Video Surfaces of Saint Vitus with Scott Reagers — “Born too Late” Live in Austin
Posted in Bootleg Theater on June 3rd, 2015 by JJ Koczan
I’m going to be honest: I can’t even pretend to know what’s going to happen with Saint Vitus at this point. The legendary doomers are currently two nights deep into a European tour that will carry them to and through Hellfest in Clisson, France, later this month, and following the arrest in Norway last fall of vocalist Scott “Wino” Weinrich (he of Wino Wednesday fame), they’re touring as the four-piece of guitarist Dave Chandler, vocalist Scott Reagers, bassist Mark Adams and drummer Henry Vasquez, which actually puts them as close to their original lineup as they can get after the 2010 passing of founding drummer Armando Acosta. Nonetheless, how permanent any of this is, with Reagers stepping in for Wino in the frontman role, what the band’s plans are and whether or not they’ll follow-up studio comeback, Lillie: F-65 (review here), which was released in 2012 on Season of Mist, I simply have no idea.
As a fan of the band, it’s exciting to have Reagers back singing for them much as it was exciting to have Wino singing for them when they first got back together in 2009. Their 1984 self-titled debut is a watershed moment in American doom — as pivotal, essential a release as anything the genre produced before or since — and to think of Reagers singing “Saint Vitus” and “White Magic/Black Magic” again makes it easy enough to get on board. Minus “The Psychopath,” that entire album was aired at Vitus‘ tour-kickoff on May 23 at Red 7 in Austin, Texas, as well as cuts from 1985’s sophomore outing, Hallow’s Victim and their 1995 post-Wino/post-Chritus Linderson/pre-Wino reunion with Reagers, Die Healing. 1995, incidentally, was the last time the band performed with Reagers up front. Two decades ago. Here’s the setlist as reported to the interwebs:
Dark World
One Mind
Zombie Hunger
War is Our Destiny
White Magic/Black Magic
Trail of Pestilence
White Stallions
Burial at Sea
Look Behind You
Mystic Lady
Saint Vitus
Born too Late
Of those, only “Look Behind You” and “Born too Late” were originally vocalized in the studio by Wino, so Chandler and company have definitely shifted their focus, but as the clip below shows, Reagers is readily able to take on the anthem as well that has become so much a signature of Vitus and what they represent. If you’re one for bootlegs, there’s a killer version of Reagers singing “Born too Late” on Let the End Begin — one of the band’s several not-quite-official live albums — and here’s how he handles it nowadays:
Saint Vitus, “Born too Late” live in Austin, TX, May 23, 2015
SAINT VITUS European Tour 2015:
June 1 Livorno, IT @ The Cage
June 2 Bologna, IT @ Alchemia
June 3 Giavera del Montello, IT @ Benicio Live
June 4 Innsbruck, AT @ Weekender Club
June 5 Wien, AT @ Rock in Vienna
June 6 Zagreb, HR @ Vintage Industrial Bar
June 7 Beograd Stari Grad, RS @ Dom omladine Beograda
June 8 Budapest, HU @ A38
June 9 Prague, CZ @ Modra Vopice
June 10 Warsaw. PL @ Hydrozagadka
June 12 Talinn, EE @ Rockclub Tapper
June 13 Helsinki, FL @ Nosturi
June 14 Tampere, FL @ Klubi
June 16 Oslo, NO @ Blå
June 17 Götebor, SE @ Truckstop Alaska
June 18 København, DK @ Copenhell
June 19 Deventer, NL @ BWH
June 21 Clisson, FR @ Hellfest Open Air – The Valley
