5FDP - Volbeat - Hellyeah & Nothing More

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Five Finger Death Punch
With Special Guests: Volbeat, Hellyeah, and Nothing More
Sept. 23, 2014 @ OnCenter War Memorial - Syracuse, NY

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Note from Tom: I have been super busy with Doctor appointments, etc, and the wonderful Kelly Besaw, wife of TATW Photographer Extraordinaire Chris Besaw, penned this great review. It was far better than the one I was workig on, so her's will be the official review. Thanks, and GREAT job, Kelly!
Chris Besaw, Sven O'neil, and I arrived early to the OnCenter for the show to do our interviews. We were later joined by Chris' wife, Kelly. There were some problems getting in to the show due to a mix-up with our press passes, so we got into the show late. Before the show Chris Besaw and I sat down for an interview with Daniel Oliver, bass player of the band Nothing More from San Antonio, Texas. He was a really nice guy, and I was excited to see his band as I have heard some really great things about them. Unfortunately, due to the aforementioned issues, we missed Nothing More's performance, and have no live photos of them. But it sounded preety good from outside, and the crowd seemed to really be getting into them. (I have included the video interview.) Only Chris got in until the ticket issue was sorted out, so he went in to shoot photos of Hellyeah, who had already started playing, while we waited outside. By the time Kelly, Sven, and I got inside, it was time for Volbeat, whom I had been dying to see. After the show, Chris, Sven, and I met Michael Poulsen of Volbeat. It was great.

Review by Kelly Besaw
Photos by Chris Besaw
Video Interview by Tom Carpenter

Tuesday night in Syracuse: While Beauty was winning over the Beast at the Landmark Theater, the devil horns and bass were pumping down the road at the War Memorial. Metal bands Five Finger Death Punch, Volbeat, Hellyeah and Nothingmore literally rocked the War Memorial. The bands delivered over five hours of hard, fast and tight metal riffs to an enthusiastic crowd. The reverberation from the bass was so thunderous, you could feel it in your chest. The constant thump, thump, thump set the tone for an exciting evening of live music.

Tom's Interview with Daniel Oliver, Bassist of Nothing More

Super group Hellyeah which includes: vocalist Chad Gray of Mudvayne, Guitarist Tom Maxwell of Nothingface, drummer Vinnie Paul of Pantera and bassist Kyle Sanders of Bloodsimple delivered raw, gritty metal with no frills. These guys don't need the special effects, fancy props or gimmicks to impress. From the moment they took the stage, it was like an assault of metal clamor with Vinnie Paul leading the charge; the crowd followed eagerly. Vinnie Paul is one badass drummer. Hellyeah is currently on tour in support of their fourth album “Blood for Blood” and played the title track along with other hits like “Matter of Time”, “You Wouldn't Know” and ended their set with their debut album's title anthem “Hellyeah”.

Danish band Volbeat has mastered the art of "working the crowd”. It was almost impossible not to want to dance to the intricate guitar work, fast-paced drumbeats and haunting melodic vocals that make up their unique sound. They can be described as Hank Williams and Elvis meets new age metal. They showcased their talents with their originals “Heaven nor Hell/ A Warrior's Call”, “The Mirror and the Ripper “and “Fallen”. They ripped through a stunning sing along tribute to the Man in Black, Johnny Cash, and paid homage to Dusty Springfield with their upbeat cover of “I Only Want to be with You”. Throughout their set they interacted with the crowd constantly; smiling, making funny faces, pointing and throwing loads of guitar picks.Lead singer Michael Poulsen "hand delivered" a t-shirt to a ten year old boy via crowd surfing while his band mates and the rest of the crowd cheered him on. They ended their 90 minute set with their biggest hit to date, “Still Counting”. The members of Volbeat were charming, entertaining and delivered a solid performance.

The music roared on. Five Finger Death Punch hit the stage ripping right into their hit song “Under and Over it”. Their loyal fans fist pumped, crowd surfed and sang along. When things started to get a bit too rough and a few fans had to be removed by security, lead singer, Ivan Moody paused the song. "Security guards are not your enemies; I know that our fans take care of each other." He reminded the crowd to "be cool" and went right back into “Burn MF” from their 2013 album "The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell." Midway through the song, Moody invited the kids from the audience onstage to “share in the bands perspective”.
When they were finished "burning" the kids left the stage and the band followed leaving drummer, Jeremy Spencer, who was dressed in a skeleton costume with face paint and horns, to keep the crowd going with a pounding drum solo. Moody returned to the stage and slowed things down with an anecdote about a falling out with family that lead into the melodic tune, "Remember Everything." The band continued to shred their hits "Coming Down", "Never Enough" and their cover of “Bad Company.”
FFDP has no shortage of hits with multiple singles that have made the Billboard 200. The band won an Independent music award for best Metal/Hardcore song for their hit “Coming Down” in 2013.
FFDP finished off the night with an encore performance that included "Way of the Fist" and "The Bleeding." After five hours of hard, fast metal the crowd was still charged.

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