Black Veil Brides are still incredibly sexy (and talented, too)
BVB headlines “Bleeders” tour at the Aztec
By Lauren Hernandez
I was in the photo pit at the Aztec Theatre and Black Veil Brides took the stage and I was beyond ecstatic, a smile pasted on my face that felt more permanent than Mona Lisa’s. I mean, it’s a feeling you wouldn’t understand unless you were just totally weird and miserable in middle school. Black Veil Brides’ sexy look and heavy, gothic rock are the perfect soundtrack for emotional kids who need a band to obsess over. Since 2006 their aesthetic has become so cohesive and defined that it is displayed not just through their appearance and albums, but through their live shows, too.
On Monday night, the stage was decorated to resemble the set of Sweeney Todd, and the band’s throats were painted with blood to match. Black Veil Brides brought along three openers for their “Bleeders” tour — Creeper, Dark Divine and GHØSTKID — and although many in the crowd hadn’t heard them before, most were pretty impressed.
And even though it’s almost twenty years since the band’s foundation, Black Veil Brides still perform with an incredibly engaging energy. They know what their crowd wants — eye contact, to hear the hits and maybe even get their hands on a guitar pick or lead singer Andy Biersack’s sweat rag — and they deliver.
Yes, the crowd at the Aztec Theatre was a bit stale, and half of the time I just wanted to yell and tell them to “Put your fucking phones down!” but I can’t say they weren’t dedicated. The theatre was packed and people from the pit to the balcony had their arms in the air as they screamed the lyrics to “Knives and Pens” and “Rebel Love Song.”
One person even had “BVB” tattooed on her arm. Clara Pedicone explained that she started listening to Black Veil Brides in 2013 after seeing them win a Golden God Award for their song “In the End.”
“I absolutely did not wanna f-cking watch it I had no idea who the hell they were,” Pedicone stated, but after hearing Biersack’s fired-up speech, she suddenly saw the appeal.
“They just got me into alternative music,” Pedicone added, mentioning that this was the third time she’d seen them live. When comparing this show to when she saw Black Veil Brides touring with Motionless in White and Ice Nine Kills, Pedicone shared that the experiences were “the same in a way, because [this show] introduced me to more new music, but then with the other [shows] I got to hear bands that I already know and love.”
Pedicone and her friend Jordan Merkoulov unanimously agreed that Andy was their favorite part of the night.
“You know, he looked at us a couple times” Merkoulov shared, with Pedicone adding that Biersack is “the sweetest, most down-to-earth person, like celebrity wise, that I’ve ever met.”
In the end, BVB are just incredibly personal. Their over-the-top gothic glamor might seem cliche to some, but you can’t deny their incredible talent, which was left all over the Aztec’s stage.
