THE ALL STARS TOUR: PHOTOS & REVIEW
The All Stars Tour made a stop in Montreal at l’Olympia, featuring Emmure, Alesana, Blessthefall and many more. Unfortunately, some bands didn’t cross the border such as Born of Osiris, Attila and Motionless in White which was very disappointing. A lot of people bought their tickets especially for them so they were mad about this fact. Here is a recap of that day.
Emmure was definitely the crowd favorite: they had the biggest crowd of the day. Formed in 2003, they have released their fourth full length Speaker of the Dead in February 2011. They were extremely tight and the sound was really good. Frankie Palmeri’s (lead vocals) voice was strong and he his very comfortable on stage. Really good presence on stage and he did pretty good with the crowd also. They totally killed it and it’s makes me wonder why they weren’t the headliners of that tour. People went crazy when they came on stage but not as much as I was expecting. I was expecting more of a bigger pit but still, it was ok. The show started early so maybe the crowd was starting to get tired! They did songs such as Sound Wave Superior, Dogs Get Put Down, Demons with Ryu, Drug Dealer Friend and My Name is Thanos among others. They pretty much did a perfect performance. For those who never saw Emmure live, I highly recommend them.
Alasena is a six pieces post-hardcore/metalcore band from North Carolina. Their fourth studio album called A Place Where The Sun is Silent will be released on October 18th. They did a 45 minutes set in which we had the chance to hear 2 songs from their upcoming album, The Fiend and Circle Seven; The sins of the Lion which sounded very promising. This band doesn’t have only one vocalist but actually three: Dennis “Diablo” Lee (unclean vocals), Shawn Milke on clean vocals (guitar and piano) and Shane Crump on backing vocals (bass), which make this band very interesting. They also had a good crowd there for them and they were really into it. Mosh pit and surfing was there during the whole time of their performance. The last song that they did was Annabel and it created a huge sang along. Lead singer Dennis just put his mic in the crowd to let them sing the chorus. The band was covering the stage very well, mostly Dennis who was moving from each side the whole time. It was one of the best performances of the evening.
Blessthefall is a metalcore band based in Arizona that was founded in 2003 by guitarist Mike Frisby, drummer Matt Traynor, and bassist Jared Warth. For some reason, a lot of people left outside when they came on stage. Maybe due to the fact that they are a christian-catholic and straight edge band… The reason I’m saying that is because lead vocals Beau Bokan talked about God a little during their set and some people were showing them the finger and a lot of “booing” was a;so going on! They did 7 songs in total in half an hour. Bokan came on stage and threw some water on the audience. He did a great performance despite his religious believe and the small crowd. I have to admit that I’m not a big fan of their music but he is a good showman. He has tried the whole set to get the crowd going. They did Bottomfeeder from their third and upcoming full-length Awakening which will be released on Oct. 4th and What’s Left on Me, Guys Like You Make Us Look Bad, Five Ninety and Hey Baby Here’s That Song you Wanted among others.
This is band formed in 2007 in Alabama. Though a lot consider this band as metalcore. they do also include a lot of styles into their music such as electronic, disco, jazz and grindcore which all makes them really original and, this 5 piece has a female lead vocalist, Krysta Cameron. They started right after In This Moment and the venue started to get full again. They are really not an ordinary band, you either love them or hate them! I cannot explain their style specifically, you really have to go on their website, buy a CD or go to a show to hear it and define a certain style. However, to give you an idea, the lead singer makes me think of Bjork. By the way their music and the vocals are versatile and complex. I was surprised to see how good and tight this band was but the sound wasn’t that great. They didn’t chat a lot with us and that is completely understandable having a short set. Krysta gives herself completely on stage but I didn’t feel like she was 100% comfortable. I mean she was moving but it didn’t feel natural. Overall, they did a good performance but wasn’t the best of the day either.
In This Moment is a metalcore band from California that was formed in 2005. They didn’t get that much attention that day in Montreal… As soon as Maria Brink (lead singer) ended her first song, more than half of the venue left outside. Beautiful as usual, Maria came on stage with a sexy beige dress and high boots, hairs in the wind. She didn’t do a bad performance but I guess that In This Moment wasn’t exactly the kind of band that the crowd was there for. The band did Next Life, Beautiful Tragedy, Just Drive, The Gun Show and Daddy’s Falling Angel. Although Maria Brink tried as much as she could to make the small crowd going, it didn’t work at all. Seeing that the crowd wasn’t into them, she told the crowd: “We are used to play in front of a bigger crowd than that, we’re gonna do something but I need you to collaborate with us. It can be awesome or it can suck. I want each and every one of you to do a circle pit, do you know what a circle pit is?” I don’t know if she thought that we were total idiots but anyways, she went on the floor with 6 security guards around her and some people did a circle pit (not even 50 fans…). Unfortunately, lets just say that it wasn’t the greatest performance of the day…
They are a progressive metal/metalcore band from Minnesota founded in 2004. The band’s latest album, In Dreams, was released in 2010. They put on an energetic and really entertaining performance. They played for half an hour and the place was crowded even though it was still early. Their bass player, Lerichard “Lee” Foral, is really something on stage. Always moving and jumping everywhere and what about lead singer! Anthony Notarmaso he was getting the crowd going, wanting everyone to jump from the left to the right and from the back to the front. And most of the fans actually did it! Almost the whole floor was jumping! They did Encased in Ice, Aspiration and Berzerker among others. During Berzerker, Justin Lowe did a guitar solo in the back of his head, which was really impressive. It was one of the best performances of the day in my opinion.
These are the main performances that I got to see during this tour. Overall it was good but most of the crowd spent their day outside which tells me that maybe the lineup was too diversified for them to be on the same stage. My best performances go to Emmure, Alasena and After the Burial. It was sad that 3 main bands were missing but I was still happy to be able to catch a few bands over there.
Click on the links below for all the photos!
- Text by Karine Juteau / Photos by Valentine Zuczek -
Category: Photo Updates, Reviews
