Imminence at Neighborhood Theatre- Charlotte, NC

Lansing, MI band, Of Virtue, started the night off strong. If you're not familiar with 'Of Virtue', I highly recommend you listen to their songs "Sinner," "Hypocrite," "True Colors," and well... you'll get hooked after those. I know because that's exactly what happened to me. To say I was excited about the lineup for tonight would be an understatement- it's not often you get to go to a concert where you genuinely like all the bands on the line up - but I was in for a treat tonight. I always love watching the crowds reaction to the opener. Especially, being a fan of them already, I was hoping the Charlotte, North Carolina crowd would pull through for them. I was absolutely thrilled with not only their setlist but also the crowd's reaction to them. It was obviously that they were a new band for many but that didn’t stop the crowd from opening the biggest pit of the night. And for good reason - Of Virtue puts on one hell of a show. From their lead vocalist, Tyler Ennis, bouncing around and even going to the center of the pit to finish out their set, to their guitarist and co-vocalist, Damon Tate, keeping the crowd engaged with banter throughout their set to talking about his long term sobriety; they absolutely know how to work the crowd and keep the energy up. All that combined with the energy and talent Of Virtue has, they absolutely gained new fans after their set. 

Metalcore up-and-coming band, Catch Your Breath followed and with the energy they had, you could have convinced me they were headlining. The effort Catch Your Breath has put into their music and fan base was immediately evident. I saw them back in December while they were on tour with From Ashes to New and the difference in reception in just a handful of months was wild to see. Not only did the quality of the show increase but the fans reception of them almost doubled from December to May. Playing their staples of “Dial Tone,” “21 Guns,” and engaging the ‘Savages’ in the room to warm them up for their song of the same name. Both times I’ve seen Catch Your Breath have been a treat. You can absolutely tell that they’re going to be selling out their own shows soon enough so seeing them open and in smaller venues will be a thing of the past sooner than later. From what I’ve seen, Catch Your Breath is only going to keep getting better so if you have the opportunity to, absolutely take the chance to see them while you can. It’s only a matter of time for those boys. 

Closing out the night was Imminence (From Sweden with love).  I’d say I don’t have words to describe how excited I am but I’m writing a review for them so I’ll give it a shot. Despite my own life being a bit rocky right now, this is the concert that I kept looking forward to. This is the concert that I did a little happy dance when I got approved to shoot it. And this is the only concert (so far) that gave me the chills, made me emotional, and made me think “Damn, I’m so grateful to be here right now.” It may be because I’m an absolute sucker for a violin, but man does Eddie Berg, lead vocalist and violinist, know what he’s doing. From only vocals, to tearing it up on violin, to playing guitar, Berg had the crowd wrapped around his finger.

Although the crowd engagement was on the lower side in terms of conversation, Berg had the crowd singing along, finishing lines, and going wild the whole time. I had heard quiet rumors about his voice being slightly affected and worn down a bit but I didn’t hear that in his performance at all. I was continually shocked by the shear quality of the performance as a whole. From Berg’s vocal performance to the whole band’s stage presence I was in awe the entire time. Towards the end of the night I kept laughing at myself; each song seemed to one-up each other, during every song I was wondering if that was the last one. From Berg playing a guitar, to Harald Barrett (guitar and backing vocals) breaking out some boot-stomping moves and even using, what I assume to be a cello bow, to play his guitar with, to the whole band collectively just going crazy on their respective instruments at the same time - as often seen at the end of shows - every song was just a brilliant experience I’m so grateful to have had. 

I mentioned that this has been the only show to date to make me emotional and I’m not exaggerating. I genuinely got chills, teared up, and was stunned multiple times over during this show. I’ll be talking about this show for as long as people will listen to me. It seemed only fitting that a night of such magnitude not end quietly. While every song kept me more and more amazed to the point of me wondering how they would actually end the night - the venue took care of that for them. During the ending of one of their songs, the fire alarm started going off. Being close to the door, I could see the lack of panic on the staff’s faces and everyone else mimicked it. There was no smoke or apparent danger so the show continued a bit. It was only after the song really started to wind down that the venue started escorting people out. Shout-out to Charlotte FD - by the time I got to my car, the fire department had responded. I’ve yet to hear why the alarm went off but I heard multiple conversations on the way to my car mimicking my own thoughts regarding the show: how amazing it was - how it was an absolute stacked line up, how emotional Imminence made the crowd, and just the brilliance of the show overall. If you ever - and I mean ever - have the chance to go to one of their shows, please do so - you won’t regret it.