Baroness //Graveyard // Pallbearer // Fall Tour 2024 // Live Review // The Limelight // Belfast
This one is going to be hefty! We caught the majestic Baroness supporting Volbeat at The Ulster Hall way back when for the gig that never was. Volbeat suffered technical issues and had to cancel the show, walking off and leaving a few thousand fans a tad disappointed. Baroness slayed the opening slot, and everyone was up for a great night’s craic, but alas, the gods of In-Ears were not playing ball, and Volbeat couldn’t continue. However, I did get to experience Baroness up close and personal and it was both awesome and sauce.
Tonight, we have the Savannah, Georgia, USA band back in Ireland for two dates and tonight they lay waste to The Limelight in Belfast. In tow, Graveyard, Gothenburg, Sweden’s Psych-Blues rockers who have been doing their thing since their formation in 2006, back in 2023 with a new line-up and a new studio album simply entitled ‘6’ Graveyard join Baroness on a co-headline tour to make your hairs stand up on end.
Opening up, however, Pallbearer, all the way from the home of Doom USA, Little Rock, Arkansas. I remember sending two young ladies from Bristol to cover these guys back in 2017 ish for Rock ’N’ Load. Out came two traumatised young ladies who were not quite ready for their thick doom-laden riffage. Let’s see if tonight’s performance is any different and if they can tear me a new asshole too.
It is an early start tonight; the tea-time traffic in Belfast is still in full flow, and the eager fans are queueing outside one of Belfast’s finest music venues, tonight we are in The Limelight 1, the bigger of the two venues signalling an expectation that tonight’s lineup will draw a healthy crowd,
So this little lady is excited to see what is to come, the lights go down, let’s do this. Having released their latest offering ‘Mind Burns Alive’ back in May 2024 courtesy of Nuclear Blast, Pallbearer come packed with tuneage to melt your face, they kick off with a slow burner – luring the Belfast audience into a false sense of security, teasing them with a disjointed track that builds and builds into a crescendo like a crashing wave coming down on top of you, with harmonising guitars that the boys out of Iron Maiden would have been proud of.
Pallbearer is one of the more melodic doom bands I have ever encountered, and frontman Brett Campbell thanks the Belfast crowd for coming out for this first-ever show in Belfast after 16 years of a ban before he launches into a melancholy tune that has the Belfast audience engrossed, the thunderous wall of distortion and thunderous drums pummelling all in the room. The vocals are multi-layered, with reverb and delay dragging them out to great effect, creating a huge sound live, I believe Devin Holt on rhythm guitars adding additional vocals to the mix creates a thick vocal layer above the hefty sound, Pallbearer plays uncomfortable sounding chord phrases that challenge you as a listener before they beat you with a thunderous distorted sound and bring it all back down to a canter once again for a clean harmonious vocal against a clean guitar, before ripping your face off, again and again, all in the one song! Doom for me is like Marmite, you love it or hate it, and generally with the local bands we see more regularly they do their thing, and Pallbearer do theirs, they offer such a rock sonic sound way beyond what I would normally call Doom that I could honestly be converted! As they end the set Belfast erupts and sows their appreciation for one of the finest doom bands to grace this stage.
https://linktr.ee/pallbearerdoom
Up next to the mighty Graveyard, the Swedish rock n’ rollers hit the stage and in stark contrast to Pallbearer raise the roof off with their psychedelic roots rock. The guys get stuck right in and like a breath of press of the hefty doom offers something more palatable sonically for the average listener. These guys are pedal to the metal, back against the wall rock n’ roll, they have the room bouncing! The songs get gnarlier, and grittier and lay down vines of QOTSA and Eagles Of Death Metal all while channelling their inner Led Zeppelin, they are just a tour de force live they knock it out of the park, dragging the Belfast crowd kicking and screaming all the way! Again sonically not a band that would be In my wheelhouse that I would listen to at home, but live they rock! These guys’ vocals get shredded between frontman Joakim and bassist Truls and when your frontman brings out the tambourine you know shizzle has just got serious! The band takes Belfast on a crazy rollercoaster ride of sonic emotion with heavy melancholic numbers to absolute party ragers and everything in between, Graveyard are one hell of a band! There must be something in that Swedish water that they produce so many killer rock, metal and blues artists co consistently! Whatever it is I’ll have a little over her, please! Graveyardclosese out with a slow burner that builds and builds into a crescendo, the tambourine is out again and the band are going nuts as they wrap up the set, Belfast erupts for one final time showing their appreciation for these Swedish mad men, which a band, my favourite Swedish rock band with a yard in the title for sure!
https://graveyard.bfan.link/6-album.
I forgot both Baroness & Graveyard are co-headlining and I believe Graveyard has the longer set time this evening, so a quick turnaround and the stage is set for Baroness. 9:15 and the lights drop and one by one this monstrous four-piece takes to the stage and unleashes unholy hell on the Belfast crowd. A savage and relentless sonic assault on the senses, every track takes your breath away, the brutality fused with the technical brilliance of Gina Gleason on lead guitar, whilst frontman John Dyer Baizley brings an energy to his live performance that is unmatched tonight.
His intensity is off the charts, the veins popping in his neck as he screams out those lyrics. Gina has a wry smile once in a while, feeding off the energy of the Belfast crowd as they get more and more into the band’s breathtaking set. The energy is seriously off the charts, what Pallbearer brought as an opener then Graveyard lifted ten-fold and Baroness just took this performance stratospheric! The band’s setlist is an assault on the senses, they lure you into a false sense of security with ambient opening chords or fingerpicking before unleashing a barrage of riffage to peel the skin from your face, John’s vocals just bellow out over the crowd against the slamming chords, thunderous bass and pummelling drum work, Gina is looking every piece the rock-goddess she is, legs a kimbo, with her Tele taking on hell of a beating along with John’s Strat, both artists rocking vintage guitars against a backdrop of modern metal mayhem, it’s quite the juxtaposition but you gotta love it. Track after track the room is rocking and the Belfast crowd just can’t get enough, I love the vibe the band gives off, the powerhouse frontman in John, the Awesome Sauce-inspiring Gina Gleason on guitar shining a light for all the ladies out there, showcasing just how important it is for all the ladies out there to get their heads down and forge ahead with their love for rock, if I was a young woman in this crowd I could not but be inspired by Gina’s command of the stage, her technical ability and just how well she fits a band such as Baroness and all that they stand for.
Stepping back and taking in the show it was just magnificent from start to finish, as John said it’s their third time here and it wont be their last, Belfast cam out to show its appreciation and for a band all the way from Savanah, Georgia who are a long way from home, that is appreciated. I didn’t quite know how this list up was going to work, how three very different bands and genres could put a cohesive show together but let me tell you, it was a treat, quality always shines through and I would challenge anyone to walk out of here tonight and not have enjoyed what they had just witnessed. Top class musicianship from the first song to the last, three killer bands. If you get the opportunity to take this live show in, you have to do It.
https://yourbaroness.com/tour/
Photos by Mark McGrogan
@flashartmark #flashartmark
