Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater, Austin, Texas
April 12, 2022
Photography by Michael Mullinex
One of the pillars of Modern Metal, this Tuesday, April 12th, Beartooth brought the second leg of their Below Tour to Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater in the heart of Austin. The lights went down and the roar of the crowd blanketed the air as the band members came up thrashing to the tour’s namesake, Below. With a decade under their belt as a band, Beartooth has released four relentless albums, all of which were prominently on display this tour. All the way from classic slammers such as Body Bag and The Lines, to newer fist-pumping Anthems like Fed Up, Devastation, and Phantom Pain. The key to this band’s monster rise is no mystery, singer Caleb Shomo is and always has been a natural Star of the genre. Armed with natural charisma, a dynamic vocal Range, and incredible writing chops (I’m sure the abs help also) Shomo knows how to whip the audience into a frenzy with pure anthems like Aggressive and Bad Listener. This is the kind of magnetic focus that overshadows standard-fare theatrics like fog machines and strobe lights that are instantly lost in the wildness of the frontman whipping his way around the stage! At the end of a packed night, the band rejoined the audience for one last chance to go crazy with the two-part encore of The Past Is Dead and The Last Riff.
