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What a week it's been! Three days in a row of straight up fantastic rock shows! We're hoping at least one of these shows brought you out to the venue on Thursday for Attila, Friday for Chiodos and We Came as Romans or Saturday for Gwar! Lets recap, shall we?

Thursday, December 11; if you missed it, you have missed the show of a LIFETIME! Monster Outbreak brought us a few up and comers and one legendary hardcore band to our stage & it sold the venue OUT!

We kicked off with Sworn In, a band that isn't new around here, as they're always playing the smaller clubs, and opening for huge artists such as the Acacia Strain and Emmure, (who by the way are visiting the venue in the week ;) ). They really got the show off to a great start. If you didn't know them before, you do now. Between the crowd surfing, wall of death and circle pits their fans started, their set was one you would never forget. Their music was a little harder than the other bands, but the fans didn't seem to mind, and they continued to rock on, just like they were their favorite. And then after that everyone went to the merch table to collect their Sworn In beanies, because they were pretty rad. ;D

Like Moths to Flames aren't new to Baltimore Soundstage. Almost a year ago, they dropped by to play in the legendary Scream it Like You Mean it tour with Hawthorne Heights, Set it Off and Story of the Year. Their, they got the crowd just as crazy for them as they got the crowd for Attila. Their music was a little more calmed down than Sworn In's was, but that didn't mean the crowd was. Monster Outbreak did a wonderful job at adding this band to open for Attila for this tour. With sounds similar to Miss May I (also playing at our venue in January) yet with not as ratchet of a personality as Attila, they were a perfect fit for the tour. Hope to see them headlining here in the near future!

Crown the Empire was a huge draw for this crowd. This year has been one of the biggest touring years for this young new band, with headlining Warped Tour and being on the cover of AP magazine and opening for various artist throughout, it was definitely a pleasure having them here. A lot of their fans are younger, but that's what we love to see is such a young crowd getting into music and supporting the music scene in such a positive way. When we get to see them in the crowd supporting such a great and positive new artist, helping them find their place in the music scene, it's such beauty in our eyes. These guys are definitely a high energy and mega fun band to have at our venue. We definitely hope to see them here again, next time headlining! They definitely have the momentum to sell us out!

How could we forget about Attila and the Fronz? With so much happening with this band this year with Warped tour and, much like CTE, various tours this year & their new tour bus with the band's mugs printed on them, who hasn't heard of them? The fact that they can sell out our venue, and still have people calling asking for tickets is definitely a major "why haven't you checked them out before?" draw. This band definitely had some of the youngest fans, but with the most energy in them. Fronz definitely loves being the center of attention, and he sure loves making people feel uncomfortable (but in a good way!) in the crowd. With many crowd surfers, and a giant circle pit during their set, the band had no intention of calming the crowd down (even after they were done!) To make things even more fun, and even more silly, they had no problem proving just how ratchet the band really was with their bad mouth & mad money make-it-rain skillz. These guys are not a band you want to miss next time they come around. We now know why these guys sell out! What a great show! Thank you Monster for having them out!

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Friday December 12-This show was actually heavily talked about and promoted at our club the second it got announced to us. Chiodos and We Came As Romans left us with one great show for the year and a very full and excited crowd.

From the band Dance Gavin Dance, Jonny Craig, the previous lead singer of the band, has come to Baltimore Soundstage with his new band, Slaves. They already had a somewhat large fanbase thanks to DGD, and because of previous solo music he had put out. Slaves was definitely a little harder than DGD was, but it was definitely a perfect fit for this short run. Jonny really knew how to allow his (amazing, to say the least) voice to carry through the heaviness of the music and blend it perfectly. He wasn't afraid or shy about how he would sound compared to his music and the band, and he certainly wasn't shy about showing new and old fans what his new band was all about. We think they're going to go far, we thought they were great and we can't wait to hear more!

