6. Ghosts – Found in Far Away Places 2015
7. Invisible Enemy – Phantom Anthem 2017
8. Spirit Breaker – Rescue & Restore 2013
9. The Truth of a Liar – Messengers 2007
10. Meridian – Constellations 2009
11. Backfire – Death Below 2023
12. Bloodletter – Guardians 2020
13. Laniakea – Phantom Sessions EP 2019
14. Paramount – Guardians 2020
15. Marianas Trench – Constellations 2009
Encore:
16. The Eleventh Hour – Messengers 2007
17. White Washed – Constellations 2009
How are they ever going to outdo themselves for the next 10th anniversary of an album tour?!
See more photos of all of your favorite Metal musicians at Alan Ralph‘s photo portfolio.
