[Review + Photo Gallery] Black Mass Tour ft. Black Veil Brides – Silver Spring, MD – 11/29/2014

If you weren’t aware the Black Mass tour was sold out, upon arrival to the Fillmore in Silver Spring, the length of the line might have given it away. Personally, I’ve been to a ton of shows at Fillmore, some as a fan, some as press, but I’ve never seen a line as long as this one. If you’re familiar with the Fillmore, or downtown Silver Spring in general, you’ll know that when I say the line extended from the doors of the venue down Colesville road, wrapping around to Fenton Street and to the end, eventually wapping onto Cameon steet as far as the eye could see, that it was LONG. In case you’re not familiar with the area, that’s roughly a quarter mile and a bit more. But enough about the line, I think you’re here to read about Drama Club, Set It Off, Falling in Reverse and Black Veil Brides, right? Right.

Drama Club, a DJ duo from Las Vegas was slated to kick the night off, but due to the line being so long, it took forever to get in, and I only caught the last song of their set. With that said, for an opening act, the crowd seemed to be really into them.

Set It Off took the stage next. I have to admit, I was expecting something completely different from them, as the only time I’ve ever seen them, their performance was very theatrical, not so “rock-show-ish” but the product they put on for this show was actually very “rock-show-ish”. From a photographers stand-point, I was very confused upon entering the barricade area, as there were 3 large risers placed in the middle of the pit, making it hard to manuver. I later realized, their stage space was extremely tight and the risers were there to give Cody a bit more room to move around. But who needs risers when you can stand on the barricade and sing with the crowd? That’s a Cody Carson thing, apparently. Mad respect for that. Not a lot of bands meet my expectations, let alone exceed them, but Set It Off put on a great show and definitley was a bright spot on the night. (Insert corny joke about Set It Off knowing how to Set It Off — I hope we’re on the same page with that)

You might be expecting to see a paragraph here about Ronnie Radke and his band called Falling in Reverse, but due to unforeseen circumstances, we were barred from covering their set.

Black Veil Brides. Man. What can I say? One thing I’ve learned after working in the music industry for a few years, is that you have to give everything a chance. I’m not the biggest fan of Black Veil Brides, nor the support acts for that matter, but sometimes you have venture out of your comfort zone and cover something different. It’s a rarity for me, but this show was definitley worth it in the end and makes me want to cover more shows out of my comfort zone. First off, Andy Biersack is one hell of a front man. Yes the band has a lot of loyal followers, but he can control a crowd of 2,000 people. Easily. Their stage set-up was pretty basic, but I’ll give it to them, it was a very flashy version of basic. The real eye opener, no pun intended, was the light show. Whoever does their lighting needs a raise, because of all the shows I’ve been to this year, they had some of the best lighting and color combinations I’ve seen. Black Veil Brides blew through a 90 minute time slot as if it were nothing, and treated the crowd a special performance of Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell”, a cover in which Andy stated “we haven’t played a lot on this tour”. So the 2,000 people in attendance of Maryland’s date of the tour got an extra special 16 song set instead of the typical 15 songs in which most dates have gotten. I’ve rambled on long enough, here their setlist and a few photos to go with it!

Black Veil Brides – Black Mass Tour Setlist
Heart of Fire
I Am Bulletproof
Coffin
Faithless
Wretched and Divine
Knives and Pens
Overture
Shadows Die
Last Rites
Rebel Love Song
CC’s Drum Solo
The Legacy
Sweet Blasphemy
Perfect Weapon
Fallen Angels

Rebel Yell (Billy Idol Cover)
In the End

Photos & Review by Terry Dobbins/Scenes of Madness Photography