Philadelphia, PA
04/18/13
It’s early in the music tour and festival season, but Sevendust has hit the road in support of their Black Out The Sun album with one of the strongest and most intriguing line-ups that will be seen this year. Their partners in crime – Stolen Babies, Lacuna Coil and Coal Chamber.
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| Stolen Babies, Copyright Pete Troshak |
First up were the spooky cabaret stylings of Stolen Babies. The group proved that hard rock and accordion can be fused together to create something dark and beautiful with an entertaining seven song set. Singer Dominique Persi was memorable, performing like an eerie and damaged but beautiful Tim Burton character. She alternated between eerily cooing and screaming into the mic while pumping away on the bellows of her accordion. Behind her creepy organs swirled and guitars riffed along to crazy twisted carnival music tempos.
See my Stolen Babies pics here
Stolen Babies Setlist:
Never Come Back -Splatter - Push Button - Filistata - Mousefood - Tablescrap - Spill
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| Cristina from Lacuna Coil, Copyright Pete Troshak |
Next up was Lacuna Coil. They are the Ferrari of music – a sleek, Italian finely tuned precision metal machine. Clad in black jumpsuits echoing the Dharma Initiative on Lost, they took no prisoners with a set-list powerful enough to convert any non- believers. They drew most of their set from 2012’s excellent Dark Adrenaline, kicking off with a thundering “I Don’t Believe in Tomorrow” followed by a chiming and hard driving “Kill The Light.” Cristina Scabbia’s beautiful vocals soared, swooped and were contrasted and complemented by Andrea Ferro’s raw anguished singing. Together they blasted out Lacuna’s archetypal tales of lost love and darkness while their band-mates delivered sheets of sonic darkness and riffage. They ended their set with three songs that were the highlight of the night – a hammering “Intoxicated,” a roller-coaster “Trip The Darkness” and supercharged closer “Spellbound.”
See my Lacuna Coil pics here
Lacuna Coil Setlist:
I Don’t Believe in Tomorrow
Kill the Light
To the Edge
Upsidedown
Fragile
Survive
Intoxicated
Trip the Darkness
Spellbound
Coal Chamber apparently is not allowing photographers to shoot them on this tour, but despite a decade long absence from the music scene they were in fine form. They took the stage to the chilling piano theme from John Carpenter’s “Halloween” and put on a frighteningly good show. Singer Dez Fafara paced the stage barking boldly into an old radio show style mic with a glowing green light in it while guitarist Meegs Rascón prowled from side to side of the stage dropping heavy riff after heavy riff. The foundation for their music has always been the low end – the down tuned heavy-like-concrete guitar riffs of Rascon over a locked in chugging engine of a rhythm section that sounds like a runaway train. This is still the strength of the band with Mikey Cox’s precise pounding of his drums and new bass player Chela Rhea Harper ably filling the big boots left behind in the absence of original bass player Rayna Foss. Harper was a sight on the stage – long dark hair flailing and flipping as she spent most of the set bent over and headbanging while laying groovy and powerful basslines. The group ended the set in the crowd – hugging, crowd surfing and joyful leaving fans hopeful for more music from this quartet.
Setlist:
Loco
Big Truck
Fiend
Rowboat
Something Told Me
Clock
Drove
Not Living
Dark Days
I
No Home
Oddity
Sway
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| Sevendust, copyright Pete Troshak |
Anticipation hung thick in the air and the crowd buzzed anxiously during what felt like a long wait for main-eventers Sevendust. The wait was immediately forgotten when the band arrived and launched into the powerful new “Decay” from Black Out The Sun. The tone for their set was established with the third song they played; a loud defiant rendition of “Denial” that shook the old factory and the whole block it sat on. The band has carved out an almost twenty year career built on pounding rhythms, industrial strength riffs and the passionate angry vocals of Lajon Witherspoon. Witherspoon stalked the stage with a molten intensity, tearing into an assortment of wrong-doing lovers and friends and singing like every song might be his last. Behind Witherspoon the band, all original members, raged loud. Bass player Vince Hornsby and drummer Morgan Rose were locked in and loud laying down a rock hard foundation while guitarists Clint Lowery and John Connolly wailed and riffed over them. There were highlights from every era of the band. One standout was the relentless, hardcore “Till Death” from their new album. It might the band’s most aggressive song ever and their punky version of it this night left the crowd’s ears ringing. Later in the set they paid tribute to their memorable debut album with two songs. First came “Bitch,” which started out as gentle crowd sing-along then developed into a thrashing set highlight. Soon after came the stuttering siren call riff of their debut song “Black.” That riff brought a roar from the crowd and signaled that that night was almost over. Witherspoon roared and the band pounding out the song like it was just written, delivering it with the same intensity they do their new material. Some good things don’t ever change, and thankfully Sevendust is one of them.
See my Sevendust pics here
Decay
Praise
Denial
Till Death
Waffle
Strong Arm Broken
Rumble Fish
Bitch
Pieces
Black
Encore:
Splinter
Face to Face
