On Thursday, Asking Alexandria kicked off their first full European tour with new frontman Denis Stoff at Antwerpen’s Trix. Support came from August Burns Red and In Hearts Wake, both of whom released fantastic studio albums earlier this year.
In Hearts Wake opened the show, having released new album Skydancer earlier this year. The short, 30-minute set leant heavily on this record, with the title track standing out the most. Back in July, All Things Loud spoke to the band about the new record, and you can read that here.
In Hearts Wake were followed by August Burns Red, who released the fantastic Found in Far Away Places during the summer. The band’s set, which also drew heavily from this album, engaged very well with the enthusiastic crowd, many of whom seemed to have come just for them.
Headliners Asking Alexandria were the last band to take to the stage, performing a brief 10 songs over the space of an hour. Although Stoff has now been the frontman for a while, he’s still not gotten round to learning more than 10 Asking Alexandria songs. This is a shame, because fans probably deserve more than just one hour of songs. Having said that, though, Asking Alexandria did put on an extremely energetic show. Set opener I Won’t Give In, the first song to feature Stoff, opened the set in a slow-burning manner, before eventually exploding into a cacophony of chaos. Later on, the double header of To the Stage and Not the American Average proved to be the highlight of the show, before the show came to a close on The Final Episode. There’s still a new record on the way, which means that Asking Alexandria will soon start touring with more consistent, longer sets. For now, though, it was a nice filler at the start of a new era.
Click here for more pictures. All shots by Natasja de Vries.
