To say I have been looking forward to seeing Architects play live again would be an understatement. It had been 10 years since I was last able to catch their show. I had tickets for their tour in 2020 and then…well, we all know what happened next. But, the British metalcore band is finally back in the states with their Seeing Red Tour. I was there on Tuesday when they played the incredible, newly opened Brooklyn Paramount.
While She Sleeps opened the show and it was immediately clear the crowd was ready to get rowdy. The band was lively — never really staying still for more than a moment and making good on their promise to get the audience warmed up for Architects. Opening with “Sleeps Society,” singer Lawrence Taylor moved back and forth across the stage with the confidence of someone who knew that they were right where they were supposed to be. Overall, the 8-song set moved quickly and seamlessly from one song to the next with each member having great stage presence. They did a great job of getting the crowd moving and warmed up.
Next up were California’s own Of Mice and Men. I have seen and photographed them many times in the past, but this would be my first time seeing the current lineup without former vocalist Austin Carlile. Carlile was responsible for the screaming and heavy vocals, while bass player Aaron Pauley handled cleans. Pauley now leads the band taking his spot front and center.
Of Mice and Men came out swinging with “Obsolete” which felt like a crowd favorite out of the gate. Drummer Valentino Arteaga set the pace for the rest of the set, with Pauley’s long hair swinging back and forth while the crowd surged forward often times surfing over the barricade. Unfortunately, the first song had to be cut short because someone got hurt. Pauley immediately turned to his band mates telling them to stop song to allow security into the crowd to help. The singer kept talking to the crowd and the house asking for the lights to come up while guitarists Alan Ashby and Phil Manansala stood silently by his side looking out into audience. After a few minutes the injured person was brought safely to the back and the band launched right into “Castaway”.
The set was filled with energy, swinging hair, mosh pits and crowd surfers. At one point Pauley said he wanted to see the biggest pit this venue had ever seen — “Which isn’t hard because it’s only been open for a month.” He did a great job of going back and forth from clean vocals to screams with his bandmates chiming in to help round out the heavier songs. When “O.G. Loko” started the crowd did their best to bring the new venue to it’s knees. When the line “I go hard in the motherfucking paint!” came, the audience kicked it up another notch. Overall, a super solid set from these veterans.
After a changeover and a little time to catch our breath, Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” started playing over the speaker. The excitement was something you could almost touch — a small circle pit started forming in the middle of the floor. As the song was nearing it’s end, the members of Architects came out one-by-one with singer Sam Carter smiling out on the audience. A gloomy sea of red illuminated the stage and the band launched into the fiery “Seeing Red.”
This felt like an arena show from a band who should honestly be headlining much, much bigger rooms. The stage was set up with a 2 level LED screen that stretched across the whole stage. The visuals were absolutely incredible. (Whoever the lighting design for this tour is needs a raise, now.) Seated between the two screens was drummer Dan Searle flanked by 2 additional members on guitars and keyboards. As a band, Architects is super tight, easily moving between the heaviest riffs to soaring melodies. Somehow Carter’s vocals soared above all of it.
The 16-song set moved like a train chugging forward with power and speed. We were all loving the ride. The wall of sound that this band was producing was felt from front of the barricade to the street. The set was a good mix of their heavy roots to some of the newer more experimental songs. Halfway through the set, “These Colours Don’t Run” somehow felt even more vital than when it was written. The line, “You had it all, You fucking pigs” hit the screens like a bomb dropping as the crowd reacted to the chest punch.
The next couple songs slowed down a bit (for Architects) and let everyone take a small breather. When “Dead Butterflies” started, Carter asked everyone to light up their cell phones. “I want to feel like I am in space,” he said. Looking out at the lights twinkling, he made wings with his hands and every single person there mirrored that. Butterfly wings for everyone — it was beautiful.
A few songs later Carter took a few minutes to talk to the crowd: “It means so fucking much that you would choose to come and share this with us. Thank you for giving us all this positive energy. For the next 3 minutes and 15, I want you to think about someone you truly miss, or someone that you’re going to leave here and call and say, I fucking love you, on the phone. This is for our brother Tom. It’s called ‘Doomsday.”’
Tom Searle was the original guitarist and songwriter, twin brother of the drummer Dan — he passed away in 2016. The song was started before his death and Dan finished the lyrics afterwards: “They say the good die young…and when the night gives way, it’s like a brand new doomsday.” Eight years later, you can still feel how much Tom’s loss has affected the band.
It wasn’t all heavy subject matter though, as Carter spoke to the crowd often. At one point he put on a Yankees jersey to the chants of the crowd and made a joke about how much shit he would get in England for doing something similar. “I feel like you’re taking the piss,” he said with a laugh. He then spoke about the idea of an encore, saying “We aren’t going to walk off and stand around the corner and be like, are they going to come back out? I wonder if they will play their biggest song, I’m not sure if they will.” He then thanked the crowd again, specifically mentioning the “incredible security.”
“We have time for — One. More. Song. If you know it, sing it as loud as you can. This song is called ‘Animals.’” The strobes went insane and the almost 3000 people in the room reacted the same. Circle pits and crowd surfers, no-one stopped moving. “Life is just a dream within a dream.” — what an ending.
I know I am gushing here, but objectively, Architects are at the top of their game. Every single member of the band is so technically proficient and fantastic. I know I haven’t mentioned Alex Dean on bass or Adam Christianson on guitar but that is not because they are not fantastic. They anchor the stage for Carter to run back and forth across it. Without them, and everyone else, it would be easy to feel like you’re in the middle of a car crash just trying to avoid flying glass. But every single band member makes these sometimes chaotic songs make perfect sense. This show was so good that I bought tickets and went again on Thursday in Philly.
There is no bigger endorsement than I can give. It’s been 6 years or so since Architects have toured America and who knows when they will make it back again. Grab the tickets to all the shows you can and get ready to leave with a hoarse voice and lifetime memories.
Additionally, I wanted to point out how great of a venue Brooklyn Paramount is — brand new and absolutely stunning. I have been covering shows for over a decade now and this is definitely one of the nicest venues I have been in, with some of the best staff and security I have ever seen. Well done, Live Nation. Well done. Congratulations on your newest venue — we can’t wait to return soon.
ARCHITECTS – MAY 7, 2024 – BROOKLYN PARAMOUNT (NYC/BROOKLYN)
