Alesana kicked off the final leg of their Trilogy Tour with family, friends, and a bill of bands with something for every hard rock fan.
The air felt special inside the Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, NC. The first night of the third leg of a lengthy tour is reason to celebrate, and Alesana brought all their friends, family, and fans out for a smile-filled evening of hard rock and metal music. Parents, spouses, and children of band members excitedly greeted each other and made the Cat’s Cradle feel a bit like a family reunion before fathers and sons left for their 30 stop tour.
Half Heard Voices opened the show with a straight-ahead, ready-for-hard rock radio set. Certain to become an early-in-the-day music festival band, Half Heard Voices held the attention of a small crowd still filtering into the venue. Set up close to the front of the stage, drummer Patrick Firestein defied the need for amplification as he pounded furiously throughout the set. Singer Alex Conner, guitarist Dillon Baird, and bassist Stefan Sandman were clearly excited for the first night of the tour and delivered an excellent melodic metal opening set.
One unique and special attribute of the Trilogy Tour: Part 3 is All The Pretty Things. Hailing from Wilmington, NC, the band consists of current and former touring members of bands: Alesana, He is Legend, Chiodos, and Damona Walts. They are Logan Tabor (vocals), Worth Weaver (guitar), Tristan Matthew (guitar), and Jersey Bryan (drums) who was pulling double duty as he is still the current drummer for Alesana. All The Pretty Things delivered a polished, hard rock show with a big, bold, anthemic sound. Their confidence and comfort on stage added a relaxed and inviting vibe to the powerful songwriting and performance. Third on the huge bill of bands came Vampires Everywhere!, a band from Los Angeles with many years of friendship and touring time spent with Alesana. Bathed only in blood red light and dressed in an over-the-top mash-up resembling a gothic Danzig in an emo mood, Vampires Everywhere! upped the ante for showmanship. The band consists of Michael Vampire (vocal), Jesse James Smith (drum), Michael “Ghost” Rodd (guitar), and Brandon Blackout Burke (bass, vocals). Their set was made up of original and cover songs including Motley Crue, Katy Perry, and of course Gerard McMann’s “Cry Little Sister” from The Lost Boys soundtrack from which the band got their name. The band’s distinct and very different style from the other bands on the tour adds depth and a bit of the unknown to the roster. Interesting, entertaining, and certainly different. Support act Limbs is best described by words said to guitarist Jordan Hunter by a member of another band on the tour, “you guys are scary tight!” Limbs formed in 2013 in Tampa Bay, FL and has toured extensively. Their time performing together on stage was obvious from the beginning; energetically jumping and moving across the stage without missing their marks by even a nanosecond. Increasing the energy on stage by orders of magnitude, Chris Costanza (vocals), Daniel Nelson (drums), Joshua Kowalski (bass), and Tyler Martin (guitar) crushed with a headline-worthy set including the new song “See Yourself” and “Slow Burn” from their 2022 release, Coma Year. Inciting the first mosh pit of the evening, Limbs is enough cause on their own to buy a ticket for this tour. When Alesana took the stage, family members were literally everywhere; in a sectioned-off portion of the floor, back in the rear wings of the stage, and even at one point taking the microphone and singing the chorus for a song. Performing with wholehearted joy to be on stage, especially in front of such a special audience, Alesana came out swinging with “It Was a Dark and Stormy Night” pushing everyone on stage to full speed instantly.Alesana performed for the first time their album, Confessions, in its entirety plus “Fatima Rusalka” from the The Annabel Trilogy Part III: Confessions album. Fans in the audience sang along word for word on most songs, a testament to the faithful fans the band has gathered over the past twenty years. Keeping the mosh pit alive, Alesana made the small venue feel even smaller with fist bumps, hand waves, and constant eye contact with the audience. The band performed as veteran hard rock musicians, but more importantly, they were connected with the audience as friends and family.
The Trilogy Tour: Part 3 continues through late October 2024 and includes stops all across the United States. This tour contains so much talent and a wide range of musical styles, there’s something for every fan of hard rock, metal, and metalcore to make this a worthy ticket.VAMPIRES EVERYWHERE!
Website Facebook X
ALL THE PRETTY THINGS
Website Facebook
