Shaman’s Harvest, From Ashes To New & Big Story In Johnson City, TN [Review & Photo Gallery]

Shamans Harvest

A rainy evening in Johnson City, TN is as good of a day as any for a metal and rock filled day. Capone’s is the premiere music venue in the Tri-Cities and this is where massive amounts of headbanging was about to occur. The lineup for this dreary day would include Shaman’s Harvest, From Ashes To New, and Big Story which was a wide variety of genres and brought a mixture of fans together under one roof. 

Big Story

Big Story was the first band to hit the stage and kick things off for the night. Big Story is a 5-piece progressive/alternative rock band from Dallas, TX. They have not yet released their debut album, but they have released the single “Daydream”. You can find it on most any streaming site, but it’s best heard live. Big Story rocked the place down! The crowd was digging the band and really getting into their sound. Heads were moving during their set. I like the other fans at Capone’s was very pleased with Big Story’s sound as well as their stage presence. They had a superb rock sound with some pop influence. In comparison to some of the other acts on the lineup they had a really clean precise and delicate sound. Big Story’s bass player really got into the performance and your eyes were often drawn to him. There was not a single moment of their whole set that he was not moving. He rocked so hard that he kept knocking over a monitor. He would jump down off the stage and get it back on stage, all while still not missing a note. Talk about skill, this would happen 3 or 4 times during the show. Our photographer should have received hazard pay while in the photo pit as he was constantly dodging the monitors when they fell from the stage, unfortunately he got hit once. Overall, their performance was excellent and unique to say the least and I recommend you go see Big Story if you have the chance!

From Ashes To New

From Ashes To New was ready to go and they wasted no time taking the stage. The band has really made a name for themselves since their debut and created a huge fan base all around the country with their duel vocalist style. From Ashes To New newest album ‘The Future’ is amazing and it was great to get a chance to hear some of the new tracks from the album live. The album was released April 20th, 2018 you can read our review of the album here. From Ashes To New made Capone’s come alive with their high octane energy on stage. There was so much yelling and moving, that anyone and everyone simply had to brace themselves or hang on to something as the crowd moved to the beat of the music. Fans were dancing with one another and just flailing about as they were overcome with the energy that From Ashes To New just unleashes on stage. From Ashes To New’s set included a lot of tracks from the new album. One that I expected was “Crazy” one of the singles from ‘Future’. With the song getting a ton of airplay on Sirius Xm it’s likely the song fans were most familiar with from the new record. and they let it be known as they sang along and knew every lyric and sang along with the vocalists in perfect harmony. Vocalists Matt Brandberry and Danny Case were singing louder and louder just to be heard over the crowd. They also performed “My Name” which is one of my favorite tracks. Matt and Danny put so much energy and passion into their performance not only vocally but in the chemistry they create with the crowd. You can see in their performance that they truly put passion into each and every note. The sheer volume and rawness of Lance Dowdle’s guitar was not unheard. He shreds and with each chord you can see the happiness the music creates for him. Mat Madiro beat the drums so hard that I thought they were going to break. I fully expected some broken sticks or snare. From Ashes To New is a band that everyone should check out, their incredible duel vocal style and chemistry they have on stage is something you need to witness to believe.

Shamans Harvest

Now, comes the headliner. Shaman’s Harvest. The applause and shouting when Shaman’s Harvest came on stage was nearly deafening. When you have 200 + people yelling at the same time it creates quite a high decibel of volume. Shaman’s Harvest opened with “Red Hands Black Deeds (Prelude)”. This is when Adam Zemanek, the drummer, started with his powerful pounding on the toms and bass drum. The thud of his bass drum can be felt in your chest and it creates a heartbeat like pace to their songs. The excitement for Shaman’s Harvest didn’t become calm when the band started playing. Of course early on in their set they played on of their most iconic songs “The Devil in Our Wake”, which I like to think was a way of rewarding an already eager congregation of fans. Shaman’s Harvest had so much enthusiasm during the song, it was easy to see that they don’t grow tired of pleasing their fans by playing their biggest hits. Johnson City loves Shaman’s Harvest and it was easy to tell the band was reciprocating with their energy and passion on stage. One thing I do want to mention is the acoustic songs that were included in their performance. Nathan Hunt was simply wonderful both vocally and playing acoustic guitar. He went in to an amazing cover of The Who’s “Behind Blue Eyes”. If you think the Limp Bizkit version is good, their rendition will blow you out of the water. The crowd lit up during this cover, and out of respect and delight they were nearly silent for a few moments as Nathan’s voice filled the room. Speaking of covers, Shaman’s Harvest also covered a Michael Jackson song. Yes, you read that right. A Michael Jackson cover. Which was none other than “Dirty Diana”. They actually recorded a studio version of the track and included it on their 2014 release, ‘Smokin’ Hearts and Broken Guns’. Their latest album is ‘Red Hands Black Deeds’ which released last year on July 28th. Shaman’s Harvest brought down Capone’s with their hour-long set, and their wasn’t an unsatisfied fan anywhere in sight.

In conclusion, Big Story, From Ashes To New and Shaman’s Harvest was a spectacular show. No flaws of any sort, we will say those monitors being knocked off was part of the show. Who doesn’t love to see some equipment get broken or knocked over? This is an incredibly pairing of bands to see together, but regardless, given the opportunity these bands are a site to behold and you should check them out if they make it to a city near you.