Metalcore On A Sunday? More Fun Than You May Think.
August 17th, 2025 - Lawrence, KS
We Came As Romans was the first metalcore show my partner and I went to together almost three years ago, in the same venue as this show, (shoutout The Granada, I love that place,) and seeing them together again this time around was equally as exciting. Despite the “feels like” of 105 degrees and a last minute venue change, people were lined up down the block to see WCAR & friends on a Sunday night.
The first band of the night was arguably the one I was most excited about, and if you don’t know about Johnny Booth you should. Go check them out immediately because they’re going to be huge soon. The raw energy that the four piece exudes on stage is a force to be reckoned with on its own. And the crowd reacted accordingly and matched the vibe, which I was glad to see because I love Johnny Booth. The frenetic energy of front man Andrew Herman is one that is very singular to him, and is constantly exciting to watch, and be involved with whether you see his band at a no barricade show or a bigger one like tonight’s. Towards the end of the set, Herman & Bass player Nick Martell hopped the barricade and crowdsurfed like they do every night and I appreciate the trust they have in the fans to just let them be goofy.
Earlier this year they put out “Get Well Soon” , a track that has lived on my Spotify on repeat playlist for weeks, that captures the “screams that sound like they hurt” vibe that instantly drew me to them. They played my favorite track, “The Ladder” off of the 2023 album Moments Elsewhere, most of the setlist was from that album specifically. I’m hoping that sometime in the near future I get to see a headlining set from this band, ( and hopefully a new album soon, to be honest,) because the 25-30 minutes I’ve gotten to see them play simply has not been enough.
I’ll admit I don’t personally put Currents on just to listen to them, but both times I’ve seen them they’ve impressed me so much. They sounded especially huge in The Granada during their set Sunday night. Everyone in that band locks in so hard and they sound SO good as a unit. The people in the audience LOVED this band, the audience reaction to their performance was incredible. If you like metalcore that has more djent leaning tendencies, I highly recommend you check out Currents, and start with, “Better Days” & “Kill The Ache”
After The Burial is THAT band. This is the third time I’ve gotten to see them and every time they’ve completely blown me away. They’re also a band I would love to see a headline length set from because their set has NEVER been long enough, any of the times I’ve seen them. ATB had easily the most crowd surfers of the whole evening, people were surfing down from the second level on the floor throughout most of “Death Keeps Us From Living.” They played fan favorites, “Lost In The Static,” & “Exit, Exist” and a new song from earlier this summer, “Hum From The Hollow.” If you ever have the chance to see this band i highly recommend you check them out because they’re absolutely at the top of their game & their corner of the djent metal genre.
We Came As Romans has been around since their first album in 2009, so there was a wide age range of attendees at this show. Mainly people my age and a little older, but I definitely saw a bunch of X’s on hands on the barricade, and people closer to my moms age up towards the sound booth. They’re a band that writes music for everyone, as they have their whole career. The last time I saw this band they were starting the tour for the 2022 album Darkbloom, so it’s been a couple years since they’ve been back to our market but they sounded just as good, if not better than they did three years ago. My favorite thing about seeing this band is how much love they show their former front man Kyle & the legacy he left for them after he passed away.
A good chunk of the setlist is made up of songs off of the upcoming album ALL IS BEAUTIFUL…BECAUSE WE’RE DOOMED, with older cuts from arguably one of my favorite metalcore albums of all time Cold Like War, and a couple tracks from Darkbloom rounded out the 15 song setlist. The band brought the energy all night and the general vibes in the venue were amazing, it was a great lineup of bands from front to back. I’m glad everyone decided to brave the insane heat and make the drive out to Lawrence for the show.