The term ‘southern rock’ typically brings to mind classic rock stalwarts like Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers, and the Marshall Tucker Band and perhaps slightly lesser lights such as 38 Special, the Outlaws, and Molly Hatchet. But, as any good (or, at least, ‘well informed’) southerner knows, there’s a lot more going on south of the Mason Dixon than Les Paul guitars, Florida guitar armies, and cringy, ill-advised confederate flags. Two current leading exponents of alternative southern metal, Baroness and Weedeater, played outstanding sets in front of a boisterous audience at Neumos on Capitol Hill Thursday night, much to the delight of the capacity crowd.
Baroness, formed in Savanah, Georgia in the early aughts, is currently on the back half of their 2025 ‘Red & Blue Tour’, during which they’ve been performing their first two albums in their entirety. They stage was flooded with lurid red lighting (naturally) Thursday as the quartet launched into ‘Rays on Pinion’, the first track from 2007’s ‘Red’. One of Baroness’s more unique qualities is their focus on dynamics in a genre that can sometimes lean toward the one dimensional. A song that begins with a hushed ambient introduction or with a delicate acoustic feel can suddenly shift into a crunching Metallica-esque swagger or an extended twin lead guitar workout sure to please anyone with love for Rush or Thin Lizzy.
Priming the pump for Baroness’s headlining performance Thursday evening was Willmington, North Carolina’s Weedeater. While the evening’s headliner was all about technical virtuosity and finesse, Weedeater takes it down to the studs, preferring to bludgeon its audience with sheer volume and concrete rattling bass notes. Frontman and bass player Dave ‘Dixie’ Collins is a captivating visual focus for the band, cycling through a never-ending rotation of funhouse faces and cartoon poses. The Neumos audience responded with enthusiasm, the circle pit in the center of the room reaching its peek for the evening toward the end of Weedeater’s well received set.
