Show Review: The American Dream Tour (Portland, OR)

I started this show with high expectations hoping that every band would hit it off. I felt there were more emotion from the crowd then the bands themselves. Even though it was the last few days of the tour, they should still have some energy to put on the same performance as the first few shows. I have seen all of these bands before and it just was not the same this time.

Letlive was the opening band and I had really high expectations for them for seeing them at Vans Warped Tour 2013. Quite disappointing. I paid to see a show not some monkey jumping around for a half an hour. Letlive will be coming back to Portland in May with Architects in a smaller venue and maybe Jason will feel the need to actually perform.  Letlive is a humble band, but the performance was poor and the crowd was not happy with them during the show. On another note Jason does NOT care about the venues rules or anything. Jumping on PA systems and the venues sound equipment isn’t just unsafe, but can damage them. I will be surprised if letlive in a few years can even get shows in a decent venue since venues will be put up with his shit.

Issues was the only band on this tour that actually put in energy to their show and made it entertaining. I was not a huge fan of Issues until after they played. They put on an awesome show while entertaining the fans. The crowd had more of an reaction towards them compared to the other bands. They put in the same energy compared to the show they played in November with Sleeping with Sirens and Our Last Night. Issues will never let down their fans.

This was the fourth time I have seen Of Mice & Men. Since I have seen their stage performance before I had REALLY high expectations for their set. Disappointed. Since they have got their new vocalist, Aaron Pauley they have only played new songs off Restoring Force. The new album does not have the heart and the backbone of old Of Mice. It makes you wonder if another band got suckered in the music industry and will slowly deplete their talent. Why is Of mice & men using 7 strings when they are still an over rated Post hardcore band. If they wanted to become a heavy metal band, get rid of the cleans and up those screams Carlile. There is NO reason for a band like this to use 7 strings. The show they put on was disappointing.

The headliner, Bring me the horizon actually surprised me. Not with their stage presence but with the stage effects. They made use of the stage with a second stage set up for their keyboardist and Drummer. They interacted with the fans and Oliver Sykes actually didn’t sound like shit with his vocals this time. I only stayed for four songs but the crowd was enjoying them and they put on a hell of a show. Their setlist was disappointing with mostly only playing their new stuff. The actually show performance from them was disappointing only because I saw the crowd singing more then Oliver Sykes himself.

Show Review: Take Action Tour (Birmingham, AL)

Photo Credit: Alternative Press

Dangerkids, a heavier version of Linkin Park (think Hybrid Theory and Meteora) were a perfect choice to open the Take Action tour.  Their catchy songs and Innerpartysystem vibe kept the crowd excited and energized.  The band was very grateful for the crowd's support (including mine) and were excited to see such amazing feedback for the opener.  Their drummer Katie Cole killed it (yes they have a girl drummer).  Their singers Andy Bane and Tyler Smyth kept the crowd engaged while jumping around and singing/rapping/screaming their hearts out.   You should check out their debut album Collapse if you haven't already. This is a band to follow and keep an eye on. To anyone who is lucky enough to get this band for Vans Warped Tour should definitely check them out.

Setlist:

Dust

Countdown

Paper Thin

We're All In Danger

Hostage

Light Escapes

Waking Up

Australian powerhouse I Killed The Prom Queen began with their vocalists screaming their Beginning of the End intro from their new album Beloved was a great beginning to their surprisingly short set. The guitars on Thirty One and Sevens and Sharks in Your Mouth were on point. There was a problem with the sound so the vocals could barely be heard but from what I could hear but none-the-less, the set was full of energy and excitement. To the disappointment of myself and the other members of the crowd, their set was cut short after Calvert Street due to them taking so long setting up but I still enjoyed their set.

Setlist:

Beginning of the End

Sharks in Your Mouth

Thirty One and Sevens

Calvert Street

The Ghost Inside: with their opener being their most popular song Engine 45, the crowd was pumped from the start. With the whole room was screaming "If it's a war you came to see you will never see a waved white flag in front of me" how could you not be excited. Playing some old school favorites like Chrono and Faith and Forgiveness made this a great tour to see The Ghost Inside. While they skipped This is What I Know About Sacrifice due to timing concerns, was still an amazing experience.  Remember to catch The Ghost inside on all the dates of  the Vans Warped Tour this summer!

