Concert Reviews

Mudvayne The Psychotherapy Sessions tour

Published

1 year ago

August 13, 2023

Mudvayne made their way through Pittsburgh with a stop at The Amphitheater at Star Lake as part of The Psychotherapy Sessions tour with four other bands who chose not to let media outlets cover them without individual clearance, which is an extreme rarity in the business when you are covering the tour.

The first opening band, which is fronted by two female vocalists, played their set to what could not have been more than a hundred people in a pavilion that has a capacity of near 22,000 people. Much of the same scenario played out for the second support act.

The venue was upgrading every person who had a lawn ticket to seats under the pavilion. They had people stationed around handing out the tickets, and the employees at the gates were telling everyone to go get their free upgrades at certain tables. The word was that they were handing out free tickets a few nights before at the Pantera and Lamb of God show.

The third opener finally had a sizable crowd, as they are typically a club and mid-size venue band, but their brand of blood and gore fell flat in the large space and the daylight. Though they sounded better than I have heard them sound, the energy was lost in the distance from the crowd.

Mudvayne Chad Gray By Josh Drespling For Empire Extreme

Up next was the “co-headliner”. They sounded decent with their revamped line-up, and the songs brought back some nostalgia for that late 90s nu-metal sound. The lead vocalist seemed like a “Fiend” with an “I O U Nothing” attitude. “Something Told Me” the entire band was “Loco”, and probably “Drove” a “Big Truck”. Nothing is going to “Sway” me, as I know these are “Dark Days” for the industry, and perhaps it’s just “Another Nail in The Coffin.”

Finally, the headliner, Mudvayne, took to the stage and sounded amazing. There has been some trepidation and clamoring that vocalist Chad Grey was not performing well live. I’m here to say that Chad and the rest of the band were on point, sounded tight, and were well rehearsed. I don’t know if they were out of sync at the onset of the tour, but tonight in Pittsburgh, they were on top of their game. They opened their set with the hit “Not Falling”. They followed up with “Under My Skin,” which is a off-the-beaten-path song from their L.D. 50 release from over 20 years ago. They also performed “Internal Primates Forever,” also from the L.D. 50 release, as part of the six tracks from that album.

The band changed direction with another hit track “World So Cold”. Following in order were “A New Game”, “Severed”, “Death Blooms”, and “Fish Out of Water”. Chad screamed, “All work and no play makes me a dull boy, as the band tore into the track “Dull Boy” from the 2008 album The New Game.

“Determined” and “Nothing to Gein” preceded an energetic encore of the definitive “Dig” and crowd favorite “Happy?”.

Overall, a great performance and a selection of songs that spanned their entire discography. Here’s to hoping there is a new release in their future, and you should get out to this show; it was super entertaining. Who knows? You may just get upgraded to the front row.

About Author

Josh Drespling

Josh is the Publisher and creator of Empire Extreme and it’s sister publication Kingdom Extreme Magazine. He is an accomplished writer, photographer and graphic designer. He is always conjuring up new ideas and has a amazing passion for the music industry and all the things that surround it.

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Concert Reviews

King Diamond brought the Halloween party to Silver Spring MD

Published

3 days ago

November 2, 2024

Ron

King Diamond who’s on tour now with Overkill and Night Demon.

Overkill always puts on a great show and shows that face pace thrash metal is still kick ass. Led by NJ’s Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth Overkill has that distinctive sound with Bobby’s high pitched and raspy vocals. With songs like “Scorched”, “ Rotten to the Core” and “Hello From the Gutter”, Overkill got the crowd into a frenzy and warmed up the stage before the king.

You know it’s gonna be a good night when it’s 3 days before Halloween and you get to see a kick ass set from King Diamond. King Diamond who’s 68 right now still commands that stage and sounds amazing with his insanely falsettos. The stage show at a King Diamond show is always such a great sight to see. With a multilayer setup of stairs and little pieces of elaborate set all over it’s such a great view and perfect setting to watch a King Diamond set.

The set list was amazing too we got to hear songs from such a great career like “A Mansion in the Darkness”, “Halloween “, “Spider Lilly”, “Welcome Home”, and “Eye of the Witch” and of course ending the night with “Abagail”.

If you’re a fan of King Diamond or just a fan of great music that adds that Halloween haunted asylum themed stage performances then you need to go out and check this tour now. King Diamond never disappoints and always puts on one hell of a show.

About Author

Ron

Ron has keen eye for new talent, a love for the underground, and a tremendous passion for music of any genera. You’ll probably bump into him at a horror convention or some seedy club checking out the next need-to-know band.

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Concert Reviews

ITS TIME TO GET YOUR BODY BEAT AND LET THE BLOOD FLOW

Published

7 days ago

October 29, 2024

Ron

Combichrist came into Lovedrafts in Mechanicsburg with an old school electronic set and the return of PA’s own DeathMaschine.

Combichrist took the dark stage armed with Eric on the synths/sampler and Andy on Vocals and an open stage to rampage on. I got to hear some killer kick ass songs I haven’t heard in a while like “Today I woke to the rain of blood”, “This is My Rifle” and This shit will fuck you up”.

The crowd were super excited to watch the set and everyone was having a good time, dancing to the beats, and singing all the songs and having an amazing time. I’ve been wanting to see Combichrist do these old school sets and have always loved that era of the band. We also got to hear “Like to Thank My Buddies” and “Shut up and Swallow”. We also got a super rare treat for an encore Andy went back even further in his musically roots and pulled out an Icon of Coil song “Dead Enough For Life”, which got the crowd in a frenzy.

About Author

Ron

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Concert Reviews

LUDACRIS : THE HALL AT LIVE

Published

2 weeks ago

October 21, 2024

Ron

ATL IS IN THE HOUSE.

Ludacris came into Maryland at the Hall in Live Casino and brought with him the masses that were ready for a good time, good fun and good tunes.

Ludacris said it’s been a long time since he’s been back to Maryland and DC area. I loved that he just came out with his dj and his hype man and himself nothing else was needed when you entertain like Ludacris does. Whether you’re a fan from back in the day or a fan of his movies, Ludacris made everyone happy and made sure they were fully entertained.

Of course Ludacris played some of his hits songs like “Act a Fool”, “Move Bitch”, “What’s your fantasy”, “Get Back” and “Area Codes” but he also played some old school tracks and a few covers like “Holiday Inn” and “Yeah”. The crowd was hitting that good weed as well and threw some blunts up to the stage during “BlueBerry Yum Yum”.

Ludacris made a statement that his first album came out in 2000 and this next year is the 25th anniversary of the album. It was a great night and a great time, Ludacris knows how to keep the fans engaged and entertained all night. He’s very fan friendly and charismatic which makes sense that he’s also a great actor.