Crown The Empire 10 Year Anniversary Tour

w/ Until I Wake, The Word Alive, Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows

A show that features four bands that can put on a good show any day of the week. From mosh pits to crowd surfing, this show did not disappoint. Until I Wake provided us with the first band followed by The Word Alive, then D.R.U.G.S and then the final act, the headliner, Crown The Empire.

 Until I Wake is a 4-piece metal-core band for Buffalo, New York who have only been around since 2019. They might be a new band, but they sure know how to put on a good show. The energy they brought to the stage was electrifying and it made us concert goers wanting more. They were such a good opening act for this concert, you couldn't have picked a better opening act to mesh with these bands. That was when they brought the next band, The Word Alive. The Word Alive brought the level of intensity and excitement that was already present and dialed it up a bit. Lead Singer, Tyler “Telle” Smith went all out at this concert. He was the only singer that went into the crowd and crowd surf. He engaged the crowd a lot, thanking everyone for coming and even saying that he’s glad that concerts are coming back again and that everything is coming back to normal, saying this as he starts a mosh pit. Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows, most notably known as D.R.U.G.S came on as the third band of the night. Everyone was excited for this band and I might as well say that I was too. Craig Owens is one of my favorite lead singers in the hardcore/metalcore scene. Seeing him up there with D.R.U.G.S, who by the way is the only original member of the band, brought me back to the days when I used to listen to Chiodos, a band he fronted in 2001. Anyway, D.R.U.G.S put on a fantastic show, providing us with some songs from their two albums the band currently have. 

Now the moment we were all waiting for. It was time to bring out the headliner, Crown The Empire. It was no surprise that they played their whole album that they made ten years ago in its entirety. The combination of vocals from lead singer Andy Leo and backup singers/guitarist Brandon Hoover and bassist Hayden Tree really put forth this performance. Brandon comes in with his unclean vocals to mesh with Andy's cleaner vocals is a dream come true for any band. Don't get me wrong, Andy can provide a much-needed unclean vocals as well. After their set was done, the crowd kept begging and chanting “Encore” “Encore” “Encore.” The band eventually came back out to a song and everybody was ecstatic. Everybody left the venue happy. 

[Photography by photographer Wes Shepherd]