This past Wednesday, some old friends of mine in the band My Ticket Home came through North Carolina on their tour in support of Beartooth. They were nice enough to have me come out and photograph the show at Greene Street, so that’s just what I did. 
The tour features three Ohio natives with Former, My Ticket Home, Beartooth, and the outspoken Long Islanders in Stray From The Path; this was pretty much the perfect lineup for any fan of any of these bands.

Some NC locals, Dear Desolate, started the night just as the doors opened and unfortunately their set was over before I could get inside. They are definitely worth a listen though. The group of a five, from the Raleigh area, just finished a bunch of shows down the southern portion of the East coast with 36 Crazyfists, Enterprise Earth, and Memphis May Fire. Head on over to their Facebook and take a listen to some of their music.
To start out the tour package, Former came out and surprised a lot of people. They were the most calm band of the night and really connected with everyone at the show with a Nirvana cover.

Next up, My Ticket Home is a band that has created their own genre that they call Puke Rock. After some primary member changes, a few years ago, they made the switch from the generic post-hardcore sound to the grungy and headbanging sound of Puke Rock. With multiple van problems, empty venues, and uninterested crowds; it hasn’t been an easy road for them. Coming up on their second album featuring their new sound, it seems like everyone is finally starting to catch on. They had one of the most energetic and responsive crowds that I have seen in a long time. Mid-set the lead vocalist/bassist, Nick Giumenti, asked for 100 crowd surfers while they played a brand new song. Be careful what you ask for.

The place went crazy and bodies were falling onto and off of the stage, for almost the entire set. The crowd was now amped up and ready for the band that is undoubtedly the most outspoken band, that I have ever heard of. Stray From The Path is known for the controversial lyrics and hard hitting music, but you would never know just how genuine and respectful these guys are if you never go to any of their shows. Police brutality, government corruption, abuse of fame, sexual predators, you name it and they’ve written about it. Drew York, the lead vocalist, spent the entire set singing out his lyrics and helping kids reach the stage safely while crowd surfing. York would help kids up after falling onto the stage and ask if they were ok. The band didn’t get frustrated with anyone getting in their way or for falling on their equipment. Instead, they unplugged stage monitors and moved them aside so that no one was at risking of falling on them and getting hurt.

Unfortunately someone's phone did not make it out of the show alive. York politely lifted the phone into the air and reassured the owner: "I just want to let you know that the damage to this phone was not caused by us."

The headliners, and the main reason everyone was there, was the relatively new band Beartooth. They might be a new band on the scene but none of them are new faces. The band is made up of a former member of the band Attack Attack! and the rest of the guys were all part of the touring crew at some point. Fronted by the vocalist, Caleb Shomo, the band is about to release only their second album under Red Bull Records on June 3rd. With Beartooth on the stage, the room turned into the sweatiest sing-along you’d ever see. Even brand new songs had everyone singing. This show surely left everyone happy that they came even with broken phones, broken eye glasses, ripped tshirts, and most likely a touch of dehydration. Hopefully everyone left fulfilled, I know I did.