Live-Metal.Net - Concert Reports - Buckcherry/HellYeah/All That Remains

Two Jägerettes stood just inside the doors, bestowing orange leis upon all who entered. Later, they circulated throughout the room, bearing lanyards and—for those of age—free shots of Jägermeister. Posters, which fans could take with them when they left, were everywhere. There was even a DJ spinning tunes between the bands’ sets.

In other words, it was just another night on the Jägermeister Music Tour.

Perhaps enhanced by coming to Baltimore’s Rams Head Live on a Saturday night, this edition of the long-running tour felt more like an event, a real party, than any I had previously attended. The bands on the bill had something to do with that, too.

HellYeah was in direct support to the headliner, but they clearly were the fan favorite of the night. “HellYeah” chants started immediately after All That Remains’ final song and persisted throughout the band’s set, along with unified call-outs to Dimebag, referring of course to the late Dimebag Darrell Abbott, Pantera guitarist and brother of HellYeah drummer Vinnie Paul.

The band fed off the crowd’s high energy, barreling through a 45-minute set of good-time, southern-fried, party metal, save for their newest single, “Better Man,” an emotional, deeply personal song to frontman Chad Gray.

Baltimore forever will be a special place for HellYeah. It’s the hometown of guitarist Tom Maxwell, and in May 2007, the band played its first-ever show at this same venue. And apparently, the hospitality in the city is second to none, as Gray went on an extended rant about the cookies someone had baked and left for them backstage. Running your mouth about cookies is about as far from metal as it gets, but Gray’s obvious joy only added to the band’s easygoing, working-class persona. There isn’t anything particularly artful or sophisticated about what HellYeah does, but they do it well and appear to be a perfect match for Baltimore.

HELLYEAH SET LIST: “Cowboy Way,” “Matter of Time,” “Stampede,” “Hell of a Time,” “Better Man,” “You Wouldn’t Know,” “Alcohaulin’ Ass,” “Hellyeah”

Buckcherry was the headliner, and it’s not as if they played to a room that cleared out after HellYeah. Fans kept the sold-out venue packed and voiced their approval throughout the 75-minute set, just not quite as enthusiastically as they did for the previous band.

Buckcherry covered all five of its albums, opening with “Dead,” the highlight of its 2010 release, All Night Long, and closing with “Whiskey in the Morning,” from Time Bomb (2001), which seems to have become the redheaded stepchild of the Buckcherry discography. “Lawless and Lulu,” an album track from their self-titled debut (1999), which is still the best Buckcherry album by far, was the high point of their set, making me long for more early gems like “Crushed,” “Dead Again” and “Dirty Mind.” Unsurprisingly, “Lit Up” was the only other track we got from that album.

BUCKCHERRY SET LIST: “Dead,” “Rescue Me,” “All Night Long,” “Everything,” “I Want You,” “It’s a Party,” “Next 2 You,” “Lit Up,” “Slammin’,” “Lawless and Lulu,” “Onset,” “Sorry,” “Crazy Bitch,” (encore) “Out of Line,” “Whiskey in the Morning”

Following a short set by Maryland band Others May Fall, The Damned Things, featuring members of Anthrax, Every Time I Die and Fall Out Boy, brought their classic rock sound to the stage. This was my first real exposure to the new band, and I bought their debut album, Ironiclast, the next day.

All That Remains, easily the heaviest band on the bill (one of their songs included some death metal growls from vocalist Phil Labonte), felt a little out of place but tore the venue apart anyway. Because I am not a big fan of their radio hits “Two Weeks” and “Forever in Your Hands,” I tend to forget how good these guys are until I see them live. This band is a tight metalcore monster that boasts one of its era’s best lead players in guitarist Oli Herbert, who looks almost godlike onstage with his thick beard and long hair flying wildly around him, yet always keeps its focus on songs with hooks and structure. The Fall of Ideals (2006) remains their best album, so it’s no surprise that “The Air I Breathe,” “Six” and “This Calling” were the highlights of their set.

ALL THAT REMAINS SET LIST: Intro, “Two Weeks,” “The Air I Breathe,” “Dead Wrong,” “Forever in Your Hands,” “Aggressive Opposition,” “Six,” “Some of the People, All of the Time,” “This Calling,” “Hold On”

Jägermeister has become one of the biggest boosters of heavy music over the past decade, and this latest Jägermeister Music Tour was their best party yet.