By Brady Lavin
Baroness at Lolla 2013
Photo by Faraz Chaudry
Lollapalooza 2013 didn’t have a whole lot to offer for metal fans outside of Queens of the Stone Age and Nine Inch Nails on Friday night, but Savannah, GA’s Baroness made Saturday a lot heavier when they threw down at the Petrillo Stage.
Singer John Dyer Baizley’s deep, sonorous bellow is exactly what you would expect from the bald, bearded look of him, and Dave Mustaine look-alike and lead guitarist Peter Adams also supplied some excellent backing vocals. Adams was the most exciting to watch, as he strutted the stage at Lolla 2013 like a lead guitarist should, head banging and metal-posing whenever there was time. Other than that, Baroness looks a lot different than they have on recent tours. Brand new band members Nick Jost (bass) and Sebastian Thompson (drums) were solid in replacing bassist Matt Maggioni and drummer Allen Blickle, who left Baroness in March of this year.
The best thing about Baroness is that they don’t just fall into those typical metal clichés. They play music that they want to play, and they don’t worry about pandering to metal audiences by always playing super heavy and writing about death all the time. Catching up with Baizley after the show, he agreed. “Not all metal has to be about brutal and sinister stuff,” he expounded. And hell, while super dark metal bands are great in their own way, it’s a breath of fresh air to hear a metal band play a major chord.
Baroness guitarist Peter Adams
Photo by Faraz Chaudry
