Saturday, April 27th, 2024 I attended a show with Saint Asonia, Kingdom Collapse, and Demyze at Baltimore Soundstage near the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland. It was an amazing night of awesome music! I had been to this venue for a couple shows last summer, and I really like it. There is a lot of room on the floor, plus a raised area for the bands to sell their merchandise and for people who like to be a little farther back from the action to watch the performances. There are three bars. Parking near the venue is easy, with a garage attached to it and another right across the street. You can even reserve parking in advance. I have had a great experience at this venue every time I’ve been there.
The opening band, Demyze, was quite good. They are local-ish, from Winchester, Virginia, about an hour and a half west of Washington, D.C. This band did a great job getting the crowd going. I really enjoyed their set and those around me seemed to, also. They closed out their set with their rendition of "Bodies" by Drowning Pool, which had people jumping around. I thought it was great.
The headliner of the show was Saint Asonia. I was familiar with quite a bit of their music, but not all of it. Several friends had told me that they were great live, and I had high hopes. Well, I was not disappointed. This band is tremendous! I actually got to see them twice in less than a week -- in Baltimore which was part of their headlining tour and again May 1st in Reading, PA on tour with Staind and Seether. Not only did Saint Asonia do a great mix of their own awesome songs, but they also broke out several songs by lead singer Adam Gontier’s former band, Canada’s Three Days Grace, and the song “I Don’t’ Care”, which he collaborated on with Finnish symphonic metal band Apocalyptica. I'm definitely a bigger fan of Saint Asonia now and highly recommend seeing them live!
Lisa had the opportunity to catch up with the kingdom collapse guys in their bus that evening prior to their set catch the full interview below.
To be quite honest, the band I really drove two and a half hours each way to see was Kingdom Collapse from San Antonio, Texas. They were on the tour as direct support for Saint Asonia, and as soon as I saw they would be there I knew I had to see them. I've been a Kingdom Collapse fan for three years now and I adore them! They're one of my favorite bands. I was able to see them three times in 2022 but our paths did not cross in 2023. After not seeing them for over a year, this is my opinion of their live show -- they're even better than I remembered! Lead vocalist Jonathan Norris, guitarist/backing vocalist David Work, bassist/backing vocalist Aaron Smith, and the latest addition, drummer Gaston Flores, are incredible performers. Any time I see a Kingdom Collapse show I’m left wanting more – I wouldn’t mind if they would do their set twice, or better yet, just perform their entire catalog live. I mean, a girl can dream, right?
A lot of lead singers will say something like “Everyone jump!” or “Everyone raise your hands in the air!” and only a few people do it. Well, Jonathan Norris knows how to work a crowd. He achieves almost total fan participation at Soundstage. When he says jump, people jump. When he wants people to raise their middle fingers in the air during the song “Suffer”, everyone does it. He’s a great vocalist, pouring his emotions into every song.
Ever since the first time I saw Kingdom Collapse, I have been amazed at the on-stage energy of Aaron Smith. He bounces around while he plays the bass, always smiling. His joy and enthusiasm when performing is amazing. David Work was a fan favorite at the show April 27th. Everyone was loving his backing vocals! Jonathan seemed to notice this and played it up to the crowd. David is also a great guitarist! Gaston Flores has added a powerful punch to the band with his skillful drumming. He is a great addition to Kingdom Collapse, and seems to really be enjoying being part of this awesome band.
Kingdom Collapse’s set April 27th included a great mix of older favorites and new songs. The band opened with one of their many anthems, “Uprise”. This song really gets the crowd fired up, as many long-time fans know all the lyrics and sing along. “Suffer” is an angry song, and as stated above, it becomes an audience participation experience as they are encouraged to raise their middle fingers in the air and sing with Jonathan. Another song the audience enjoys shouting back at the band is one of their latest bangers, “NEVER BE LIKE YOU”. This song has become a fan favorite because of how relatable it is to anyone who doesn’t care what other people think and just wants to live their own life and do things their own way.
Last but certainly not least, as always, Kingdom Collapse closed out their set with their most well-known and successful song, “Unbreakable”. Released in June 2021, this incredible song spent multiple weeks on the SiriusXM Octane Big Uns countdown, reaching Number One. The track has over nine million streams on Spotify. It is the song that really put Kingdom Collapse on the map, and you can tell how proud they are of it when Jonathan introduces it.
Kingdom Collapse full set list
Uprise
Save Me From Myself
Payback
Suffer
Break Free
Anything
NEVER BE LIKE YOU
Unbreakable
If you have a chance to see Kingdom Collapse live, please do so. Check out their socials for dates, including six headlining shows in July.
Author - Ann Marie Schlottman
Photographer - Jack nutter / Nutter Photography
Videographer - Chris Aleshire / Chris Aleshire Productions
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