Baroness @ The Union Transfer - Philadelphia, PA 05/24/13

Sometimes, Facebook is a good thing.  If it wasn't for a friends post praising the new album, Yellow and Green, by Baroness, I still may not have heard of them.

I trust this person so I quickly queued them up on Spotify.




I am still confused how I did not know them.  This wasn't their first album.  Hell, it wasn't even their second album.  It was their third...and by far their best.

There are parts of this album that remind me of Metallica's Master of Puppets.  There are classical arrangements with heavy riffs.  It is a perfect mix of melody and metal.  I had seen Metallica, Mastodon, Queen of the Stone Age, and Clutch.  I HAD to see Baroness.

And then tragedy struck.  While on tour in Their tour bus had fallen 30' off of a viaduct in England.  Frontman John Baizley broke his arm and leg.  Bassist Matt Maggioni and Drummer Allen Bickle both suffered fractured vertebrae.  Guitarist Pete Adams was treated and released.  They posted a statement about the accident on their website.  The tour was over and as a result Maggioni and Bickle both left the band.

In March of 2013 I found myself in the lower east side of NYC for another MOGmeet.

I ended up in a conversation about how wonderful Baroness was.  Now they were on my mind again.  Would they tour again?  Would I see them?  I would soon find out.

When I got home I decided to look them up.  They had just announced their US tour and their first stop would be Union Transfer in Philadelphia!

A great band in a great venue.  I was so there!  I purchased two tickets and decided to bring my oldest along.  these days he is not as much into this kind of music.  He enjoys Imagine Dragons and AWOLNATION.  Still, I thought he would enjoy it.

We showed up early and as always purchased our shirts.

To our surprise the Union Transfer had an ice cream stand.  It is a local Philly company called Little Baby's Ice Cream.  Check out these flavors.  We got the Smoked Cinnamon and the Red Velvet Chocolate Swirl.

 

I decided that I wanted to buy a Union Transfer shirt.  While I was waiting for it we realized it was 9:00 and the opening act had not started yet.  I asked the man who was getting my shirt what time the concert was going to start and he said they were having a major problem backstage.  I never found out what it was but the opening act, Pallbearer went on.  Ummmm....we went back into the lobby...lol.  There is only so much posing and posturing to bad music that I can take.

When Tombs came on we went back in.  It was a better but I am not even going to attach their spotify link to the page.  The crowd seemed to like them.  We stayed so that we would have a good spot on the floor when Baroness came out.

They came out on fire with 'Take My Bones Away' and 'March To The Sea', just like the beginning of Yellow and Green.  I couldn't think of a better way to start it.

After 'March to the Sea' they mentioned it was good to be back on stage.  It was a long road and couldn't believe they were back to doing what they loved.

This was their first show back after the accident and it was also the first show with new members bassist Nick Jost and drummer Sebastian Thomson.

They continued on with a great set.  I was happy to hear 'Little Things'.

It was getting very late and by the time they got to Cocainium my son had had enough.  It was a good night.  No sense on ending it on a bad note.  We called it a night and headed out.

I appreciate the bonding time with my son.  I am not sure how much longer he will want to do these things with me.  For now I am taking advantage of every show he will do with me.  We both agreed it was a great show...minus Pallbearer...lol.  I would love the chance to see them again!

See you at the next show!

Fran

Tweet