Last night (at the time of this writing – May 18th, 2025 specifically), I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Baroness for the sixth(!) time, and the third time at The Pyramid Scheme. Before I get to the music, let me say again that The Pyramid Scheme is the best venue I’ve ever been to for so many reasons. From the way John Dyer Baizley was praising it from the stage, it’s clear the band is a fan as well. Among other things, he stated that the Scheme has become one of their most played venues. Having seen them there three times personally, after last night, I can see that being true. If you ever get the opportunity to do so, seeing Baroness on that particular stage is damn near a spiritual experience.
The night started with a set from the Oakland, California quartet (touring as a quintet) Dawn of Ouroboros, who play an eclectic mix of styles. The promo for their latest release Bioluminescence describes them as ‘progressive blackened metal,’ but there are certainly elements of additional styles as well, including post-metal, technical death metal, and even brief hints of metalcore. In addition to Ron Bertrand (drums, who was wearing a Tomarum shirt last night, if I was reading the logo correctly – hell, yeah), Ian Baker (bass and a Fallujah shirt – also hell, yeah), Tony Thomas (guitar), and Chelsea Murphy (vocals), the touring lineup also included Robert Carroll as a second guitarist. The band gifted us with a high energy set featuring a variety of clean and harsh vocal styles from Murphy, intricate and technical playing from the guitar duo, and a strong and creative rhythm section. The crowd seemed to be into their set, and they fed off that giving us back an engaging and magnetic performance.
But of course Dawn of Ouroboros was the appetizer, eventually yielding the stage to the main course, Baroness. For those who may not be aware, Red Album (2007) and Blue Record (2009) are the band’s first two full length releases. They are long time fan favorites, so the band decided to tour on the simple concept of playing both front to back. Thus the Red Blue Tour was born. At the merch table, various tour specific shirts, hats, and other merch were available, as well as special tour editions (signed by the band) of the two records in question.
Baroness took the stage to raucous cheers. While we all enjoyed Dawn of Ouroboros, the audience was at the Scheme to collectively experience the magic of Baroness as they gifted us with their first two albums live. The lights glowed red (the band have long used the stage light colors to tell those in the know which album a song is from) as they launched into the beginning of ‘Rays on Pinions.’ I was standing four feet back from stage right, almost directly in front of guitarist Gina Gleason. Center stage was vocalist/guitarist and lone remaining original member John Dyer Baizley. Behind him was drummer Sebastian Thomson. Rounding out the quartet was bassist Nick Jost. Notably absent from Jost’s part of the stage was the usual keyboard, as they were not needed for these early albums (though Baizley is credited for ‘piano’ on Blue). Over the years, I have watched the set from varying vantage points, but made sure to get over to watch Gleason’s guitar playing more closely this time, as I hadn’t really done so before.
Red Album remains my favorite Baroness record. It’s how I found the band (though I think it was after Blue was out) and the only one I owned for a long time. I first found them on a metal podcast I was listening to while working on my first Master’s degree. I hadn’t really listened to anything new in over two decades, so I was stunned by how much evolution had occurred. The podcast played the song ‘Rays on Pinions’ and I was hooked. I found the CD at Vertigo Records as soon as I could and became very obsessed with it for a while. (honestly, I still am) My son, then about four years old, caught on and began asking to listen to it for his bedtime CD. Yesterday, at the age of nearly 22, he was able to join me in seeing Red played live, an important experience for both of us. (a special thanks to both Nick and Gina for taking the time to listen to me share this story at the end of the night last night) The whole Red set was well received, with building energy throughout. I’m particularly fond of ‘Isak’ and it was very fun to sing (shout) along with the sold out crowd.
Once Red was complete, the band took a few minutes to address the crowd and catch their breath, and then they launched into a riveting live set of Blue. One funny thing (and a cause of much family debate between my son and I is that this record is my least favorite of the band. But to clarify, as I told the fan in front of me in line, all Baroness releases are A-tier or better, so understand what I mean when I say that. There has been a long running, generally friendly debate among fans about these two albums, and while I’m still and always team Red, Blue really popped for me in the full run through last night. There are multiple crowd favorites from this record, and the crowd was into all of them, but the one that really stood out to me was ‘Steel That Sleeps The Eye.’ The live performance of this was incredibly moving. I felt it very viscerally, in a way I hadn’t before.
We all know that music is a kind of sorcery for those of us that feel it the way we do. It’s hard to put into words, but it moves our souls and embeds itself in our DNA. We are changed by what we experience. Nobody weaves these magical spells in a live setting than Baroness. They have been life changing every one of the six times I’ve seen them. They feel like friends at this point, though I’ve only ever spoken briefly with any of them. They invite us into the world they create, welcome us, make us a pot of tea, and share who they are through their music.
tl;dr – Go see Baroness live any chance you get. You won’t regret it.
Biography: Hayduke X has been writing for MoshPitNation since June of 2016. He is also a contributor to The Metal Wanderlust. Prior to joining the MoshPitNation team, Hayduke published reviews on his own blog Rage and Frustration. In addition, he has DJ’ed an online metal radio show of the same name as his blog, written for TOmetal.com, done interviews for Metal Rules, and collaborated with The Art of B Productions to create video interviews with a wide variety of bands.
