02/02/24
I arrived at the T-Mobile Center kind of intimidated. I have never shot inside an arena this size before, and the prospect of having an estimated 11,000 people at the show with me is a new experience all together. After being led to the staging area by the insanely gracious and professional crew there, I was left to patiently wait for the show to begin. I hung out between the 1st level of the auditorium and the main concourse, watching the fans roll through. All ages of people, from much older than I, to the much, much younger being brought to (possibly) their first metal show with their parents. People you wouldn’t expect to be fans, stroll through the venue casually amongst their peers and family of fans. It still hits me that the headliner tonight, Disturbed, has been around over 20 years. I was listening to their debut album in high school. Much like someone you haven’t seen in many years, it’s forgotten just how much they have grown. They used to be so small, but now they tower over you. Many of us aren’t at that age where throwing themselves around in a mosh pit is as welcoming on the body as it used to be. I know I haven’t been that age in a very long time (thank you knees). Disturbed hosts fans of all kinds, and it’s nice seeing generations to come being introduced to them as well. I guess that goes for more than just Disturbed, but music of all kinds. But I digress.
I am typically the type of person that, when I hear a song I like, I’ll throw it on my Spotify Likes Songs, and move on. In time, I’ll hear it again and enjoy it over and over as it plays on shuffle with the rest of the songs in that playlist. It’s not usually until the 4th or 5th song by a band that drops in that I start to really look into them more, rather than just their sound. I begin to know them by name. I’m not sure if that makes me a half-assed music lover, or a mid-fan, or whatever. Call it what you want, but as I have started writing reviews and taking photos for bigger name bands, it’s begun to happen more and more that an opening band for a headliner doesn’t ring any bells. That is until I go back to Spotify and explore them further to prepare. Only then do I surprisingly find – “Wait, I’ve heard these guys before.” And I find 1 or 2 songs I’ve already liked of theirs. It’s happened with Loathe, Dead Poets Society, Adelitas Way, and now it’s happened with Plush. I came across them last year with their song “Hate“, and without going into too much detail, it was a song that I needed to hear at that point in my life. I immediately began to get more excited about this show. They reminded me of a mix between Heart, Halestorm, with a little Joan Jett thrown in. It shouldn’t come as any surprise that their newest EP, “Find the Beautiful“, that came out in January features a cover of “Barracuda“.
Plush came to the stage, like most opening acts on bigger shows of this size, with not a lot of flashes or explosions, more so focusing on putting on a good performance and embedding their sound in the audience, many of whom have quite possibly never heard of them before. The foursome from New York dolled out five songs that established their foundation of rock music. Opening with the first track off the “Find the Beautiful” EP, “Run”, followed by the aforementioned “Barracuda” cover, and then “Hate”. They finished their set with two more new tracks, “Hope it Hurts” and “Left Behind”, both catchy and consistent songs to conclude their show.
As for Falling in Reverse, I never really got into them. I got into their brand of music late. Recently I became familiar with them as, being an avid wrestling fan, they provided the entrance music, “Zombified“, for AEW wrestler Saraya. Outside of that, they would show up occasionally in playlists, getting familiar with newer songs like “Watch the World Burn” and “Voices in my Head“. Of course, seeing them live would provide me a better opportunity to really get to experience them better.
With their logo emblazoned on a banner behind them, they started with the song I am most familiar with, “Zombified”. With a row of platforms along the front of the stage, lead singer Ronnie Radke would move from across it throughout the night, with the rest of the band positioned behind. For fans on the ground, this made it difficult to see them, although they would occasionally join him on the platform. Following up with “I’m not a Vampire“, “Losing my Mind“, and “Fuck You and All Your Friends“, Radke made fun banter with the crowd, mentioning the hometown Kansas City Chiefs going to the Super Bowl, which brought with itself a roar of cheers, followed by a minor amount of booing. Apparently there were some 49er fans in attendance that night. Radke did point out that they had to wait for the cheers to die down before booing. I mean, he isn’t wrong.
