- BEARTOOTH w/ Showing Teeth + President
- 3/3/26 - Eagles Ballroom - Milwaukee, WI
- ©Justin Nuoffer / NuofferMedia.com
The city of Milwaukee was full of life on an unusually warm March evening. The streets were filled with people who came out early and lined up behind the famed Rave/Eagles Club. The crowd was feisty, and conversations in line centered on the previous night’s performance in Minneapolis. If there is one thing known about Beartooth fans, it is that they will travel, and Beartooth came to town for a special one-off show from their arena tour with Bad Omens. Along with them were the mysterious President and the up-and-coming Showing Teeth to open the night.
The Rave/Eagles Club is the nearly one-hundred-year-old staple of live entertainment in the city of Milwaukee. The history of the venue has a life of its own. Entering through the side door, you are ushered into the lower level for the security check. Once cleared, you take the stairs up to the main foyer and can move right into the Craft Beer Lounge to the left. The after-work crowd had the area filled, and the Milwaukeeans started to let loose.
Heading up the stairs, the entire back end was the tour merch. The lines stretched across the open area as fans grabbed various t-shirts and trinkets, but the rest of the crowd moved to the left and up the final set of stairs and into the famous Eagles Ballroom. With bars on each end of the massive ballroom, fans were blowing off steam from the get-go. On the floor, fans rushed to the barricade and lined up the lengthy front, three deep from the start.
First up on the ticket was Showing Teeth. The Nashville foursome are fresh faces on the scene, and they even admitted it on stage. Despite their youth and inexperience, the crowd was hooked from the very first roar of the vocalist, whose stage name is the band’s namesake, Showing Teeth. Her vocals were fierce despite her warning that she was under the weather, which made it even more impressive. Whether it was all-out screaming or gutturals, the vocals were top-notch. Musically, the band blends metalcore with influences from across the genre.
Check out the Showing Teeth concert photo gallery below:
The warm cheers from the ballroom crowd gave them energy and confidence that became more visually apparent as the set went on. Armed with a setlist of demos waiting to be released, the material resonated. When they launched into their two known releases, “Rip” and “Labyrinth,” the crowd’s familiarity with them ignited strong responses. Overall, even though the set served as a testing ground for new material, it was warmly received.
The mysterious President took the stage to thunderous applause. The stage was dark and filled with smoke. Front and center stood a lectern with a neon Orthodox cross in the middle. That cross serves as their logo and appears throughout their imagery. On stage, the band members were all dressed sharply in slacks, dress shirts, and black masks covering their faces. President is the moniker of their frontman and band creator, who wears the same well-dressed look but with a tightly fitted silicone mask and flowing silver hair. Anonymity is the name of the game.
The fanfare for the young band, formed just a year ago, was quite noticeable. The circle pit opened wide from the very first note of “Fearless.” The setlist consisted almost entirely of their lone EP, King of Terrors. Blasting through tracks like “Rage,” “Conclave,” and “Destroy Me,” they had the Milwaukee faithful as rowdy as could be. Their sound was impressive and pulls from a range of genres, from electronic to metalcore to alternative metal.
President himself paced the entire length of the stage while belting out each note. They gained momentum through their set and crowd surfers began making their way to the front, cell phone screens lit up, and the circle pit went wild. Closing with “In the Name of the Father” left the congregation of President disciples awestruck. The song pushed a sense of hope while carrying crushing defeat in its lyrics. The emotional push and pull was evident, and everything the masked artists could display emotionally was there. Then, without a blink of an eye, they left the smoky stage with the lectern’s cross still illuminated. Imagery was a massive part of their set, and they nailed it.
As the hazy, purple-lit stage held everyone’s attention, four huge lighting panels flashed. In front of them sat a drum riser with Connor Denis behind his kit, pointing and preparing himself for the intro to “Might Love Myself.” The band took to the stage with frontman and band founder Caleb Shomo leading the way to the front lip of the stage, instantly getting the electrified audience on their feet and dancing.
Shomo showed no fear and danced across the stage every chance he got. His highly intoxicating positivity radiated from the stage from the very beginning. His actions were honest and captivating. As he sat and sang on the front row during “In Between,” fans reached out as far as they could to try to connect with the frontman. He teased them often by running to the very edge of the stage and extending a hand.
The band pumped out hits like “Doubt Me,” “ATTN.,” and “Disease” early in the set. The atmosphere was fun and vibrant. Bassist Oshie Bichar bounced around the stage, his low end keeping the floor shaking and the groove infectious. His voice carried the main backing vocals, and the strength behind it was noticeable. This helped during every call-and-response moment Caleb Shomo asked for from the crowd.
Tucked off to each side of the stage were guitarists Will Deely and Zach Huston. The pair performed in perfect unison. Their fingers danced across the fretboards with ease, showing their technical prowess and giving them plenty of opportunity to show off. Pumping out “The Lines” and “Hated” kept the show’s momentum moving.
The warmth and wholesomeness of Shomo’s commentary were refreshing. This led into the brand new single “Free.” With heartfelt sensibility, Shomo sang until every ounce of air was pushed from his lungs. The emotional attachment to the track was obvious, and the reaction was overwhelmingly positive. Without a break, the transition into “Sunshine!” was seamless. Gold and yellow lighting illuminated the massive venue, and fans soaked it in while Beartooth crushed it.
Two tracks from Disease, “Bad Listener” and “You Never Know,” kept the crowd singing along. It was a great way to head into the final few songs of the evening. Shomo took a few moments to check on a section of the crowd that had become a bit rowdier than normal, then went into a series of thank-yous and band introductions. He told the Milwaukee crowd to let it all out because an old song was coming next. Beartooth reached back to 2014 and tore through “Beaten in Lips.”
The Eagles Ballroom opened into a massive mosh pit in the middle of the floor, and crowd surfers flowed over fans’ outstretched arms. That spirit intensified when the ever-popular “The Past Is Dead” ignited the chaos even further. Voices filled the air and the hardwood flooring shook, but it was nothing compared to what the final song, “Riptide,” delivered. The pure, unfiltered heaviness paired with upbeat lyrics makes it hard not to fall in love with what the band has become, and the band’s live presentation is incredible.
Check out the Beartooth concert photo gallery below:
Since bursting onto the scene in 2014, Beartooth, the creation of frontman Caleb Shomo, has rocked stages across the world to massive fanfare. The highly energetic show was everything Milwaukee could have asked for. With the world on fire, Beartooth gave everything they had to help fans let the frustrations of life loose. The night could not have been a more fun experience. Caleb Shomo has Beartooth primed for continued success and a big 2026.
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