Trivium & Beartooth Co-Headlining Tour Completely Tore Up The College Street Music Hall In New Haven, CT

Ryan Murray | Co-Owner | Chief Editor | Contributor | Photographer

r.m.music84@gmail.com

📸 – Ryan Murray

Saturday, May 13th saw Trivium and Beartooth’s co-headlining tour make its way to New Haven, CT and this stop was at The College Street Music Hall. Having never been to this venue before, I have to take a quick moment to shout them out! Everyone from the box office, the folks opening the doors, security and everyone else not only were great with everyone, but the systemic organization was very apparent.

Having been a fan of Trivium since “Ascendancy” released in 2005, with “Like Light to Flies” being the first song I’d ever heard by them, and having just learned about Beartooth in 2021 with “In Between” being the first song I’d heard from them, I was absolutely psyched to see them co-headlining a tour! Touring in support of Beartooth and Trivium is the UK’s Malevolence, as well as Arizona upstarts Archetypes Collide.

Opening the show was Archetypes Collide. This quintet from Arizona just recently released their self-titled release “Archetypes Collide”, which released on March 31st via Fearless Records. Having not heard of this band until just this February when asked to consider reviewing the upcoming album, I gave the promo a listen and absolutely loved it from start to finish. If this incredible band isn’t already on your radar, be sure to give a listen! Influenced by many types of music, this band sees soaring vocal melodies, aggressive harsh vocals, edgy rock/metal riffs, intense breakdowns, synth and pop influences and so much more. Having had the opportunity to interview Kyle Pastor (vocals) back in March, Kyle shared about the album “ . The band had been formed in 2013 and ended up on Beartooth’s Oshie Bichar’s radar after the release of two EP’s and some stand alone singles. Not too long after, Bichar became the band’s manager alongside with Thomas Gutchess.

Once the band began taking the stage, within seconds their energy was matched by the crowd and it could be felt all the way from the barricade to the top balconies and completely filled the room. Their stage presence is infectious, and even the more quiet concert goers would have trouble keeping still and not jumping around! Opening with “Parasite”, the third single that was released back on February 24th, the band wastes no time getting every single head in the room banging, mine included. Hearing the band on their album was one thing, but hearing them in person is on an entirely different level. The vocals, both clean and harsh sound even better live, and the band was in sync every single note. Bone shattering drums, deep/rattling bass, and intense riffing with some seriously hard breakdowns filled most of the time up there, but the band’s pop and rock influences could be heard as well. The band brought it down just a bit with “What If I Fall”, a track that Kyle admits in an interview I had with him back in March is about the fear of everything that has been going well for the band just crumbling down and the fear of letting everyone down.

One of the band’s influences is Linkin Park, and so it was only right that they covered “One Step Closer”. From the very first note, the entire theatre went absolutely nuts, and the band payed some serious honour to the late Chester Bennington and to LP in their performance of this song. The band performed this classic with ease, and with a reverence that was hard to miss.

If you haven’t heard this band, go listen to them now, you’ll thank me later. Be sure to get out and see them on this tour, this band is about to explode!

Setlist:

Parasite

Destiny

One Step Closer (Linkin Park Cover)

My Own Device

Fade Away

What If I Fall

Your Misery

Next up was UK’s Malevolence! Originally formed in Sheffield, South Yorkshire in 2010, the band currently has three studio albums and two EP’s. I had heard of this band before, but wasn’t super familiar with their material, but seeing them live has definitely landed them on Spotify playlist!

Opening their set with “Malicious Intent”, the title track off of their 2022 full-length of the same name, the band showed off their insanely high energy, intense harsh vocals, and an aggression that aptly fits with the title of the band. There wasn’t a still person in the crowd, with several outs breaking out within 30 seconds of the start of the set!

Their closing song entitled “On Broken Glass” was definitely my favorite of the evening. Boasting intense breakdowns, great riffing, great harmonies during the choruses and an incredible guitar solo by Josh Baines!

What I really enjoyed about this band was that they didn’t just play hardcore music, it was much more than that. This band successfully blends elements of melodic metal, groove metal, hardcore punk and just straight up vein-bulging metal. What could be better?

I expect even more great things for this band moving forward, be sure to catch them live!

Setlist:

Malicious Intent

Life Sentence

Still Waters Run Deep

Self Supremacy

Higher Place

Keep Your Distance

On Broken Glass

Next up was Beartooth! This American hardcore punk band, formed by Caleb Shomo in 2012 in Columbus Ohio is known for their intense performances – boasting melodic hooks, intense breakdowns, melodic clean vocals and aggressive harsh vocals.

Beartooth effortlessly connects with the entire audience in a powerful way from the very first note, and never once does it fluctuate. Everything from the visuals, their stage presence and their interactions with the crowd is just a natural extension of who they are as a band.

The pits only continued to get bigger and more frequent during Beartooth’s set, and probably had the most crowd surfing I’ve seen in a long time. The production manager even warned all of the photographers ahead of time that if things got out of hand, they’d have to close down the photo pit for their set, but this thankfully didn’t happen.

Beartooth’s setlist was spot on and the crowd was eating up every second of every track they played! Some of my favs were in there as well, so that was a plus, including their latest single “Sunshine!” and “In Between” which was actually the first track I’d ever heard by them. And of course Caleb jumped into the crowd during “The Last Riff”!

One really cool moment was at the end of their set when Caleb came down off the stage and handed his setlist to a young lady by the name of Sidney, and you could see the absolute joy and elation in her eyes and in her face. To make it an even more special moment for her, he spent a moment chatting with her as well. Here are two shots I captured of this moment, as well!

If “Sunshine!” is any indication to the direction the band is taking, I’m excited to hear more! Get out and see this band, you won’t be sorry!

Setlist:

Devastation

Disease

Body Bag

Sunshine!

The Lines

Beaten in Lips

Bad Listener

In Between

You Never Know

Hated

Riptide

The Past Is Dead

The Last Riff

Having been a fan of Trivium myself since 2005, I was excited to be able to cover this show! Having been together for 24 years, Trivium has become one of the most prominent names in metal, and rightfully so. As the stage was being prepped, the crew unveiled two dragon statues one on each end of the stage, followed by a curtain stretching the entire width of the stage. As the lights dimmed and the music to “Rain” began, shadows could be seen positioned behind the curtain, and the entire theatre erupted in cheers and screams. If you thought it was loud then, once the curtain dropped the energy just absolutely exploded. The entire theatre was singing along to the chorus, and it was deafening, with a pit opening up before even half the song was over. Fists pumping, heads banging and horns raised all around would be an understatement. The band’s energy was absolutely infectious right from the start. The band has incredible chemistry on stage, and play off of each other really well. Absolutely loved the entire stage setup/backdrop, which felt like we were immersed into the court of the dragon.

Trivium didn’t disappoint! I’ve always heard videos of them performing live, but they just don’t do the band justice at all. The entire performance from the first note to the very last was filled with incredible energy, a massive sound, incredible melodies, spot on guitars, intense vocals, and absolutely heart-pounding percussion and bass.

You couldn’t beat the line up of this tour if you tried! All of the bands performances were absolute fire. In sync, with a great balance. Kudos to the sound engineer and the sound system at The College Street Music Hall as well!

Get out and catch what’s left of this tour, you’re not going to want to miss it!

Setlist:

Rain

Like Light to the Flies

Strife

Feast of Fire

Built to Fall

Down From The Sky

The Sin and the Sentence

Until the World Goes Cold

No Way Back Just Through

The Heart from Your Hate