After “The Drug in Me is You“, perhaps my favorite portion of their set hit, with “Just Like You” and “Popular Monster” dropping catchy, almost poppy back to back hits, before finishing up their evening with “Voices in My Head” and “Watch the World Burn”, unleashing all of the lights and pyro they had stored up throughout the show. I consider this show my formal introduction to Falling in Reverse, and through it, they’ve gotten me interested in discovering more of them. Which is half the fun of going to shows, finding new bands and music to enjoy. They knew the assignment and passed the test with flying colors. Now excuse me while I dig into their discography…
But before I do that, we must discuss the huge, fire and light infused elephant in the room that is Disturbed. Rounding out an evening of quite an eclectic, but familiar, mix of rock and metal are the harbingers of the steely tooth grinned The Guy. Of all the bands playing tonight, they are the most familiar to me. While in high school, their album “The Sickness” along with their first single “Down with the Sickness” embedded itself in my brain. They would release several albums over the years, “Believe” (which I personally consider their best album) and “Ten Thousand Fists“, that I really got into and enjoyed, but began to fall out of the scope of listening to them regularly as they continues to release six more albums over the course of their twenty-plus year career. Though they’ve done some excellent covers of songs that strike their unique take, like “Shout 2000” and “Land of Confusion“, it wasn’t until they released their version of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence” that they began to stand out from the sound they’d been creating up to that point. It brought me back to them and to rediscover what they’d been up to over the years.
The stage setup for Disturbed’s set was captivating. A moving light structure comprised of three individual rows, each with their own set of 5 moving light and pyro sections hung over the stage. Tilting and rotating, raising and lowering throughout the show, at one point, even expanding to look like the fiery wings of the Phoenix above the band as they controlled the stage. The familiar voice of lead singer David Draiman boomed throughout the show, filling the arena with his vocal range, clean and clear throughout the show. Rarely at shows do I clearly understand the lyrics to the words, and perhaps that is just a testament to the audio engineers running the show, but everything coming from Draiman’s mic sounded perfect. Throughout the show, as he spoke to the audience, each word spoken was deliberate and intentional as he moved about the stage. No train of thought spewing. He speaks a few words, pauses, and a few more, and it continued throughout the evening. I found this uncomfortable at first, and it never sat well with me through the evening. But I am also the kind of person that speaks faster and sometimes mumbles, so I’m not really one to judge.
Opening with “Hey You“, “Stupify“, and “Ten Thousand Fists” got the evening started for the crowd. The flames and lights, along with antics from lead guitarist Dan Donegan sneakily pulling picks off of bassist John Moyer’s mic stand were playful elements of the heavier sounds of the evening. Following up with “Prayer” and “Are You Ready” played well, slower and softer songs, leading into the faster and hard-hitting “Bad Man“. The end of the first quarter of their set flowed into “A Reason to Flight“, “Land of Confusion“, and “The Game” finishing with their awe-inspiring cover of “The Sound of Silence”. Donegan took to a piano for this as Draiman serenaded the audience. One by one, the arches above lit up in flame through the song, as the piano also ignited in flame. Draiman’s voice and expression of the lyrics remain haunting and could sound better performed live than recorded.
Following “Indestructible” and “Don’t Tell Me” (a duet accompanied by Plush lead singer Moriah Formica), Draiman brought two young gentlemen on stage, as is a normal part of their show. One was celebrating their 16th birthday, and the other with a sign detailing the effect that depression and anxiety had had over his life for the last several years. Draiman spoke of mental health, and the connection that each person in the audience had with the music, and the personal battles we all face. Without a doubt, music saves. And there is a familial bond that each attendee shares, some stronger than others, but still a family. The two guests were then offered seats on stage for “The Light” before finishing up the show with “Stricken“.
The encore at the end of the evening brought the mosh out in the pit, as a small group of fans let the music and adrenaline take hold against the soundtrack of “Unstoppable“, “Down with the Sickness”, and “Inside the Fire“. The first rule of a most pit is: If somebody falls, you pick them back up. Everyone looks after everyone, and that’s something that isn’t known much by outsiders looking in. You know if you walk into a pit, you could get hurt, you could hurt somebody, but at the end of the night, there’s a brotherhood amongst all who participate. Unfortunately, something that I have seen happen in a number of shows where a mosh starts is a member of security instantly begins to interfere in the rush of adrenaline. This happened during this show with a member of security trying to shut down the mosh as it got going. Fortunately, I assume, a higher member of the security team had seen this before and pulled him away to the fans could enjoy themselves. It’s a rock show. This happens. At the end of the night, the same people who were running around, pushing each other, engaging in chaos; they’re hugging and laughing with each other. They’ve enjoyed their experience, and that’s all you could ever want from a show.
