Metal Legends Polaris at The National in Richmond, VA
The National in Richmond is always a treat. Set up like an old theater, with a balcony for tabled seats, there’s an immediate charm of the venue. Seeing the vast range of audience at this location always makes me happy. I’ll never get tired of seeing everyone from kids to elderly people enjoying concerts. This line up had so much for everyone to enjoy.
Starting the night was NERV, a California based band who might be known for a lighter or more pop sound, they’re adding songs to their setlist that will prove you wrong. Having released “FAKE!” a few months ago, they also added “Lost” to the setlist. Both songs have notably heavier vocals than the band has shown before and help the band align with the other bands on the ticket. While the band is growing in a heavier direction, they already have the stage energy to fit right in. While their drummer, Tyler, makes it look like a catwalk, their guitarist, Jordan and Scott, are spinning around on stage, head banging, and just generally bouncing around, they definitely have stage presence. Dillon, their vocalist, constantly engaging with either the guitarist or the audience, you’re bound to be engaged through their whole set.
Second of the night, was one of my favorite bands, Thousand Below. With a classic metalcore sound, it’s hard to go wrong. With energetic stage presence, Thousand Below started and ended their set at 100. With the guitarists and drummer matching Nerv’s energy, with the addition of a very mobile and engaging vocalist, every band member brings energy to the stage to match their fast tempo throughout the show. With great backup vocals from guitarist Josh Thomas, I was so happy that their energy and live performance lived up to their recorded work. Also having released two new songs recently, “SHAKE” and “Wrong Again,’ Thousand Below had the crowd singing along with them for the new tracks which only added to the excitement of the night. It also shows how fit this crowd was for the whole line up.
As blessthefall walked on stage, the crowd proved just how excited they were. I love a good walk on just as much as the next person and while most of blessthefall brought great metal energy of silhouettes and anticipation, clean vocalist, Beau Boken, came onstage running with energy that I only have after maybe 1.5 Redbulls. To the relief of the crowd, he also quickly cooled the crowd by using a water bottle to shower the crowd - he also spat a good mouthful of water but, thankfully, I don’t think that reached the crowd. His high energy remained constant throughout the whole set which only added to their amazing performance. With equally engaging drummer and guitarists, I was literally laughing at points throughout the set either because of their interactions with each other, faces made to me or the crowd, or just because Bokin was bouncing around so much. I’ve only seen that level of energy from Nothing More before and I truly can’t convey how much of a difference that energy brings to a performance, while I was excited to see them live, that energy made them a must see for me whenever I can.
Polaris came on stage with a bang. I still can’t believe I got to see the legends live. And legends they are. Front man, Jamie Halls, came out and immediately had the crowd opening pits and insisting they needed to be bigger. It was here he threw in the classic Australian phrase, “We didn’t come here to fuck spiders,” which basically means they’re not here to fuck around. It was also here that I learned Polaris is Australian (repeat readers will know that I refuse to google bands/band members out of sheer stubbornness). Hall quickly got back to throwing down unclean vocals like no other. I am amazed at that alone, but with him moving around on stage, jumping, headbanging, and everything else, I just know I wouldn’t have lasted two minutes. While Hall had unclean vocals covered to a T, bassist and clean vocalist Jake Steinhauser came in with absolutely shockingly amazing vocals throughout the set. With their energy staying high and Hall engaging the crowd throughout the night to convey his gratitude, Polaris has yet again proved that any and all Australian metal band is amazing and needs to be seen if possible.
