Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ConcertGoingPro
In October 2022, the singer of The Sword announced the band was splitting up after 19 years. 21 months later… they’re back! It’s hard to say whether announcements like this helps or hurts a band, but the Great American Music Hall was sold out for weeks after the tickets went on sale for the 15th anniversary tour for their concept album Warp Riders. Spinning Platter’s enjoyed a pre-show meal at the legendary Tommy’s Joynt with guitarist Kyle Shutt and a few from the other bands and crew and was informed that a great many other shows on this tour have also been sold out well in advance. The moral of the story perhaps is to break up and get back together… it may help ticket sales!
Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol from Austin, TX and Pink Fuzz from Denver, CO opened the show.
Pink Fuzz should have appeared in larger letters on the marquee because they set the bar really high for the show by having an amazing opening set! As the crowd filed in during this time, it was not lost on those in attendance that it might not get better than this… and it honestly did not until The Sword entered the building (sorry not sorry Rickshaw). It was also around this time that it became unbearably hot inside the venue, so a good portion of this set was heard from the comfort of the evening weather outside of the front door. It was still pretty hot inside for The Sword, but since that was who everyone was there to see, the insufferable heat suddenly became more tolerable for the next ninety minutes!
1. How Heavy This Axe
2. Cloak of Feathers
3. Empty Temples
4. High Country
5. Sea of Green
6. Space Oddity (David Bowie cover)
Warp Riders
7. Acheron / Unearthing the Orb
8. Tres Brujas
9. Arrows in the Dark
10. The Chronomancer I: Hubris
11. Lawless Lands
12. Astraea’s Dream
13. The Warp Riders
14. Night City
15. The Chronomancer II: Nemesis
16. (The Night the Sky Cried) Tears of Fire
Encore
17. Farstar
18. Daughter of Dawn
19. Freya
