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ACL scene report: The Sword
The diversity of Friday’s lineup was on full display in the afternoon when a crowd of metal fans began to gather on the lawn in front of the Zync stage to wait for Austin’s own the Sword. Off in the distance, you could clearly hear country singer Pat Green covering U2’s “With Or Without You” while the Sword’s guitar tech ran around the stage setting up in front of amps that were stacked as tall as some of the band members who would soon be performing in front of them.
Once the band got started, I headed for the middle of the crowd, but I’m sure it was fascinating to watch the sea of headbanging and fist pumping from afar. Lead vocalist/guitarist J.D. Cronise, clad in a vintage ZZ Top T-shirt, led the band through an hour-long set covering all three of their studio albums, including “Maiden, Mother & Crone” and “The Black River” from “Gods Of The Earth” and even dug back into debut “Age Of Winters” for “Winter’s Wolves.”
I was struck by how animated Cronise, guitarist Kyle Shutt, and bassist Bryan Richie are in comparison to the almost stoic nature of drummer Trivett Wingo, who fiercely propels the band’s brutal riffs forward.
The audience seemed to respond the strongest to tracks off their latest album, “Warp Riders.” A few attempts at crowd surfing were quickly squashed by security, but they didn’t seem to interfere with the mosh pit that formed toward the front of the stage. I was surrounded by fans who were singing along to every word, a good indicator of how this city has embraced the band. The set-closer “(The Night The Sky Cried) Tears Of Fire” is also the closing track on the new album. As the crowd began to clear away, the stagehands started to get ready for yet another example of the festival lineup’s diversity: The Sword’s gear was rolled away to make room for Vampire Weekend.
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