On Thursday September the 19th the American band Between The Buried And Me started their new tour in the venue of Patronaat in Haarlem, The Netherlands. It’s not about just another tour here though, but a very special one. Between The Buried And Me, shortly BTBAM, already consisting of vocalist/keyboardist Tommy Giles Rogers, Jr., guitarist/vocalist Paul Waggoner, guitarist Dustie Waring, drummer Blake Richardson and bass player/keyboardist Dan Briggs for quite a while, exists for almost 20 years. Not exactly 20 years yet, that’s the case next year, but they already started that anniversary. This tour, that’s now happening in Europe and will be brought to Australia and America next year, is in celebration of BTBAM’s 20th anniversary. The tour is called A Special Evening Engagement With BTBAM Performing Two Sets in which, as the name of the tour already suggests, BTBAM plays two sets. There is no support act.
Once inside the venue there are bright blue lights shining on both sides as well as in the back of the stage. A few moments before BTBAM is going to kick off their show it’s quite crowded. For me personally it was the first time seeing BTBAM live, while I know their music for quite some time already. Unfortunately I never went to a BTBAM show before though, but that a BTBAM show is certainly worth your money and time becomes clear pretty soon when they started their show.
The sound is of a very good quality. Only the vocals, Tommy Giles Rogers, Jr.’s clean vocals, raw screams and at some moments a brutal growl as well as Paul Waggoner’s backing vocals, were a little bit soft in the mix. However, that also was dependent to where someone was standing in the venue, since I already heard people say that they thought the vocal volume was okay, but the guitars were a bit soft, something I thought was okay. Those guitars, especially that of leadguitarist Paul Waggoner, who also regularly showed some very nice solo’s, delivered a very nice sound, just as Blake Richardson’s powerful drums.
BTBAM worked on a perfect show for this tour in which, as expected with BTBAM’s music, a lot can be heard. That’s something they also execute in a very well-done, tight way. Especially those changes are delivered with perfection, within songs as well as in between different songs. In terms of atmosphere, pace and rhythm it all goes extremely up and down during this show, in a chaotic and unpredictable way, but at the same time in a very fitting, well thought through and controlled way, without giving in on energy or power. To give you an example: a dreamy, calm, almost enchanting part can suddenly change into a heavily pounding part and then suddenly change back, without sounding weird or annoying, at least for people who already know BTBAM’s music for a bit of course. For people not knowing BTBAM’s music it will probably need some time to get used to. However, there is a constant explosion of energy coming off of the stage that only disappears in between BTBAM’s two sets and in between their second set and their encore. The two hours that BTBAM is playing tonight are passing very fast, but that’s just the case with awesome things.
BTBAM delivers a very awesome and overwhelming evening with almost only highlights, including for example The Proverbial Bellow and Selkies: The Endless Obsession, amplified by the also very nice and overwhelming lightshow. The audience’s response is very enthusiastic, there is a moshpit going on, there are quite a few headbangers, a lot of people are clapping their hands or shouting along and BTBAM regularly gets a very deserved, very loud and enthusiastic applause during this show, after various musical highlights, such as different solo’s, in between songs as well as of course after both their sets and after their encore.
This evening in Haarlem’s venue Patronaat was definitely worth everything. Between The Buried And Me played a fantastic show that I definitely wouldn’t want to have missed. In case you’ve never seen BTBAM live before, be sure you do so! You won’t be disappointed.
You can read our interview with BTBAM’s Dan Briggs here.
Between The Buried And Me Official Website
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Hi!
I’m Tim van Velthuysen and I started DutchMetalManiac back in 2014. I’m 29 years old and I live in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Of course, I like metal, but I can also appreciate other musical styles.
In addition to DutchMetalManiac I also have a personal website on which I’ll post various things that won’t fit on DutchMetalManiac, but might be interesting for you as well. It’s in Dutch though.
[…] in the venue of Patronaat in Haarlem, The Netherlands. You can read our live review of that show here. Before the show, and after BTBAM’s soundcheck, DutchMetalManiac’s Tim van Velthuysen […]