There was a bit of confusion at Royale early Friday night.
A sea of sludgy metalheads gathered to watch headliners Baroness roll through town, the Georgia band’s latest stop on their spring tour supporting December’s Purple album. But before John Dyer Baizley and crew got a chance to tear up the Theatre District venue, the crowd was faced with the unexpected: an opening set from Los Angeles industrial thrashers Youth Code.
It wasn’t until days before the show that Youth Code was added to the bill to play with Baroness. And that was clear upon walking in and seeing the mass of confused metal fans wondering why they were watching a two person electronic act. That however, didn’t stop vocalist Sara Taylor from giving a performance equally aggressive to that of a hardcore punk show. Accompanied by Ryan George on the instrumentals and backing vocals, the industrial act went beyond the low in the mix yelling of their records into a total assault.
And they slowly began to win over the crowd.
Taylor jumped her way around the whole stage, swinging her mic and spitting in any direction she wanted, even up in the air onto herself. George was doing what he could to bolster that energy while working the sounds at his station, yelling into his mic and even striking battle stances that perfectly mirrored hers.
It would be surprising to hear that Taylor could still talk in a year with how grating she sounded and how she delivers her vocals. This was the perfect energy to get from an industrial act that was the precursor to a metal band with a large cult following. The synthesizers may have been too electro for this crowd, but the drums sounded like samples of thrash bands that echoed with the cadence of metal machinery. They ended on their breakout hit “Consuming Guilt” and while the crowd didn’t know it, the duo took the slow rise in attention they were getting to the pinnacle for the perfect way to end their set.
From there, the seeds of war were planted. Beer cans were already flying all over the crowd. Even a Bud Light Platinum got its chance to shine above the crowd before hitting an unsuspecting audience member. When it was time for Baroness to play, the stage went black besides two white lights shining from above. A horn symphony, similar to the NFL theme, played the warriors on as they took their position. Their fans, mostly young white men, cheered on as the boys got in formation in front of a huge backdrop of the back artwork from Purple. (The only reason I knew the image was because of the kid hugging the stage the whole show pushing his copy in the band’s faces for a signature. He most likely didn’t get that signature.)
On their first song, the vocals were a bit low, but the whole crowd was bellowing the lyrics right back at Baizley. Despite, how low the vocals were, he didn’t miss a beat playing the complicated rhythm parts while singing the melody. The band played their newest hit, “Shock Me”, surprisingly early in the night, but at that point all the levels were perfectly mixed and the energy shot off. Everyone in the crowd was pushing for the stage and the mosh pit finally got real. All the members of the band made it obvious how much they love playing that song with the biggest smiles on their faces and the drama in their playing.
With each song, the lights changed to another color of one of their albums titles, and it surprisingly wasn’t mostly a “Purple” show despite this being the tour anchored to it. They went through an even mix of their whole catalogue and it seemed like the crowd had an even knowledge for all the lyrics. Every solo that Baizley and guitarist Peter Adams played in unison came off perfectly and had the crowd entranced in their mystical moments. After every one of these breakdowns, the crowd would come back even more aggressive than before when the tempo picked up. I dodged about three beer cans during these chaotic bursts, but I finally took a full one to the jaw near the end of the set.
They ended on “Eula” and the chorus — “When my bones begin to break and my head begins to shake” — became all too fitting as the pit extended itself along the whole width of the stage. Crowd surfers wouldn’t stop and Royale had to put extra security on stage to handle everyone. Ending on that anthem left the crowd screaming for more, including that one guy still holding up his LP to get signed. They came out for a two song encore and ended on “Take My Bones Away,” fitting for a pit that got me two nosebleeds just from standing at the sidelines.
Follow John Stapleton on Twitter @johnP_stapleton.