Amaranthe - Live at the Note
Westchester, PA 7/18/2013

My absolute joy at the announcement of Amaranthe’s first US tour was promptly deflated at the news that there was no show in the DC area, where I’d be stuck doing my summer internship during the duration of the tour. Thus, I wasn’t planning on attending the next nearest show in Westchester, PA, as the logistics of getting there (taking off work, horrendous rush hour traffic, etc.) was probably not going to be worth it. Obviously I was wrong, but I’ll get to that later.

So, the day of the show arrives, and all my concert-going friends on facebook choose to post their unbridled excitement at the prospect of seeing Amaranthe while I’m sitting at work, staring at my computer screen, eyes glazed over as a result of the monotony of editing peoples’ incompetent research. All I can feel is envy, and slowly but surely I build up the courage to ask my supervisor if I can take the afternoon off. As soon as I get the ok, I buy my tickets and when the time comes I run out the door, change, and speed off to Pennsylvania. And when I say speed off, I mean sit in unmoving traffic, and inevitably, I didn’t get to Westchester until the doors had already opened and all had taken their spots to watch the show. I found my SC co-writer Justin Boyer, fresh out of his interview with the very band we were there to see, and we prepared to watch the first performance of the night, a Jersey-based group by the name of Shattered Sanctity. The band played a mix of traditional and power metal and even managed to get a small mosh pit going, but as they weren’t really my style, I chose to instead recover from my debilitating drive by leaning against the side of the balcony where I was standing and calmly watching the show. They weren’t bad, but anticipation for the next opener was high enough that I wasn’t exactly sad to see them leave the stage.

Next up were Calgary metallersKobra and the Lotus, a band that has been gaining a lot of attention recently for their powerful classic heavy metal sound and the impressive pipes of charismatic vocalist Brittany “Kobra” Paige. Having known of them for a few years, I was excited to finally get the chance to see them, and boy, did Kobra give it her all from beginning to end. The crowd rocked out to some of the group’s more well-known songs like “Welcome to My Funeral” and “Forever One” and the band did their job of warming up the audience for the headliners. Though I was impressed during the first few songs, I honestly got quite bored toward the end of the set. Most of the band’s songs sound very similar to each other, and the ups-and-downs of the vocal lines and Kobra’s constant vibrato started to blend together fairly quickly. If the band didn’t talk between two songs, I may not have even noticed a transition between them. Overall verdict: good and energetic set, but so same-y that I lost interest after the first half.

Setlist:
Nayana
No Rest for the Wicked
Welcome To My Funeral
Forever One
Heaven's Veins
Sanctuary
My Life
Dark Passenger
50 Shades of Evil

Finally, it was time for Amaranthe, and everyone rushed to the stage-area at the first notes of the intro. The cheers for the band as they came out were deafening, impressive for such a relatively small crowd, and they continued throughout the set. After the intro, the band dove straight into “Invincible” Elize, Jake, and a guest growler (Andy had apparently just had a baby!) took center stage banging their heads and engaging the crowd. Though there wasn’t much space to move around on stage, the band members made the most of it as they played through songs off both albums, hitting all the fan favorites. When they got to “Amaranthine,” Elize let the crowd sing along, and the look on her face when the whole venue sang at the top of their lungs and knew all the words was unforgettable. Despite the extreme heat (nearly 100 degrees outside!), the audience gave back every ounce of energy the band put into their show. Of course, the craziest moments happened during a high-energy rendition of “The Nexus” and when the band ended their two-song encore with “Hunger,” the song they said started everything for them. The response, even from a small crowd in a small club on the outskirts of Philadelphia, no doubt convinced the band they need to come back, and soon! I, for one, will be there when they do.

Setlist:
Invincible
Leave Everything Behind
1.000.000 Lightyears
Serendipity
Afterlife
Infinity
Drum Solo
Burn With Me
Mechanical Illusion
It's All About Me (Rain)
The Nexus
Amaranthine
Call Out My Name
Encore:
Automatic
Hunger

Special thanks: Joe Prostredny - Photo credits

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