We have all been to our fair share of shows where the supporting bands have been absolutely dreadful and you end up wondering to yourself, "When the hell is the headliner going to play?" Saturday night was quite the contrary as every single opening band was great, especially one in particular. The name of the band is Conquering Rome and they play a blend of pop punk, post hardcore, and rock. Typically, I'm not a huge fan of anything pop punk related, and for this band to have left the impression they did on me was surprising.
Conquering Rome opened their set with "Dead Skin" and the crowds immediate response caught me completely off guard. Although the previous openers had great sets, they took the cake as far as crowd response. This song started off pretty slow and I was thinking to myself "With all the other bands that have played tonight, they seem pretty mellow." Transitioning into their next song "HBK", I was proven wrong and the music turned into an upbeat blend of drums, bass, and guitar. At this point in their set, I could tell vocalist James Brown was really putting his heart and soul into this set and that same attitude was willingly reciprocated by fans.
Up next on the setlist were two new and unreleased songs that I thoroughly enjoyed. Whenever a band plays a new song not everyone has heard, it is sort of an awkward experience between musicians and the crowd. Brown wasted no time to break the tension and interacted with them between breaks in verses with means of energizing everyone in the room. During these songs, guitarist Tyler McLawhorn really caught my eye. He was absolutely killing it on the guitar and I sat there sort of awestruck by how good he was. When they began playing their Set Your Goal's cover of "Gaia Bleeds", it was evident that McLawhorn had some serious skills. Not to mention, I actually liked their cover of the song better than the original and you don't hear that very often.
Sadly, their set had to come to an end but it went out with a bang as this was drummer Cory Beaver's final performance with Conquering Rome. Brown got the crowd riled up and told everyone he wanted to see what Virginia Beach was capable of and to mosh as hard as they could to their "Enter Sandman" outro. This was one of my favorite parts of the set seeing how everyone just ran to the center of the floor and destroyed the floor beneath them as "Enter Sandman" was being coursed through the sound system.
What I'd really like to point out is how dedicated and honest Conquering Rome is to themselves and their fans. As vocalist James Brown exited the stage, he looked at everyone and told them they were the reason that he gets up and does what he does with this band everyday. Not only is Conquering Rome a talented band, but they are honest human beings doing what they love and I wish artists like these were the ones getting exposure, not the same over saturated and boring artists being signed to labels currently. Because of bands like this, this is why I support the local music scene in Virginia Beach. Conquering Rome is comprised of James Brown, Tyler McLawhorn, Jesse Ramsey, Jonah Bedford, and Cory Beaver. They will be heading up to Rochester, New York on the 1st of February and performing at the Flying Squirrel Community Center. If you live in the area, please set aside the date to go see them. I guarantee you will leave wanting more from this band.
Setlist:
Dead Skin (Interlude)
HBK
Diamond Jim (New song, unreleased)
Jim Jo (New song, unreleased)
Ian Never Gets it Right
Josh Gold
Gaia Bleeds (Set Your Goals Cover)
There's Something About Marey
Enter Sandman Outro (Metallica Cover)