Baroness/Blood Vulture
Underground Arts
1200 Callowhill St.
Philadelphia
March 6, 2026
One of the last independent venues in Philadelphia, Underground Arts is a city staple. It’s a great place for regional/national artists to roll through while getting to offer slots to hardworking local acts, serving as an indicator for openers and to audiences that they’re on the right path. This is the kind of opportunity my band was offered by Philly-via-Savannah metal titans Baroness when we were brought on as openers for two of their three shows this past weekend. Venues like Underground Arts and bands like Baroness who choose them are deeply needed, especially now that the two-headed dog that is LiveNation and Ticketmaster has basically been given a green light to continue cannibalizing the live industry by our equally corrupt Department of Justice.
If you don’t know, Ticketmaster and LiveNation were able to avoid being broken up while agreeing to pay a $280m settlement to the state governments who choose to continue to work with the two companies. $280m is the equivalent of four days profit. This basically means that while they are forced to offer tickets through competitors like SeatGeek and StubHub, they are basically only diversifying their income sources, not making it any cheaper for people to buy tickets and not making it so more people can work in music without working with them, essentially broadening the reach of these companies instead of limiting it. It’s not easy and not always possible, but artists' divestment from venues that are booked through this conglomerate can still make a difference, especially if more and more of us participate in the initiative.
Live Nation and Ticketmaster settle lawsuit with DOJ - CNN
Baroness was also supported by New York’s Blood Vulture, a metal band who is described online primarily as doom. While I definitely couldn’t ignore the clear Black Sabbath influence that is honestly a requirement of damn near every subgenre of metal, especially doom, it wasn’t all I heard. We got vocal harmonies, bells and synths from the keyboard, and complex, rollicking drum patterns from the quintet that at times would veer into power metal, death metal, and goth rock. Singer/guitarist Jordan Olds, whose alter ego Gwarsenio Hall hosts the popular heavy metal talk show and cover song extravaganza Two Minutes To Late Night, fronts the project with a brilliant voice and penchant for horror influenced lyrics. He’s a real ball-knower when it comes to rock music, especially when you look at the names he’s been able to assemble for the covers side of Two Minutes, but it also came through during impassioned discussion of his love for Converge and their new album, before riffing out the end of my personal favorite song of theirs, “Eagles Become Vultures.” Very wholesome.
Coheed and Cambria + Mastodon + Primus + Mutoid Man Cover RUSH’s “Anthem”
Converge - “Eagles Become Vultures”
Baroness, who came onstage to a warm reception from the sold out crowd, certainly pulled no punches during their hour set. Playing a collection of songs from their over two decade career, it was truly striking how a band can have such a strong homecoming in a city that they relocated to. Baroness mastermind John Baizley has integrated quite seamlessly into Philly’s local culture, and it’s not uncommon to catch him at a DIY show if you keep your eyes open. The guitar wizardry of Baroness is a staple of their sound, with guitarist and Philly native Gina Gleason’s star power jumping out with every solo. I love that they’re a Fender band, I feel like it’s not the most common to see people playing metal on strats and teles, let alone as inventively as Baroness does.
Baroness’ formidable rhythm section is not like that of their metal peers. Drummer Sebastian Thomson and bassist Nick Jost are categorical pocket players, capable of shredding, fast tempos, and endurance-challenging playing, as is customary of any metal musician, but that’s not only where both of these guys shine. Thomson’s ghost notes are always clear and his timing never wavers. Jost’s surgical knowledge of the fretboard shows in every part he plays as he hits octaves and notes in places that are uncommon and not always easy to get to, but always perfectly placed. Watching a band this seasoned and well-traveled in a place like Underground Arts inspires the shedding of ego and pretense that is deeply integral to the nourishment of music and its enjoyers. Baroness’ thanks to the openers, as if they aren’t the curators of this event, also exemplifies this. The rewards will almost always return tenfold.
