An Evening with Between the Buried and Me: A Sold-Out Glorious Performance at the Garden Amp in Orange County
September 1st, 2021
Eclectic. Defined in the Oxford Languages dictionary publisher as: “deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.” It could mean you take a way of life or a road to follow from a religion, maybe cutting fish out of your life, someone who solely writes in cursive, etc. On the surface of one’s opinion and thought process, moving parts of a whole. But for those out there that understand what it is to be eclectic, and/or see deeper into it, it’s creating a rather unique perspective and life from the variant changes you’ve made, transforming a life view that can only be experienced by the few. Your patterns and habits constantly change, ideals form new brushstrokes of perspective, and the ability to generally keep a vastly open mind, it isn’t something that is easy to replicate.
And starting 21 years ago, Between the Buried and Me (BTBAM), accomplished just that. Although a common label of their musical style is usually dubbed Progressive Metal, the group’s astonishing attention to detail within their free-flowing ability of elite musicianship, alongside the thousands of moving parts that operate within the songwriting, leave the band to be truly one of a kind. The fact that they are not at all a search option in Metal Archives, is laughable, and this is coming from someone who gives high praise and remarks to them, and their magnificent amount of effort and time to about every Metal band you can possibly name.
From the 2007 masterpiece Colors, the demented direction they achieved a couple of years later with The Great Misdirect (we’ll talk about that shortly), to the profound crushing layers of Jazz, extreme foundations of dark atmosphere, and delicate yet aggressive detail on their underrated 2012 release, The Parallax II: Future Sequence. The number of musical marathons traveled that Between the Buried and Me have performed for over two decades, is moving to speechlessness. And to many passionate fans who were bummed that this tour was postponed last year due to the pandemic, butterflies in your stomach was the feeling many were feeling as this were to be only Between the Buried and Me, for two hours plus, every dusk and evening. Seeing the band open for Meshuggah in 2015, as well as opening for Chon a couple of years back, this was fitting to finally not only see a full headlining show, but an extra special set, spanning their entire catalogue, as well as playing The Great Misdirect, in its entirety!
One of the true benefits of adulthood: Location, and convenience. The only Orange County show BTBAM would be performing, the Garden Amp in Garden Grove, California, a mere few miles from my residence. Free parking all around, and a Costco just right up the block, if the Kirkland bottles of liquid courage were up your alley. I heard countless positive words about the Garden Amp, with eager fans already forming a Snake Way long line, some exclaimed out loud it was their first show since the pandemic, personally my 2nd, with Deicide/Kataklysm/Internal Bleeding/Begat the Nephilim my 1st concert in mid-August.
The layout of the Garden Amp reminded me of a tiny Greek Theater, in my Top 5 for concert venues. Right inside the gate, a few beers stand on opposite sides, a food menu more palatable to gourmet food such as Pastrami, and your standard chicken tenders and burgers, the latter usually not disappointing. Making my walk up the stairs to the venue, a roof covering the top, but not enclosed. An outdoor setting that kept the sold-out Orange County crowd constantly chilly and cool throughout the evening, the pit area was standing, with several seats on top to get a clear view, yet not too far from the stage at all. The visual layout was clean, the stage itself quite large, and with the creative layout behind drummer Blake Richardson, a 4-flag layout with 2 pictures on each, symbolizing 8 albums that they would be playing from tonight. The anticipation of each band playing at a normal show/tour, it builds and builds like a movie, painting, something concert goers generally are accustomed to feeling. Tonight, just Between the Buried and Me, and no one else. That butterfly feeling came at a quicker pace, but it didn’t feel like I was cheated of that waiting process, but instead, that rush overtook the well over 500+ in attendance, knowing all your attention and gaze, would be fixated on just one band.
And as 7:15 PM hit the clock dial, the lights went out, and a brilliant and most hypnotizing performance, was about to be set off.
A splendid opening song, “Astral Body” got the crowd already moshing, with the head-nodding intro beautifully played by guitarist Paul Waggoner, the guitar tone absolutely crystal. That one minute intro of various conunterpoints and riffing galore, pumped the excited audience up massively. Speaking of the sound quality, much like the famous Brady/Belichick debate of who deserves more credit, the volume and audio quality onstage was fantastic. Being around the left-center of the front stage, even playing on the far right, I could hear Dustin Waring’s parts right where I was. Whether it’s the Garden Amp, or BTBAM just having full control of their audioboard as headliners, I couldn’t get over each note you can almost visually hear. The talking in-between sets was minimal, with vocalist Tommy Giles Rogers Jr. talking about how old their first demo was, to the introduction of “More of Myself to Kill”, a more aggressive side of the band, showing the early Metal colours on their sleeves. The breakdown, which can be quite tasteful and memorable when it’s not just one note palm-muted riffs, menacing alongside Tommy’s rare, yet underrated growls, complemented the guitars with a grittiness that some outsiders might not feel the band possesses.
