Falling in Reverse officially closed out their Popular Monstour with a sold-out show at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre in Florida.
Doors opened to a line stretching around the parking lot and to the main gate, full of fans excited to see the show they’d waited so long for. After canceling the original date scheduled for April, Falling In Reverse promised they’d return to St. Augustine. It may have taken seven months, but they kept their word.
When the updated show flyer was released, the opener was marked “TBD.” Days before the concert, Slaughter to Prevail took the spot. The deathcore band, originally from Russia and currently based in Orlando, made it immediately known that the crowd was in for an especially heavy half-hour. Wearing their signature skeletal masks, the band kicked off their set with the opening number “Bonebreaker.” After equally aggressive tracks “Viking” and “I Killed A Man,” vocalist Alex the Terrible thanked the headliners for inviting them back and thanked the crowd for their support. Alex mentioned that his band’s music may be on the heavier side, but the crowd didn’t seem to mind. Even in the uppermost sections, fans were headbanging over the railing fully embracing the set.
Extra security guards took their positions along the barricade in preparation for what was expected to be a lively crowd as the 8:45 PM set time approached. Right on cue, Falling In Reverse walked out onto a dark stage and the crowd went wild, letting the year’s pent-up excitement spill out. As the opening notes of “ZOMBIFIED” played, sweeping red spotlights illuminated frontman Ronnie Radke as he marched along the riser spanning the edge of the stage. When the first verse started, fans screamed along with the lyrics of the popular 2022 single.
“I’m Not a Vampire” from the debut album The Drug In Me Is You elicited an equally strong reaction from the crowd as they gleefully participated in the built-in call-and-response line with a “Hi Ronnie!” The set continued to bounce between new and old, with “F*** You and All Your Friends” from the most recent album Coming Home leading into debut single “The Drug in Me Is You.” A true throwback, however, came in the form of 2006’s “Situations,” originally written by Radke with his previous band Escape The Fate.
Taking a moment between numbers, the singer addressed the crowd to apologize for having to cancel the original show. Radke seemed sincere when empathizing with those fans who bought tickets, drove out, and brought their kids to a show that didn’t end up happening. A special addition was made to the setlist with the 2019 single “Drugs,” a song that had not yet been performed on the current tour. The fun and lighthearted nature of the show was restored when Radke returned to hyping up the crowd, encouraging them to separate the pit for a wall of death for the next song – it ended up being a cover of Smash Mouth’s “All Star.” The gate along the back of the GA pit that usually stayed empty was lined with people, pushed all the way back to make room for a large circle pit that held strong for the last few songs.
“Watch the World Burn,” “Voices In My Head,” and tour namesake “Popular Monster” are three of Falling In Reverse’s newest and heaviest songs. Though it was a strong finish, without an encore the set did feel short, clocking in at roughly the one-hour mark and leaving fans wanting more. Just one day after the show, however, Radke cleared out his Instagram page and uploaded a single cryptic graphic matching the band’s current blue-red color scheme. This has led many fans to speculate new music is right around the corner, so they may be getting more from the group sooner than expected.
FALLING IN REVERSEWebsite Facebook Twitter
