Lamb of God isn't your usual late night music guest and Thursday night on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the metal band proved it by performing a ferocious set, opening up a circle pit on live television.
The band was on the show to promote its new album, VII: Strum und Drang, the 8th studio album for the Richmond, Virginia band. They came out swinging with two intense tunes that got the crowd more riled up on a late night program than I've ever seen.
Granted, while this was an outdoor performance at Kimmel's Samsung stage next to the studio, it's still pretty impressive how wild the fans got. Opening with the group's new single, "512," and following with "Still Echoes," a circle pit almost immediately broke out as fans shoved and berated each other to the sheer force of guitars and drums being hurled at them. (Can you spot Waldo in the circle?)
If you're not a metal fan, there's still a lot to admire in this video. Had Lamb of God went on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and played for a studio audience, the whole performance would have been awash -- the live crowd wouldn't have liked it, the viewers back home wouldn't have cared and I can't see Fallon being much of a metal head. If the point of performing on late night television is to get your music out to a larger audience, this would be a terrible strategy.
By going on Kimmel, the band gets a large group of dedicated fans to head bang along to some new tunes, the audience at home might be mesmerized like I was at the talent of these musicians and the fervor exuded by the audience is certainly something of a marvel. Whether you're a fan or not it's always enjoyable to see others so entrenched in something they love.
Watch the blistering performance of "512" below.
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