The brightest aspect of this show, just the overall variety in BTBAM’s style, the sets themselves, and just how effortlessly the elements blend and mix. I’ve had a long issue with quality bands who, for whatever reason, choose not to change the live sets up. It’s alright if I don’t hear my own favourites, I can live with that, but changing it up, shows a different novel, story, and concept. You’re telling a different story each night, and tour, and the great ones understand that notion, and continue to progress. It translated in the 1st set especially from the beautiful, catchy chorus Tommy sings in “The Coma Machine”, reminds me of a Bombastic sequence in a play. The mixing of everchanging tempos and the trust each band member has for one another, each part played is its own, yet part of that long, silky web of musical puzzles that stay in your brain for years. Bassist Dan Briggs traded off keyboard duties with Tommy, some for longer stretches between them. It wasn’t about who looked the coolest playing multiple instruments, it was about what worked. Paul’s enticing command onstage, of the material, and the effortless wizard on guitar we all know him to be, with the gorgeous, uplifting solo in “Mordecai” one of countless examples of the vision Paul and Tommy started for us. This first set flew by in a flash, and with such a powerful, quality discography, even if “Ants of the Sky” wasn’t played this tour, I felt it was more than a satisfying 65-minute set.
It’s not too often that albums older than a decade, are performed live in its whole, with another underrated record in The Great Misdirect, a 6-song juggernaut spanning an hour, including 3 tracks above 11 minutes. Yet, the longer material feels like a refreshing new book you’ve been waiting in the mail for, after a stressful day, and unable to keep your attention away. It’s not the same 5-minute song twice, it’s a bonafide painting that you can remember each spot of. The harsh intro to “Disease, Injury, Madness” caused a chaotic moshpit alongside seemingly endless crowdsurfing, even during the clean bridge. Blake’s flowing cymbal work glimpsed beautifully here, and many of the softer passages. 7 minutes into the song, this stellar riff backing up Dustie Waring’s solo truly showed the progressive mastery BTBAM possesses. Waring was sitting down, playing the entire show. I’m not sure if he had a back injury or something else occurred, but his playing was spot-on and boasted a heavy rhythm guitar, but of course I hope he’s alright. The longest individual song the band has, the near 18-minute behemoth, “Swim to the Moon”, arguably one of the best examples in how BTBAM sounds and what to expect as a new fan listening. From Tommy’s engaging, haunting vocal effects and lower register clean singing to Blake’s chaotic drum fills with the counterpoint of the guitars, to the serenity in melody nearly at the halfway point of the song, whoever says they don’t have the patience to listen to long song tracks, you’re missing out on what us Metalheads cherish and adore: the monumental dedication and attention to detail in creating profound musical stories, you really can’t get anywhere else. Ending their set with the classic “White Walls” from Colors, satisfied every BTBAM newest fan and veteran.
Between the Buried and Me’s 2 hour and 20-minute set, left me completely spellbound and speechless, with a huge roar of bliss, joy, and excitement from this fantastic crowd. Despite the previous sets I’ve seen them play, with an hour being the longest, it’s going to be difficult to top the band just playing these types of sets from here on out. I know Megadeth/Lamb of God/Trivium/Hatebreed was roughly 15 miles away tonight, and perhaps if Megadeth played a full headlining set, I might have gone, but I’m thankful and honoured to had seen Between the Buried and Me have such an unforgettable performance. I do not regret being here, whatsoever.
“Deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.” - the definition of Eclectic. As many bands as we love, could talk days about, regarding the Progressive Metal ability and concepts they can create, few can put them together in such a balanced yet soaring waves of proficiency, colour between the notes and passages, and check so many boxes simultaneously. They could be an above-average Metalcore band, an excellent Death Metal group, and a prolific Progressive Rock act, were they wanting to choose only one genre to be. Yet, all 5 members put together a cohesive collection of ideas, musical story, captive imagination, all in one Extreme Progressive Metal package. The fact that whether it’s the band, label, touring manager, or whoever sets the price for shows, $20, at least at this venue, is too cheap to see Between the Buried and Me. I would have paid double and them some, for this epic set they performed so effortlessly and beautifully. This performance will be insanely difficult to top this year. One of the most impressive and memorable “An Evening with” shows I’ve ever attended.
Set 1
1. Astral Body
2. Yellow Eyes
3. Backwards Marathon
4. The Coma Machine
5. Fix the Error
6. More of Myself to Kill
7. Mordecai
8. Reaction
9. The Grid
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Set 2 (The Great Misdirect)
10. Mirrors
11. Obfuscation
12. Disease, Injury, Madness
13. Fossil Genera - A Feed from Cloud Mountain
14. Desert of Song
15. Swim to the Moon
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16. White Walls