- ARCHITECTS w/ Holywatr
- 05/14/2026 - Eagles Ballroom - Milwaukee, WI
- ©Justin Nuoffer
The city of Milwaukee was busier than one could imagine. With the Milwaukee Brewers just across the way and downtown within reach, folks were out and about. Meanwhile, in the parking lot of Eagles Ballroom, people were enjoying beverages and each other’s company. The line for the show had started forming hours earlier and eventually stretched down the block.
As the side doors to the venue opened, fans were escorted from across the street into the basement, where the security checkpoint was located. Once cleared, attendees walked past the Rave 2 room and up the stairs into the main foyer and box office area. From there, everyone was directed up the stairs into the Rave 1 VIP hall, where the tour merchandise stands were located. One final flight of stairs led into the spacious Eagles Ballroom.
The massive Eagles Ballroom, with its purple and gold coloring, was as bright as the sun’s rays pouring through the windows and illuminating the space. The large stage stood a few feet high and was cut into the side of the oval-shaped room.
Opening the evening was Holywatr. The Los Angeles-based band also opened the first leg of this Architects tour last fall. With a brand new album, there was a lot of material the band could have performed. They opened with four straight songs from Deo Gratias. Starting with “Give Me a Show,” the song felt more like a statement.
They were there to entertain. Frontman Chandler Martin was an unrelenting force up front. He walked the catwalk that lined the front edge of the stage and commanded your attention, pushing the envelope with “Are You There?,” “Pure Leaf,” and “Everyone Dies” from the new album.
The crowd shared some familiarity with the young band by singing along to “Fade” and “Without U” from their early recordings and demos. Their stage was pitch black, with red and orange lighting filling in spots along the front. The warm coloring matched the mood of the overall performance. With two new songs, “Prove Me Wrong” and “Nightmares,” setting up their most popular bangers, they established that the recently released material hits just as hard but is a bit more polished.
Check out the Holywatr concert photo gallery below:
The fans obviously loved it, judging by the amount of cheering. However, they waited to sing at full blast for “Nail Polish” and “Loose Ends,” the songs that started to get them attention across the country. All in all, Holywatr is clearly on an upward trajectory.
With the entire stage dimmed and bathed in blue, the anticipation built. Along the back of the stage, a riser lined the entire length. In the middle of it stood lone band founder Dan Searle’s drum kit. On each side of him were platforms for Ryan Burnett’s keyboard and guitar rig on the left and guitarist Martyn Evans‘s on the right. The rhythm and tempo of the band’s metalcore sound were all right there.
Standing center stage with simply his microphone and spotlights down on him, Sam Carter started to sing “Elegy.” The song is lighter but maintains a metal edge to it, and it builds into “Whiplash.” The song was like a match to gasoline. An intense explosion and rumbling took over the Eagles Ballroom. That feeling was only intensified with “When We Were Young” and its buildup to the breakdown.
The entire band let the song build and build as they began to kneel on stage. Carter commanded the eager crowd to join in. The entire venue, top to bottom, was down as the unrelenting vocals reached their peak with Carter screaming, “Thank God we’re alive,” and the fans began jumping. The chaos looked like waves, with heads bobbing up and down and arms moving side to side. Milwaukee was fully invested.
With The Sky, The Earth & All Between being just over a year old, the material has had time to marinate and simmer with the fandom. Several songs like “Curse,” “Everything Ends,” and the current single “Broken Mirror” were mixed in with older and notable smashes like “Deepfake” and “Meteor.” Guitarist Adam Christianson is a force. Christianson manned the left side of the stage. Riff for riff, he headbanged with one foot up on the catwalk.
On the right side of the stage, bassist Alex Dean stomped his way around while dishing out devastating low-end basslines. Swaying his headstock back and forth, he dropped the lead to “Doomsday,” the lone track from their breakout album Holy Hell. The pre-COVID song hits with its unique sounds and repetitive beat, as if the mosh pit engulfing the Eagles Ballroom needed any more incentive to get crazier. Crowd surfers flowed consistently. More impressively, it transitioned almost seamlessly into “Blackout.”
Searle and Dean shook the historic walls, letting the venue’s ghosts loose. One of the band’s most aggressive and teeth-grinding songs, it is a vicious assault on the body with a soaring and unforgettable chorus by Carter. Still, that isn’t nearly as incredible as his guttural screams and the dark lyricism of the final breakdown. The madness of those final minutes left you battered and bruised but begging for more.
Check out the Architects concert photo gallery below:
After a small encore break, Architects took to the stage and gave out praise and love to the Milwaukee crowd. Earlier in the evening, they mentioned this was possibly their largest headlining show ever in the US. Seeing the crowd lit up while Carter was speaking verified the claim. The crowd was massive, and they were waiting for two specific songs. One of those was “Seeing Red,” the first single from their 2025 release that this tour is built on, but “Animals” is one of their most popular songs, and that was the closer for the evening. The two tracks had the crowd singing at deafening levels.
This was everything one could’ve asked for. Architects performed hit after hit. The band from Brighton, England, crossed the ocean to unload their brand of metalcore, and they didn’t disappoint. For the past twenty-two years, the band have created a sound that is their own, something many emulate but cannot touch.
Fans across the world recognize this, but tonight was Wisconsin’s turn to show up and show out for them. It was mission accomplished. The jam-packed Eagles Ballroom stayed lively and energetic until the very end. If this is any indication of things to come, then this tour is a cannot-miss.
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