STRHESS TOUR: Shadows Fall / Poison The Well / Bury Your Dead / Darkest Hour / Still Remains

July 15th, 2006 by Richiedude

Last night in Buffalo NY at The Town Ballroom (formerly “Sphere”), UVTV was there to take some footage of Shadows Fall. I was also able to make arrangements with Darkest Hour last minute.

First off let’s talk about the venue. Very nice layout - used to be an old theatre - out front where the concessions used to be is a large oval bar with plenty of room for bands to setup their merch tables and for people to chill, get a drink, and have a place to talk should they desire to escape the sound of the concert area for awhile. Once inside, the stage is quite large with a big pit/floor area. Then in a semi circle around the stage and pit are several levels that afford concert goers an unobstructed view of the stage at a reasonable distance. I really like the setup of this venue - one of the best I’ve seen. The sound was very good and for this particular event the attendance was good as it seemed to fill in quite well by the time Shadow’s Fall hit the stage.

Still Remains was on the stage when we arrived, finishing their set. We already filmed them awhile back. I need to get off my ass and get that stuff edited!?Anyhow, once again they sounded great and put on a very good show.

Up next was Bury Your Dead. I wasn’t able to locate their tour manager & speak to the band in time for us to get footage. Darn! They kicked major ass?- excellent hardcore show complete with swinging guitars, grunting?& searing vocals and tons of energy. Too bad things didn’t work out to get some footage; however, I did speak with the band after the show so we will be making arrangements with them in the future.?

First up for us filming was Darkest Hour, who put on an outstanding & energetic show. We got a lot of great footage; however, you will see no live material from this event. Why, you ask? Well - we had an error with the audio which caused us to lose all the live audio. That really sucks! But fear not - I plan to take the footage and synch to one of their CD tunes to make a music video out of the footage we got, so that all is not lost.

Next on the stage was Poison the Well. Not my cup of tea. If you like semi-stoner eerie droning guitars layered with alternating screaming & singing, then perhaps this band is for you. I personally didn’t care for them so I won’t bore you with my opinions any further. After all - it is just my opinion! They did sound tight and performed well.

Now to the meat. Shadow’s Fall! I was able to speak with the guitar player and singer before the show and got my warnings that if we were going to be close up filming, to watch out for the “car wash effect” of flying dreads. Sure enough I got hit a couple times, once taking me by surprise. We filmed 3 songs,?and I’m sure we got something decent, though I would have preferred the lighting to have had more brightness from the front; and just more overall. It was pretty dark, and very red - so I’ll have my work cutout trying to get something that looks decent from this. I’ll make it happen!

This tour is just beginning so I’m sure as the bands get the road under their feet, things will only get better. If this bill rolls into your town, take me suggestion and go. You won’t regret it!