We had another great band member in the house with us this night! From Underoath, we had the screamer, Spencer Chamberlain with his new band, Sleepwave with us! Sleepwave is not new to Baltimore, but he is new to a lot of the fans that were out at the show this week. Having been played a lot on 98 rock though, and having been known through the Underoath fanbase, they were sure to have a few loyal Sleepwave fans in the crowd. The band put on a great opening act, they were getting a few headbangers in the crowd, and looking around a few people did know the words. Tweeting about the band, a few of the photographers had favorited them and pointed out the fact that they loved to shoot them. Not to mention the band is very very appreciative of their fans and they do like to interact with them when they can, whether it be social media, or sticking around afterward to say hi. We definitely can't wait to host them again!

It wasn't Chiodos' night to finish the show out, but they sure as hell got the crowd rowdy! Within the first song, concert goers were jumping up on shoulder, crowdsurfing, and headbanging, everyone wanted to be a part of the set. Everyone wanted their picture taken, and everyone wanted to be noticed by the band. The passion that Chiodos was letting out on the stage was almost too hard to watch without putting a smile on your face. Even looking up at Craig Owens, the singer he couldn't keep a smile off his face because of the passion that these fans had for his music. So much positivity was radiating off of these guys and it was so good and so refreshing to see it being bounced onto these members of the crowd. They should be so proud of their fans, and proud of themselves too for such a great turnout for such a small short tour.

Lastly, We Came As Romans were the closer, and they knew that they were able to get the crowd up off their feet. These guys are also a fairly new band, and they have also had a great year, I actually think this is the first time I have seen them headline since being mainstage at Warped Tour in 2013! They really know how to put on a great show. Just like Chiodos, there was so much energy and passion radiating from both sides of the venue. The amount of crowd walkers, compared to crowd surfers was more than we usually see (it also helps when band members step out into the crowd and also crowd walk), but it's really great seeing these people connect with band members that they have been influenced by for so long. It's also so great to see a band so passionate about what they do that they can barely hold it back on the stage and they really give it their all. This is really rare these days in the music industry. So thank you for this tour. This really was a lot of fun.

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Saturday, December 13

Oh man. Soooo much blood. So. Much. Blood. We welcomed GWAR with Corrosion of Conformity and American Sharks to our stage, and we had a really really great outcome and such a fun, memorable sold out show.

Our opener for the night was a three piece metal band who really seemed to enjoy what they were doing. American Sharks started the last night of the tour off by being introduced onstage by GWAR's tour manager, and that really got things going. It set the tone as "these guys are really great, and have been really great on the duration of this tour, we really hope you like them", and we did. Midway through their set, smoke went off, followed by a voice over, that GWAR was "smoking weed in the dressing rooms" American Sharks were really great about it and played along, making matters even funnier. Also right before their last song, the singer, Mike, got a letter from his "mom", saying she missed him and couldn't wait for him to come home because the toilet was clogged and the house was stinky. They really brought out a lot of personality and made the show really fun, especially being a newer band, and how not many people had heard of them. They were a great band to start off a great night.

Corrosion of Conformity were GWAR's opener. Being an older band, they had a bigger fan base. Even our security was enjoying the show! The crowd had started a crazy circle pit that radiated through the sold out crowd (we were getting hit at barricade) and even the band was pointing it out. The music was a little hard to hear, especially not being on the side the singer was on--the guitar monitors were up too loud, and the microphones were very low, but them being an older metal band, we were pretty sure they wanted us focus on the riffs more than the voice. Either way, they really got everyone roughed up and raw for the headliner.

GWAR took everyone away from planet earth when they took the stage. Reviewing what happened earlier this year when they lost their frontman, Oderus Urungus, the band promised to pay tribute to him and oh, they did. Within the first 5 minutes of them hitting the stage, they had already decapitated a security guard and sprayed us with a good amount of blood. Throughout the show, they introduced us to their new frontwoman, Vulvatron, and they had torn apart monster after monster, trying to take over for Oderus. Towards the end, once the crowd was covered with blood and blue gunk, they paid their respects to the "greatest singer of a rockband their ever was" with a sword ritual and bagpipes. We did get two encores out of the show, which also meant getting sprayed with full blood guns (2) twice! This show was a 10/10, definitely would recommend. I hope we get them back!

We hope you've enjoyed these reviews! We hope they have convinced you to come out to our venue at one of our upcoming shows! Visit us at www.baltimoresoundstage.com for more shows, tickets and information!

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