It was certainly a Happy Hump Day for the fans who flocked to the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre for a night crammed with not two, but four bands in one lineup. The co-headliners, Five Finger Death Punch and Breaking Benjamin were joined by Bad Wolves and Nothing More.
From the very first beat of the night, the crowd were fully engaged. It may have been an early start to the evening’s proceedings but it was worth the rush hour traffic battle to catch the first band of the night, Bad Wolves. Even with a 6pm start, they had an impressive crowd collected ready to see a band who there has been a lot of talk about this year.
Bad Wolves have been touring relentlessly and making a name for themselves playing to the large crowds at festivals such as Las Rageous and Welcome To Rockville. These guys came out ready to rock, with lead singer Tommy Vext leaping around the stage throughout their set. Bad Wolves were catapulted into the limelight with the release of their cover of The Cranberries’ “Zombie” which Delores O’Riordan was meant to have recorded vocals on the day she past away. They dedicated the track to the memory of Delores and it rounded out their set, along with the full vocal backing of the audience.
If you haven’t heard of Nothing More yet, where have you been? The Grammy nominees burst onto the stage like they were the headliners, providing a powerful set filled with emotional songs such as “Jenny,” which was written about Jonny Hawkins’ sister, and the stripped back acoustic version of “Just Say When,” which stemmed from the breakdown of Hawkins’ marriage.
The co-headliners have alternated who performs first on this tour, and this time it was Five Finger Death Punch‘s turn to be first up. They take to the stage with huge balls of flames firing into the air, and a large skull suspended above the skeleton-clad Jeremy Spencer on drums.
Ivan Moody’s trademark red handprint on his face was sported by fans in the audience as they showed their support for the band. The whole audience was fully-engaged with the band throughout their hour and 15 minute set, and it was impossible not to be with so much going on. Jason Hook’s guitar had a light display on it which matched the color of the lasers flashing from the back of the stage.
Whilst they released And Justice For None back in May of this year, they only performed “Trouble,” from that album with their set concentrating primarily on songs from American Capitalist and The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 1.
The band interact with the audience throughout and look like they are having a great time, with Moody at one point cheekily ripping all of Hook’s guitar picks off his microphone stand and throwing them out into the audience. Their cover of “Bad Company” proved the audience were in fine voice as they sang along whole-heartedly. Slowing things down with acoustic renditions of “Wrong Side of Heaven” and “Remember Everything,” it was soon back to full velocity for “Coming Down” and “Burn MF.”
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