Beartooth may have only had a support slot at the Kia Forum on March 26, but from the reaction they pulled out of the room, you wouldn’t have known it. Opening for Bad Omens last week in Los Angeles, the Ohio natives hit the stage with confidence — and the crowd blew up, waiting for this moment all night. In a venue as large as The Forum, where opening sets can sometimes get swallowed by the scale of the room, Beartooth managed to do the exact opposite. Their set didn’t feel like a warm-up — it felt like co-headliner energy with a shortened set time.
From the second Caleb Shomo stepped out in his giant fur coat, the room was locked in. It was one of those visual choices that could have easily felt tongue-in-cheek, but on him, under the lights and in front of that massive crowd, it somehow just worked. He made an immediate statement without distracting from what actually mattered — which was the intense energy. Crowdsurfers started early and didn’t seem to stop throughout the entire set. The floor was also in constant motion with singalongs and circle pits instantly erupting. Even from the first few songs alone, it was obvious that this wasn’t a crowd politely waiting for the headliner — they were there for Beartooth, too.
That was probably one of the most striking parts of the set — just how big the reaction felt. Beartooth has always been a band that thrives in a live setting, but there’s a difference between seeing that kind of chaos in a club or mid-size room and watching it translate seamlessly to an arena. The crowd didn’t just look engaged — they looked full-on activated. Every breakdown, every shout-along, every bigger chorus seemed to pull something more out of the room.
A lot of that came down to frontman Caleb Shomo, who balanced intensity with a level of sincerity. Between songs, he took time to speak to the audience. There was a real sense of gratitude in those moments that didn’t feel rehearsed or performative. If anything, he seemed genuinely taken aback by the size of the crowd in front of him and the energy being reciprocated back to him. That awe actually added something to the set because even in a room that large, those kinds of interactions can sometimes disappear into the production. But here, they landed and hit hard.
Beartooth is an exemplary picture of that balance between heaviness and connection. They have always had a way of writing songs that are aggressive without being inaccessible or too far out, and that translated especially well this night. Their material carries enough punch to get a pit moving, but enough melodic pull to turn the entire room into a singalong, regardless if this was someone’s first show or tenth show. That combination is part of what makes them such a reliable live band, and it’s also what made them such a smart fit on this bill. Beartooth had no problem making their presence known and solidifying their spot on this tour.
Visually, the set leaned into scale in all the right ways. Massive LED backlights framed the stage and gave everything a bigger, sharper edge without feeling over-designed. It wasn’t one of those productions that tried to bury the band under endless visual clutter — the lighting and screens were there to amplify what was already happening, not replace it. The visuals helped make that feel even larger, but the heart of the set stayed exactly where it needed to be: on the band, the songs, and the crowd throwing everything they had back at them.
And the crowd really did give them everything. The nonstop crowdsurfers alone said a lot, but it went beyond that. People were singing along to everything. There was no hesitation, no awkward early-set lull, no sense that the room was still settling in. Beartooth came out to a crowd that was already ready to explode, and they knew exactly how to keep that groove going. This type of reaction doesn’t happen by accident, especially in a room this size. It comes from years of building a dedicated fanbase and delivering live in a way that actually sticks in people’s memories for years to come.
Beartooth packed a lot into their roughly 45-minute slot, including songs like “Might Love Myself,” “In Between,” “Doubt Me,” “ATTN.,” “Disease,” “The Lines,” “Free,” “You Never Know,” “Sunshine!,” and “Riptide.” Whether longtime fans came in hoping for the older material, the new anthems, or a little of both, the set seemed built to satisfy all of it without wasting a second.
What made Beartooth’s Kia Forum set stand out was their ability to make a support slot feel meaningful. There was no sense of them simply filling time before the main event. If anything, they made the night feel bigger by being there. It takes a band with enough confidence to take those reigns, enough humility to still seem genuinely grateful for it, and enough songs that people are willing to scream every word back. On this night in Los Angeles, Beartooth had all three.
GALLERY: Beartooth at The Kia Forum in Los Angeles, California (March 26, 2026)
