Beartooth and Trivium at The Fillmore in Silver Spring, MD – May 21, 2023
The Trivium and Beartooth tour made a stop in Silver Spring, MD on Sunday, May 21, with an almost sold-out show. The Fillmore holds 2,200 attendees, and a little over 1,800 ticket-holders made an appearance for both bands. The supporting bands included Archetypes Collide and all the way from the UK, Malevolence.
Archetypes Collide
Archetypes Collide, hailing from Arizona, did a phenomenal job warming up the crowd in the allotted thirty minutes they had for their set. By the time they stepped on stage, it was starting to get packed. They surprised the audience with an excellent cover of Linkin Park’s “One Step Closer,” as their third song. This earned them a few crowd surfers to emerge.
Malevolence
As for Malevolence, this British band was probably the heaviest on the bill. The amount of crowd surfers that surged forth from the audience increased with every passing second, even more as the venue was almost filled to the brim. By their fourth song, frontman Alex Taylor encouraged everyone to start a mosh pit, and of course, they obeyed with enthusiasm. Their next song, “Higher Place,” was a bit of a change of pace, meaning slower. Before they started, Alex had everyone lift their phone flashlights into the air, in lieu of fire-hazardous lighters. Afterwards, they resumed their heavy set. The vocals of Taylor and co-lead singer Konan Hall both reminded me of Howard Jones and Fire from the God’s AJ Channer. This was Malevolence’s first time at the Fillmore Silver Spring, and hopefully will not be their last.
Trivium
By the time Trivium started their set, a whopping 1,600 attendees were eagerly awaiting to rock out. Due to the heavy amount of crowd surfers during Malevolence’s set, the venue increased the presence of their security guards in the photo pit. It became an all-hands-on-deck situation from then on. Trivium, as always, wasted no time jumping right into their set and amping the crowd up. The Fillmore has always been highly receptive to Trivium, even front man Matt Heafy called Silver Spring the best crowd they’ve seen the entire tour. Also, massive props to Matt stopping after the third song after thinking someone in the crowd was yelling out stop, thinking there was something wrong. You got to love the metal family.
Once confirmed all was okay, Trivium pressed on, causing more crowd surfers to emerge, it didn’t even stop a man with crutches to do it twice (once before during Malevolence’s set). It was pretty entertaining to see someone dressed in a banana costume float to the photo pit. Between songs, the fans chanted Trivium, so it was safe to say they were pretty enthusiastic about the band’s presence. At times, the crowd almost drowned out Matt and Corey’s vocals, especially during “Down from the Sky.” According to Matt, it was the song’s 15th anniversary since it came out. Trivium invited out Josh Baines, Malevolence’s guitarist, to play with them during “The Heart from Your Hate.” Overall, Trivium, as always, killed their set. Next up, Beartooth.
Beartooth
At this point, all 1,800-plus ticket-holders were in the venue. The venue’s heat had intensified with the packed bodies in the space. The high Trivium left lingered, and the excitement for Beartooth was palpable.
To pass the time while the crew set up the stage, they sang along with the venue’s playlist. Right before Beartooth’s set, their intro song was Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” which the crowd sang wholeheartedly before the song cut abruptly near the end, indicating Beartooth’s official presence. They were such an energetic band, just watching shirtless front man, Caleb Shomo, jump and spin around was mesmerizing. Beartooth fed off the audience’s energy, and in turn, the crowd fed off the band. It was a sight to see. Caleb interacted with their fans enthusiastically, even reaching out to touch a crowd surfer’s hand multiple times.
It was hard to believe the time had passed so quickly before they reached their encore. After playing “The Past is Dead,” drummer Connor Denis did an impressive drum solo that got connected into some instrumentals during which Caleb, with his guitar, hopped over the barricade into the crowd toward the back. Then he waded back to the stage and over the barricade again, returning to the stage. The crowd went wild over this act. Beartooth promptly finished with “The Last Riff.”
The tour is nowhere near over, with the final date in Seattle, WA on June 15. You need to see this tour. Run, do not walk to get your tickets. You don’t want to miss seeing any of these bands.
