Black Veil Brides is an American rock band, formed in 2006, that took inspiration from Kiss, Mötley Crüe, and other glam bands. His singer, Andy Biersack, used to be called Andy Sixx and wore makeup that resembled Mötley Crüe’s bassist, Nikki Sixx.
The band has been going back and forth with other styles such as metalcore, yet always maintaining rock and glam as a base.
Their lyrics are positive and encourage people to believe in themselves and to feel like a part of a community with the rest of their fans to support each other.
Band members
- Andy Biersack – lead vocals, keyboards
- Jinxx – rhythm guitar, violin, backing vocals
- Jake Pitts – lead guitar
- Christian “CC” Coma – drums
- Lonny Eagleton – bass, backing vocals
This is the third time that Black Veil Brides played in Chile. The previous concerts were a double date in 2015, in Teatro Cariola. The date of this new concert was on March 21, 2024, in Teatro Coliseo, Santiago.
When Black Veil Brides was at their prime, around 2009, I never cared to listen to them. Since I was more closed-minded at that time, and older than the public who listened to them, I thought they were a popular and meaningless band. But since I am now, in my 40s, I started to discover many bands that my prejudices blocked me from listening to. And being now a big Motionless in White fan, Black Veil Brides are always categorized in the same line, and they even have shared stages. So, when I heard that they were going to perform here I started to listen to them and to my surprise I loved their music too.
They have some moments in their music that are heavier, but most of their music is rock, with catchy choruses and great guitar solos, so, what’s not to like?
This concert was the day after the Placebo show (you can read my review of that show here). On that day, we had to stand in a monumental line to get inside the venue, due to problems in the security organization. Although we had to stand in line too for Black Veil Brides, it wasn’t like the day before.
I went with my youngest sister too. She was a teenager during the emo years when these types of bands were very famous.
We arrived super early at the venue, 3 hours earlier, because it’s a small place and we had tickets for the highest balcony, without seats assigned, so we wanted to get a good spot. We had to be in line for 1 hour, and then they let us in, but nothing chaotic.
At 8.00 pm, the opening act began a Chilean post Hardcore band named Chances. They played for 30 minutes.
Black Veil Brides started at 9.00 pm with the theme of Sweeney Todd, played in the background, as the musicians ran onto the stage one by one.
The first song of the night was Crimson Skies from their latest album, The Phantom Tomorrow. This song is super fast-paced and energetic, like most of the songs that they played, driving all the people crazy.
Rebel Love Song was the second song of the night. An older track from their Set The World On Fire album, that everybody sang along to.
Up next came, Wake Up, another of the newer songs, from their album Vale. Most of their songs have an anthem style, regarding the lyrics, as well as the music, and this was no exception.
Then came Nobody’s Hero from their album Wretched and Divine: The Story of the Wild Ones.
The show was briefly stopped after the song to help some fans.
Devil was the next song, from their EP album The Mourning.
Then came another hit, Scarlet Cross, from their latest album.
They had to stop the show for approximately 10 minutes due to a barricade about to break. So they waited for people to calm down. This took a long time.
They continued with Torch, another track from their newest album.
When they finished this song, Andy asked us to chant “CC”. We did. That was because it was the turn of Christian “CC” Coma to play his drum solo. It began with Also Sprach Zarathustra by Strauss in the background. In the middle of the solo, I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston started to sound in the background and CC jumped off the drum set and danced for a little while. We all were cheering and applauding him on. It was very funny.
When CC finished his solo the rest of the band came back and played The Legacy, a classic from Set The World On Fire.
They moved forward with Perfect Weapon from their first album We Stitch These Wounds. I don’t know why, but they changed the order in the setlist with these two songs. Both are older songs, so the people were super happy and sang every word of them.
Also from their first album, they played one of their signature songs, Knives and Pens, and they went out for a break for a few minutes.
The encore came with Lost It All, from their album Wretched and Divine: The Story of the Wild Ones. This was an addition to the setlist. I was very happy because I love this song. Jinxx, their rhythm guitarist, played the violin here and wore a top hat.
Fallen Angels was next, from their Set The World On Fire. And the last one was In The End from their album, Wretched and Divine: The Story of the Wild Ones. Being the last one and since it’s such a banger, we all sang our hearts out. This is my favorite song of them.
They said goodbye and in the background sounded Linkin Park’s In The End, and everybody sang it too. My sister (who is a big Linkin Park fan) told me that the day before was Linkin Park’s late singer, Chester Bennington’s birthday. It was a beautiful moment and homage from its fans.
The sound at the venue was very clear yet at times we didn’t hear anything but the screams of the girls toward Andy. He must have felt like in The Beatles or Elvis concert. And I get it. He’s not handsome, he’s objectively Beautiful, with a capital B. Yet he’s also a complete badass singer with a great voice and a great attitude. Very positive and funny guy, from what I’ve seen in a couple of interviews.
The setlist was short (one hour and 19 minutes) but perfect. Powerful, super energetic songs, and a good vibe. It was the first day of autumn, but still very hot in the capital of Chile, Santiago, and this place was like a sauna. Finally, everyone got out of there soaking wet but happy.
Setlist
Opening Title (Theme From Sweeney Todd) (Stephen Sondheim song)
- Crimson Skies
- Rebel Love Song
- Wake Up
- Nobody’s Hero
- Devil
- Scarlet Cross
- Torch
- Christian ‘CC’ Coma Drum Solo
- The Legacy
- Perfect Weapon
- Knives and Pens
- Lost It All
- Fallen Angels
- In the End
In the End (Linkin Park song)