The Break Down the Walls Tour made a stop in Pittsburgh at Club Zoo on March 28th, 2014.  Born of Osiris, Crown the Empire, We Came As Romans, August Burns Red and Asking Alexandria were on the lineup. Due to extreme security at the venue, this review is based off of the first three songs photographers were allowed to be in the venue. After the three songs were up, photographers had to leave the venue because of insane security policies. Being in a tiny photo pit with 5 other photographers and several body guards was definitely an interesting experience, but nonetheless, the music was worth it.

All photographs provided by Lena Diamond Photography

Crown The Empire was the second band to perform and you can definitely tell they were trying to get fans rowdy. They started out with one of the first songs I’ve ever heard by them: Makeshift Chemistry. Seeing them live really made me appreciate them a lot more because sometimes hearing a band with clean vocals mixed with screams can get generic after a while, but these dudes kill it.

We Came As Romans was next and you can tell the crowd was getting antsy.  The guys of WCAR are always about having a good time. They set off their set with Tracing Back Roots from their newest album which they recently had a tour for.  They then played Ghosts from that same album. The lyrics from these songs are pretty personal and you can see how much these words truly mean when they perform them live. It is pretty different than their old work, but I feel it’s a good change. Their set was full of crowd surfing and an interesting special guest… Bassist Andy Glass was dressed as Batman during this stop on tour. We Came As Romans always show their hearts on stage and it’s  awesome to be surrounded by such incredible energy.

August Burns Red shook things up when they made their way to the stage being the heaviest band on the lineup. I saw them live for the first time in the fall and I was honestly blown. This band really stuck out on this tour and even though they are in a slightly different genre for this tour, it was an amazing contrast. They started their set with Internal Cannons. Their sound was the cleanest out of all the bands that played this night. It may just be because they have so many interesting things going on at one time that it is non stop entertaining. They had an awesome light set up that made things a lot easier on my end and added more visual interest. They had the most energy that I’ve seen in a long time. Let’s face it, that guitar can easily melt someone’s face off. If you have not seen this band live before, you are surely missing out.