In This Moment performs at The Warfield in San Francisco on Oct. 3, 2021. Nate McKinley/STAFF.

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants win the NL West earlier in the day, but for hard rock fans, the night belonged to a triple billing of heavy hitters. The In Between Tour featured In This Moment, Black Veil Brides and Ded. All three bands brought distinctly different styles of hard rock to the Warfield.

SoCal rockers In This Moment headlined and Maria Brink and company brought their patented visual spectacle for which they’ve become known.

In This Moment.

For the uninitiated, an In This Moment concert is part rock show and part high-concept performance art. The visuals are tantalizing, challenging and occasionally confusing—but never dull. The band’s opening track on the night was a percussive and warlike cover of Steve Miller Band’s “Fly Like An Eagle.” Brink took center stage, towering over everyone in a robe and ornate headdress, and flanked by a pair of acolytes in a ritual-like ceremony. The band churned out the riffs as Brink held court, each passing song feeling like its own act in a play. The individual performances were so ornate and detailed that In This Moment fit only about eight songs into its 70 minutes.

The band held the musical and visual heaviness on tracks like “The In-Between” and “Roots.” Brink “tied” herself to her fellow backup performers as she was pulled back and forth on heavy rocker “Blood” before ultimately taking back control in the song’s final chorus.

“I want to see the stars. Show me the stars,” Brink said as she sat behind a piano for the mid-tempo “Lay Your Gun Down.” And while the realities of the pandemic have played a role in this tour, with band members requiring to quarantine and miss shows, In This Moment was in top form during an extended jam session that showcased precision riffs and impressive dynamics, finished off by a larger than life drum solo.

Black Veil Brides.

Brink reemerged wearing all white for another heavy anthemic rocker, “Big Bad Wolf,” before closing out with “Adrenalize” and “Whore.”

Co-headliners Black Veil Brides had ample time for a full set of their own.

Opening with new track “Scarlett Cross,” Andy Biersack and his band kept the focus on energy with each pulse-pounding song. Going on 15 years as a band, Black Veil Brides have matured both in sound and in image. That musical maturity has translated to their live show. The tall and lanky Biersack stalked back and forth across the stage, rarely standing still.

The band’s set was an even sampling of its catalog. The only other track off forthcoming album The Phantom Tomorrow was “Crimson Skies.” It was fitting that drummer Christian Coma, or CC, was the first band member to sprint onto the stage. Coma had missed a run of shows due to a COVID-19 diagnosis. In his absence, rather than canceling, Black Veil Brides pivoted to acoustic sets. Jeremy Ferguson also showed off some impressive musical chops of his own on “Overture” and “Shadows Die,” one of the high points. Saving the best for last, the band packed hits like “Knives and Pens” and “Fallen Angels” before returning for the anthemic “In The End.”

The night began with Arizona metal band DED, which may have brought some of the heaviest riffs of the night. In its first show in San Francisco, DED opened with “Hate Me” and kept up the aggression on tracks like “Dead To Me” and “Anti-Everything.” The band fused nu-metal into anthemic heavy metal as vocalist Joe Cotela aptly jumped between a more rhythmic cadence to guttural earth-shaking screams.

Follow writer Mike DeWald at Twitter.com/mike_dewald. Follow photographer Nathan McKinley at Instagram.com/memories.by.mckinley.