BARONESS: YOUR BARONESS TOUR 2021
Cobra Lounge Chicago
Thurs 12/1/21

Baroness: Your Baroness Tour 2021- A special and intimate tour based on fans involvement- A Baroness: “Your Baroness Tour 2021” which was all by request- the entire setlist.
Now how cool is that?
Plus special merch and poster artwork designed specifically for each night, making it known that you were there for these intimate one- offs.
So obviously, to get involved in all things Baroness: Your Baroness Tour 2021 their are certain rules involved, such as the voting is for fans who bought tickets online for the individual shows of choice, and that each ticket holder received a link in their confirmation email to vote for songs in their respective show that they chose to attend.
You got a chance to vote for ten of your favorite Baroness songs out of a list of eighty songs that you wish to hear.
And so for each individual show, the top ten most voted songs would be included in that night’s setlist.
So for December first at the Cobra Lounge in Chicago, you get a doozy of a set- Over 23 songs in total, including the encore.
Baroness opened with “Ogeechee Hymnal”, which seemed to be the opener throughout the entire fan first tour, into “Take My Bones Away”, into “Rays on Pinion”, and then “March to the Sea” for starters.
Hows that for serious wallop and then some?
And as for the band- all smiles and looking like they’re having a blast from beginning to end.
And for all that the band has been through the past few years, especially the nasty bus crash back in August of 2012, and the subsequent fallout and recovery.
You have to make mention of this simply because to see them come out somewhat unscathed on the other end, and to be able to play again, these mighty songs of worthiness and might- you can’t help but have a huge smile on your face equal to the band members, and you want them to succeed, and you want them to still create and perform from here on out and into the beyond.
Especially for frontman John Baizley, who suffered a nasty broken arm and broken leg from that 30 foot fall in his coach off of that viaduct near Bath England.
So you see my point?
Equal to the band and the seriousness of the accident, is the punch to the gut to the fan who adores this band (such as me), hearing the awfulness of the accident, and if they would ever be able to play again, many years later.
Yes, they toured with Deafheaven and Zeal & Ardor back in 2019 before the pandemic, which also was all smiles with a punishing and awesome setlist to boot.
That tour with those bands was all so memorable as well, and so exciting to see after the accident.
But this intimate fan spoken tour is uniquely different for all the right reasons.
When I got the invite from their publicist to cover this show for JBTV Music Television, saw the date in question, then the venue- I scratched my head and said out loud “What the fuck!”
Had to re- read the sentence on date and venue a few times to confirm I wasn’t imagining things.
So I investigated further the tour dates and venues of other cities, such as two days later in Detroit, and see Baroness is playing the El Club, which is another intimate and cool venue, along with Black Circle Brewing in Indianapolis back on November 10th.
So then it hits me that this Baroness: Your Baroness Tour 2021 is the real deal- a fan friendly, bring it back to where it all began kind of deal, which when you still think of it, is just incredible that it actually happened, and that it was so memorable and so special.
The pictures I took- I ran one on my Instagram feed, courtesy of JBTV Music Television, and got a response from someone within Baroness saying how much they dug the photo I shot of John Baizley, arms all outstretched, hefty guitar in his left hand held up high, screaming his lungs out.
That’s the photo I decided to highlight for this blog post, no offense to the other awesome band members.
That photo to me encompasses everything that is so righteous and wonderful about Baroness- no matter the size of the venue, the band comes to play, and play blazing, like it was their last night of ever playing anything again.
Damn I love this band-  John Baizley, Nick Jost, Sebastian Thomson, Gina Gleason.
If ever four individuals can mesh together as one to make trailblazing songs- it’s those guys.
I’m just lucky enough to go along for the ride, and occasionally produce some compelling images that capture that might.
Cheers- Bobby Talamine – Music Photographer