Baroness / Graveyard / Pallbearer @ Amager Bio, Copenhagen, 31st October 2024
It’s a cold, windy Halloween night. I’m walking into an old cinema in Copenhagen. The words Pallbearer, Graveyard and Baroness sit above the doorway. It seems like a nice start to a spooky story, but in fact this is a pretty normal Thursday night at one of the city’s best live music venues. Actually, the most formidable thing about entering Amager Bio that night was the 18 different amplifiers which adorned the stage, though I quickly realised these weren’t just reserved for the opening act. Still, spread amongst three bands, this wall of volume makes me confident that we’re in for a loud and heavy show.
The night starts off at its loudest and heaviest, with Pallbearer showcasing why they are unarguably one of the best modern doom metal bands. They pack a lot into their short four-song set, the first three of which are taken from new album Mind Burns Alive.
It might be their softest and most prog influenced record yet, but in a live setting these tracks have a real heft that is absolutely phenomenal to take in. There is so much passion in their playing, yet they remain on point throughout. Closing song Worlds Apart is a fan favourite, and an epic way to finish a set that I only wish had gone on longer than just thirty-five minutes.
If Pallbearer sit at doom metal’s most modern edge, then Graveyard are sitting right back in the primordial swamp from which the genre formed. Appropriately, in between sets, the PA blasts out late ‘60s and early ‘70s pop, rock and garage classics. Coming on stage they are a real throwback, with thick tashes all around, strictly vintage style gear, and a drummer whose jumper is giving me serious David St. Hubbins vibes.
The Swedes have six albums to choose from now, and whilst I am not familiar with their music enough to be sure, it does feel like they are pulling from many corners of their discography. The band’s sound is so much fun, and they play with such a great groove that it’s impossible not to move to and lose yourself in. And for forty-five minutes, it was absolutely great.
However, with this being a co-headline show their set went on for seventy-five minutes, and if I’m totally honest, the last half an hour felt like a bit of a slog. Fair play to the band though, because they kept up the energy before closing out with some slower, bluesy jams. It certainly made me want to dive deeper into Graveyard the next time the mood for some old school riffage takes me.
When Baroness come out it is immediately clear they mean business. From the very beginning, the band are bouncing around the stage with a hardly containable energy, clearly having the absolute best time. The duelling solos (and there were a lot of them) between Gina Gleason and John Baizley are joyous, while bassist Nick Jost has a constant grin across his face.
Their performance also feels really natural; there are no samples, no backing tracks and no overwhelming effects. It’s incredibly refreshing to see such a relatively popular band keep a fundamental focus on their live show just being four musicians playing superbly together.
The set list is a great mix that feels really well crafted, moving through their heavier and softer material without being too balanced towards either side. There is a good number of songs from their latest record Stone, including album opener Embers which gets the first mosh pit going. But there are also plenty of tracks from previous albums, with bangers like Shock Me!, Take My Bones Away and Tourniquet being highlights.
Blue album track Swollen And Halo, which the band admit they haven’t played for a while, is a really mesmeric moment with a big singalong. And as a nice fun touch, the stage lights change colour to match the album that each track is from. It’s a brilliant show, and a fantastic display of just how diverse, dynamic and colourful their music is.
As lineups go, this was a pretty cracking one on paper, and it really delivered in practice too. Pallbearer gave a short but intense performance, Graveyard got everyone’s feet moving, and Baroness delivered a show that was both epic and ecstatic. Three bands connected through a loose spectrum musically, but all holding a similar mentality: the organic energy that comes from a rock band playing together in its loudest, essential and primary form is still the best way to experience live music.
Baroness
Scribed by: Will J
Baroness Photos by: Kasper Pasinski
