Avenged Sevenfold was my unicorn show to cover and it was well worth the wait. They closed out their monster tour with EDM/metal artist Sullivan King and metal solo artist Poppy. The night was an absolute visual and musical feast from beginning to end.
Starting the the night off was hybrid artist Sullivan King. He's trailblazing a new genre mix of EDM and metal. He DJ's, sings and rips guitar solos. His stage set up was absolutely larger than life as well which made pit photography a massive challenge. It also made it impossible for most of the fans in the pit to see him perform unless he came off of his cube to play his guitar. His set was fresh and entertaining.
Next up was metal vocalist Poppy. I'm not sure what the love/hate relationship seems to be with her within the metal community. I'm not sure if it's because she's a solo female in a male dominated genre or some type of weird jealousy because she's kicking ass. She performed a 40 minute set armed with a guitarist and a drummer. She performed 11 songs mostly off of her album I Disagree. Poppy also threw in her collaboration with the guys in Bad Omens, "V.A.N." ( Violence Against Nature). I was actually really excited for this one and she killed it. The crowd was kind of blah during her set though except for a small circle pit near the back of GA. The crowd did however not sway her performance. Poppy's team did not allow media so there are no visuals of her set.
Last but not least Avenged Sevenfold. They played 15 songs over a 90 minute set. They performed both their classic tracks as well as new material. They opened the show with "Game Over". Singer M Shadows sat on a chair set back on the stage to begin the performance. He was wearing a full black ski mask and hoodie and could not be seen from where I was due to the stage height. About halfway through the song he ditched the chair and sang from the edge of the stage. After "Game Over", he ditched the mask and hoodie to perform their newer song ""Mattel". They then went back in time to "Afterlife", where the whole crowd went nuts.
M Shadows took a short reprieve between songs o address the fans. Their tour closer happened to fall on Easter Sunday. He said to his team is it really on Easter.. we don't have Jesus Christ but we do have Johnny Christ, their bass player. The majority of the front row was wearing bunny ears to commemorate the evening. It added a bit of of fun and satire.
The rest of band including Synyster Gates (guitar), Zacky Vengeance (guitar) and Brooks Wackerman (drums) are all amazing musicians and showed off their individual talents throughout the evening.
While some older fans have been throwing out mixed reviews due to the newer material, I quite enjoyed to show. Each band will evolve over time and while some may not enjoy everything a band puts out you can still respect the music, the growth and the fact that they are still touring.
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