Setlist:

Engine 45
Unspoken
Chrono
Between The Lines
The Great Unknown
The Conflict
Thirty Three
Dark Horse
Faith and Forgiveness

As a household metalcore name, The Devil Wears Prada never disappoints.  From the very beginning with the green lights and the fog machines spilling pancake smelling fog (yes, you read that right, the fog smelled like pancakes) truly set the mood. The band comes on stage without a normal intro and dives into the first song of the night, Sailor's Prayer. When Escape (the intro to 2011's Zombie EP) began, the lights switched to red and created the effect of zombies and blood which was really amazing. After a few more songs, Mike Hranica (lead vocalist) went offstage and grabbed a guitar and dove into Kansas which is the instrumental interlude from 2012's Dead Throne.  The band then went into a jam session of sorts which was different from anything id heard from them previously. The session led perfectly into War and the crowd was still settled down so you could perfectly hear Hranica scream "I'm fighting the war, rather than war itself.  Jeremy DePoyster (clean vocalist/rhythm guitar) never disappoints with his amazing choruses that have whole venue singing along. Fast forward to the band's encore which consisted of Mammoth (From Dead Throne) and a fan-favorite Danger:Wildman which consists of Mike Hranica screaming "I know a ghost" for the beginning of the song which would give anyone chill bumps.  Prada's performance was by far the best of the night and remember to check them out the entire summer on the Van's Warped Tour!

Setlist:

Sailors Prayer
Escape
Untidaled
Assistant To The Regional Manager
Gloom
Care More
Martyrs
Outnumbered
Kansas (with Outro Jam session)
War
Born To Lose
8:18
First Sight
In Heart
-Encore-
Mammoth
Danger: Wildman

Show Review: The Color Morale @ Penny Road Pub, IL

 The Color Morale show at Penny Road Pub last Saturday was a show that everyone in the area was waiting for. It had been a very long time since The Color Morale had played a small scale hometown show and with great local support from Arkham, Leviah, Shrapnel ,and Between Myth and Legend (last show for BMAL) as well as For All I Am jumping aboard, the place was bound to be packed. And it was.

The local bands were all very good, setting the bar high for local groups around the area, most notably Arkham. This band brought more energy to the stage than any of the bands before them as their vocalist was constantly in the crowd and at one point, on the ceiling. Their punk style brought a nice diversity to the show and it was great to see the crowd participating in the action with the local bands.

For All I Am was the first non-local band to take the stage as this was the group preceding The Color Morale. For All I Am did a great job overall as they jumped from playing their popular songs as well as older material and less-popular tracks off the album. The two most notable aspects of their performance was their decision to use their own sound guy and their new guitar player/clean vocalist. To start with, the sound guy is someone that the group has been friends/partners with since their humble beginnings when he was their photographer and once they started to tour, he had started doing their sound for live shows. The reason this is worth mentioning is because their live-sound was significantly worse than any other band that night and even though their slot was still enjoyable, this sudden change in sound quality was a harsh adjustment at first. To counter the poor sound, the new guitarist/clean singer seemed to fit in great with the band and he also performed very well live. His voice sounded great if you are someone who didn't know any better, you wouldn't have even guessed he was a replacement.

Next up was the headliner, The Color Morale. These guys always bring great excitement to any bill they are on and especially one that they are headlining in their hometown. Their performance lived up to almost every positive comment I had heard before I saw them and I was greatly satisfied with the show overall. The band played mostly popular tracks but they did venture back to their first album so old fans could reminisce along with the band. Almost everything about their performance was great. The sound was amazing and despite their recent member changes, everyone seemed to be on the same page. The band even fit in a couple of acoustic songs to break up their usual routine and let the crowd sing (very loudly) along to their own songs as well as cover of “Too Close”. The only picky complaint I had with their performance is that the vocalist very rarely sang the clean parts to their songs. Not that someone else was doing it, it's that he was almost always ad-lib and go significantly off course of the original melody. At first it was interesting but it became a bit annoying towards the end of the show as many people wanted to sing along and hear the melodies that they loved but what was being sung was barely recognizable.

Overall this show was hands down THE best show I have ever seen at Penny Road Pub. Not only were there great local acts but the larger bands all originated in the area and it was a great example of what local shows could/should be. The energy in the room was great and it was nice to see everyone from the area of shows all at one concert.

Rating : 9/10

-Nic

(Also, I didn't address the fight that broke out at the show in this article simply because the fight started in the very back of the room and continued outside so the majority of people in the room had no idea that any sort of altercation was going on until long after the show. Plus, my job here is to review the overall show and the bands' performances, not review the owner of the venue and his decisions for security. If you want to know more about the fight, we talked briefly about it in a separate article where we also linked Arkham's description of what happened.)