Lorna Shore & Whitechapel 2024 Tour – Concert Review By Lindsey Goddard

What bands are on YOUR bucket list of concerts? If you’re a music lover like me, I bet you can think of a few right away.

Even folks outside the heavy metal scene recognize Lorna Shore as the biggest Deathcore band at the moment, but it was the band Whitechapel that caught my eye on their 2024 tour bill. I’d been wanting to see Whitechapel since 2008, when I discovered their music through the album, This Is Exile.

Combine that with the fact that my husband has been blasting Lorna Shore since its original line-up so many, many years ago…

We knew.

We were seeing this show.

Lucky for us, this tour was stopping in St. Louis, Missouri (a city that often gets skipped for being a shit hole, much to the dismay of this music fan). I immediately bought tickets, despite the fact that they were more expensive than I’d anticipated and we would be on a tight (non-existent?) budget until next payday. But tickets were selling out FAST. I had no choice!

I saw the flyer also listed the bands Sanguisugabogg and Kublai Khan TX, so I gave those guys a listen. HEAVY! I vaguely wondered if I would survive the crowd, what with the way youngsters like to throw elbows and kicks in the pit nowadays, under the dangerous assumption that a grumpy old codger like myself won’t pop them in the kisser for it. Haha. No matter. This concert sounded like a lot of fun, so I was willing to risk bodily harm!

The Pageant was a pretty good venue for this show. I heard some fans complain that Lorna Shore could have packed a bigger stadium, which is true, but any bigger and I might not have been as close to the stage as I was. You’ve got to think of yourself, people!

First up to play was Sanguisugabogg, a four-piece death metal band from Ohio that is heavier than FUCK. Followed by Kublai Khan TX, a four-piece band from Texas, who is just as heavy and seemed to have a loyal following in the crowd despite being far from home.

Both of these bands got the audience pumped and played their hearts out, even if my eardrums began bleeding profusely and leaking out my ear holes two bands in to a four band set I couldn’t miss. (I’m just kidding about the blood, but it’s 100% true that I would have stayed for the rest of the show, even if my ears had bled.)

Finally, it was Whitechapel time. I can’t remember what song they opened with. I was so thrilled to finally hear Phil Bozeman’s guttural growls live and see the band (who is mostly still comprised of the original line-up) in person, that my euphoric memory is a bit hazy. I do remember the exact moment when they started playing Brimstone, though. It’s such a banger that my devil-horned hands caught the rhythm instantly, pumping in the air. That song really got me, but then, what metal fan can resist chanting along to lyrics such as, “Kill, torture, terrorize”?

If I had to make one criticism of the Whitechapel set, it would be that I wish it had been longer. I feel like they only played about six songs. But among the special surprises of the evening, was hearing their brand new song, A Visceral Retch, which rocked the whole venue and reverberated through my chest as if grenades were exploding and I was surviving the warfare simply by banging my head. A special feeling, for sure.

After sixteen years of being a Whitechapel fan, I gotta say… they sounded GOOD, man (which, sadly, I cannot say for every band I’ve seen). They definitely brought their A Game.

But wait. There’s more…

There’s LORNA SHORE.

…Fam… Fam! How does a band get this awesome? These guys fucking shred, and them finding Will Ramos was MEANT TO BE. What a beast! I had a handful of favorite songs I was hoping to hear, including And I Return To Nothingness, To the Hellfire, Of The Abyss, and Welcome Back O’ Sleeping Dreamer, because the full experience–vocals, drums, guitar, and bass– are so mesmerizing on those tracks. I’d seen a handful of the YouTube playthrough videos of drummer Austin Archey and guitarist Adam DeMicco, as well as some live performances, and I simply love watching this band play, so I was happy to see the setup of the stage allowed for a good view of everybody and everything – including Adam’s gorgeous orange and yellow guitar that glowed bright pink in the blacklights (such things are important to a girl like me).

Mid-performance, lead singer, Will Ramos, let the audience know that he just lost his brother, and that the funeral had been the day prior. At that point, I started to cry. No, it’s not that easy to coax a tear out of my eye. I’m pretty tough. But–you see–I was at this concert in memory of my nephew, Colin, who had loved Lorna Shore and whose birthday would have been the following day. Colin had even looked an awful lot like Will Ramos. I couldn’t watch Lorna Shore videos after he passed away because I saw him in Will.

I kid you not. Check it out…

So yeah, hearing Will open up about his loss made me feel more connected to Lorna Shore than ever. Their music has already been growing on me for many years, but that moment did something to my heart. To know they were up there playing for us despite life being full of unexpected chaos at all times, it meant something. Mad props to these guys, and their performance was nothing short of stellar.

Since catching this show, I’ve been working on learning more Lorna Shore lyrics, which takes a minute! But it’s my new hobby! Great show all around, and I’m so happy I caught it! If you ever have a chance to see any of these bands live, DO IT!

Until next time, this is editor-in-chief of Weird Wide Web, Lindsey Goddard, telling you to keep those horns raised high!