As the year of the pivot comes to a close, August Burns Red is gearing up to celebrate their annual tradition in their Christmas Burns Red show.
For the last 15 years, the band has performed and played host for the holiday affair, finishing out the year and celebrating the spirit of the season with their hometown fans. Despite the ongoing pandemic and the moratorium on live shows, the band remained commitment to keeping their tradition in tact and launched plans to execute their the performance as a full-production live stream.
The announcement came packaged with another annual ABR tradition with the release of a Christmas cover. Throughout the years, August Burns Red has transformed holiday staples like Wham's "Last Christmas" and the classic "What Child Is This? (Greensleeves)" into absolute shredders. This year was no different, as the band got especially brave and dropped their rendition of Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You".
Ahead of the December 12th Christmas Burns Red streaming event, the band's guitarist JB Brubaker took a look back at how their annual get-together has become part of the ABR legacy. He shared how important the event has become and how in the last 15 years, the 2019 installment was especially memorable.
"We’ve been doing an annual holiday show in our hometown of Lancaster, PA since 2006. Crazy to think that 2020 is our 15th year of doing these shows.
It’s bizarre to be forced into doing the show online, but this is our reality at the moment. While I have many fond memories of doing Christmas Burns Red in a packed and sweaty Chameleon Club, the most memorable year for me was last year’s show.
It was our first time fully going for it and doing the show as a festival. We had a bunch of our friends bands play with us like Knocked Loose, Miss May I, Like Moths to Flames, and more. The show was done in the Lancaster County Convention Center and we had over 3,000 people show up.
It was so special for us to play to a crowd of that size in our hometown in front of our family and closest friends. I will never forget looking out over the crowd of people and then looking off to the side stage area and seeing my wife and my parents watching. It was a wonderful way to wrap up our 2019 and, I’m grateful for those memories as we had no clue what was waiting for us around the corner in 2020."
Tickets, merch, and VIP options for August Burns Red's Christmas Burns Red live-streaming event are currently available - HERE, The broadcast is scheduled to begin at 8pm ET, 5pm PT and will feature the band performing tracks form their critically-praised 2020 LP, Guardians.
