Hardcore & Metalcore fans alike showed up, threw down and melted at the sold-out Poison the Well’s Peace in Place tour at The Nile Theater on 5/12/2026. Poison the Well enlisted the heavy weight abrasive textured sound of the mighty Converge, the sonic violence of The Armed and the chaotic sound of The Barbarians of California. Finding a single word to describe this experience is almost impossible but one word that rings out in the best way possible is, brutish. From the start of The Barbarians of California’s set to the end of Poison the Well no loss of energy could be seen as the night progressed. This could not only be seen in the bands but also the fans, with circle pits, crowd surfing, stage diving and the chorus of cheer, song after song.
The Barbarians of California, a relatively new band, spearheaded by Aaron Bruno (vocals) of AWOLNATION and Eric Stenman (guitarist) formerly of Tinfed as well as consisting of Zac Irons (guitar) Linden Reed (drums) and David Amezcua (bass), started the evening with their fresh take on an old-school hardcore sound with a heavy high-energy in your face performance. They set the bar high for opening the show and primed the event from the get-go, letting the crowd know the stage is theirs and opening it to them for their moshing/stage diving needs.
The Barbarians of California performed songs off their debut album And Now I’m Just Gnashing My Teeth (released in October 2024),songs such as “Dopamine Prophecy”, “No Sir I Won’t Wear Your Jacket”, “Bazooka”, “By the Time I Get to Mexico”, “The Walrus” and “The Library”. They also performed their “Modern Fashion” (2025 single) and recent singles “Vanilla Latte” and “Bomb To A Knife Fight.”
The Armed, a whirlwind of chaos and sonic violence upped the ante, with their rapid fire no break intense noise. A straight shot of adrenaline breaking through the rib cage and injected into the heart of every fan. As much chaos as there was in the crowd, with a large circle pit and fans crawling over one another to get on stage just to turn around and jump back into the crowd, the band was just as if not more chaotic. With members of the band crawling on the stage, the singer pulling fans up on the stage, the guitarist running around and leaning on other members, the entire theater was in a frenzy. The Armed unleased their arsenal with songs such as “Kingbreaker”, “Grace Obscure”, “Fortune’s Daughter”, “A more Perfect Design”, “THE MUSIC BECOMES A SKULL”, “ALL FUTURES”, and a cover of Converge’s “Homewrecker” with help from Ben Koller (drummer) and Kurt Ballou (guitarist) of Converge.
With a taste of Converge at the end of The Armed’s set, fans were already in the headspace of what was to transpire. The crowd squeezed tighter, the humidity increased, the smell of sweat and flushed faces targeted the stage like insects to a bug zapper. The lights dim and a barbaric roar filled the building, increasing as it bounced off the brownstone as each of Converge’s band member silhouette is seen taking the stage. The intensity of the crowd only increased, not letting up and never ending like a boxer fighting to last round tired and broken but pushes forward with everything, always.
The cheers turn into a battlefield with Converge kicking of their set by performing “Love Is Not Enough” off their latest album of the same name released earlier this year (Feburary 2026). They also performed “Bad Faith”, “Beyond Repair”, “Amon Amok”, “Distract and Divide”, “To Feel Something” and “We Were Never the Same” from Love Is Not Enough. With a new album, Hum of Hurt, on the horizon Converge performed two songs from it “Hum of Hurt” and “Doom in Bloom” along with fan favorites such as “Dark Horse”, “Under Duress”, “I Can Tell You About Pain” and “Concubine” to tie off their set.
At this point in the evening, you’d imagine the intensity would calm but Poison the Well had no intensions of that being the case. They wanted every drop of sweat and energy from Arizona crowd and they were there for it. An hour of increased heart racing and crowd pushing performance was what Poison the Well provided. With a performance that included songs from their recent release Peace In Place as well as fan favorites. Songs such as “Thoroughbreds”, “Everything Hurts”, “Wax Mask”, “Botchla”, “Slice Paper Wrists”, “For a Bandage Iris”, “Ghostchant”, “Crystal Lake”, “Artist’s Rendering of Me” and “Loved Ones”
Poison The Well
Converge
The Armed
The Barbarians of California
