Fan favorite Christian band, The Chariot from Georgia, has been around for the last decade touring the world, spreading their message and becoming known for their insane live performances. It was safe to say followers of the band were extremely disappointed to hear about the resignation of the members especially after other well-known Christian hardcore band Underoath called it quits late last year.
The Chariot wasn’t quite finished yet though. They took it upon themselves to travel and play shows across the United States for one last farewell tour. Joining them on this tour was Rebuker, Birds In Row, To The Wind, and Glass Cloud.
I was lucky enough to catch this show with Kyle at Kyle Kenehan Photography at the San Diego stop in a small venue called The Epicentre. This was probably the best venue I could have attended this show at. Although the sound wasn’t the best and the stage is quite a bit smaller than some of the other places I’ve viewed concerts at in San Diego, the level of intimacy was off the charts.
Jeremiah Johnson, a local hardcore band fronted by vocalist Sebastian Sevilla set the show off in a big way. The early crowd was unusually large for an opening band and I got to hear some old favorites as well as some new tunes. They were a great warm up for what was to come later.
Rebuker, the first of the touring bands played next. I had not previously heard of this band and was relatively impressed with their set based on how new of a band they were. They had a lot of stage energy and fit the bill perfectly. I expect that Rebuker will go far in the future.
Birds In Row played after Rebuker. They came all the way from France to be on this tour and quite frankly, I’m glad they did. I managed to watch them from side stage and they blew me away. They had a certain unf that managed to set them apart from all of these American hardcore bands that have been bursting into the scene lately. This tour was the perfect opportunity to expand their fan base into the United States. I highly recommend hardcore fans to check out their latest release “You, Me, and the Violence” which came out last year on Deathwish Inc.
To The Wind, a band from Seattle, Washington played fourth. They weren’t bad but there was nothing special about them either. The guys had a lot of energy and the crowd really seemed to respond but in comparison to the set I had seen from Birds In Row just half an hour before I was a bit unimpressed.
Glass Cloud came on after To The Wind. The crowd was ecstatic when they took the tiny but intimate stage. I had been a fan of their vocalist, Jerry Roush since his days in Sky Eats Airplane. I was happy to know that he started another band after his departure from SEA. Glass Cloud put on one hell of a show the last time I saw them, about a year ago on The AP Tour and I wasn’t expecting anything less this time. The fans were getting really rowdy and everyone seemed to be getting into the set. They played a few old songs and a couple new ones from their latest release “Perfect War Forever EP”. I was disappointed that they had to cut their set short by a few songs because of venue time restraints but all in all satisfied by craving for an exciting show.
Finally, the main event, The Chariot took the stage. I stood in the very back of the venue because I was slightly afraid I was going to get hurt. I have been to Chariot shows at larger venues before and those shows very crazy to say the least. They started their set and there were already kids swinging from rafters within the first two songs. Normally the venue doesn’t allow dangerous stunts such as that, but with a tour this big it was difficult to control the crowd.
The Chariot played a total of 20 songs, with the set going way past the venue’s noise curfew of 11. Fans heard songs from as far back as their first releases all the way up to the newest releases. By the time the show was over, the majority of the crowd was drowning in sweat and seemed very satisfied. If this tour hasn’t come to your town yet, I highly recommend attending when it does.