PAPA ROACH AND SEETHER: Isolate and Medicate their F.E.A.R with an explosive performance
One of the most anticipated tours in early 2015 has been this co-headlining tour featuring Papa Roach and Seether. Papa Roach, whom is set to release their new album, F.E.A.R (Face Everything And Rise), on January 27th via Eleven Seven Music. Papa Roach is a band who are known to put on a very energetic lively show and a fan favorite, Put them together with South African favorites Seether, who released their album Isolate & Medicate in early July of 2014 via The Bicycle Music Company, in association with Concord Music Group. Forth day into the month long tour, the powerful duo found their way into The Electric Factory in Philadelphia, PA on Tuesday January 13th. Bringing along two newer talented bands, Islander and Kyng to share in one of the best tours of 2015, the crowd was amped up and ready to go as the show began immediately at 6:30 PM with Islander up first.
Opening up the show was South Carolina based, Islander. Who have been putting themselves out there and growing quite quickly after being on the past years Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival (2014). Mikey Carvajal on vocals does a great job interacting with the audience, who seemed to have digged their music throughout their set. Mikey even found himself walking the crowd during the middle of his set, while repping that Lovers and Lunatics Until Death Do Us Part hoodie. Playing songs like “Criminals”, “New Wave” & “The Sadness Of The Graves” off their debut album “Violence & Destruction” and closing out their set with “Coconut Dracula” which is also off their debut album. This 4 piece post hardcore-rap metal group, seemed to really pull their own weight and be a great addition to this incredible tour package and really got the crowds warmed up.
Next, Kyng a Los Angeles, CA 3 piece band hit the stage with their song “In The Land Of Pigs” off their latest album Burn The Serum. Lead singer/guitarist Eddie Veliz was top notch vocally and musically while his bandmates Pepe Clarke (drums) and Tony Casteneda (bass/vocals) laid a solid foundation of music behind him. Kyng really got the crowds blood pumping and their energy levels boosted! The band was having a blast on stage and was being really playful with the crowd while creating this connection with everyone that set the tone for the whole night. Kyng ended out their set with their now fan favorite cover of the Van Halen classic “Hot for Teacher” with Pepe playing the drums on that one better than Alex Van Halen probably ever could himself. It’s so fun to see them having so much fun with this song while staying true to the original and not walking all over it. Kyng’s setlist was a fine mix of songs from their debut Trampled Sun and from the outstanding new Burn the Serum album. Great band to get the fans off their feet and moving! Up next co-headliner Seether!
As The Electric Factory faded to darkness, with the only exception of the red string lights circling around the three mic stands on stage with the middle mic stand including an animal shaped skull head. This South Africa band, Seether then was ready to fill the venue with the intense darkness of their unique sound of music. The crowd filled with anticipation then screaming as the sound of Shaun Morgan’s (vocals, guitar) guitar filled the venue with the beats of “Gasoline” which during the first verse of the song the venue illuminated to reveal the rest of Seether, Dale Stewart (bass & backing vocals) and John Humphrey (drums). Seether is traveling with an extra guitar player Bryan Wickmann this year. Wickmann had great stage presence and seemed to fit in very well with the rest of the band. Dale Stewart was his usual entertaining self with lots of energy, working the crowd into a frenzy during “Country Song”. John Humphrey performed a pounding drum solo that left the crowd screaming for more. When the band played their new song “Words As Weapons” off their sixth studio album “Isolate and Medicate” which was released back in July 2014, the crowd sang along loud enough to challenge the band. Seether puts so much intense feeling in their music and their passion shows within their incredibly dark and emotion filled stage presence. Their setlist included a song for everyone from old school fans to songs off their latest album, including “Rise Above This”, ”Fine Again”, ”My Disaster”, “Words As Weapons”, & “See You At The Bottom”. Seether performed one of their biggest hits and a fan favorite “Broken” (originally performed with Evanescence’s Amy Lee) which even though Shaun sang this song alone, it was still highly favorited. Showing their appreciation thanking the crowd after each and every song played as the crowd gave standing ovations after almost every single song! Ending their set with two fan favorites “Fake It” & “Remedy” leaving the crowd wanting more, but they unfortunately couldn't give more, as they exited the stage leaving the crowd in anticipation for Papa Roach. If you haven’t been to a Seether show yet; you need to place them high on your list of “need to see” bands.
As the stage illuminated blue and their album cover appeared on the backdrop, Papa Roach hit the stage. Jacoby Shaddix (vocals) decked out in his Lovers And Lunatics merch, Jerry Horton (guitars), Tobin Esperance (bass), and Tony Palermo (drums) all entering the stage to give the crowd a rock and roll show. The title track “Face Everything and Rise” off their new album being released on January 27th, instantly began as they entered the stage they demanded the crowds attention and participation along with causing the crowd to head bang and jump around. Papa Roach is known to put on one hell of a show with high energy levels that they receive off of the crowds participation and I got to say this show exceeded my expectations by 100%, their performance was something I haven't seen before from the crowd interaction and the bands incredible stage presence. Jacoby then shouted to the crowd “Let’s get this mother fucking place jumping!” as they entered into “Still Swinging” the entire venue shaking from the jumps from not just a few people but the entire venue up off their feet before going into a fan favorite “Getting Away With Murder”. Jacoby then thanking the crowd for “Coming out and supporting rock and roll tonight” before taking it back a few years to the old school Papa Roach with a song off their album Infest titled “Between The Angels And Insects”. Their setlist was filled with a variety of songs and there was a song on their for the enjoyment of each Papa Roach fan including “Where Did the Angels Go?”, “Scars”, “Forever” & “Lifeline”. As the crowds cheers filled the venue Jacoby shouted “See that right there? That’s The Philly that I Fucking Love” “See that energy you guys have, the more crazier you guys go the crazy we go up here”. As the beats to “Broken Home” filled the venue Jacoby began the song with a sick rapped verse from “Lose Yourself” which is an Eminem song before going right into “Broken Home” which got the crowd very amped up to hear. Ending their incredible 15 song setlist with “Broken as Me”, “To Be Loved”, “Burn” & of course their widely known chart-topping hit “Last Resort”. Where when Jacoby began singing “Cut My Life Into Pieces” the crowd began singing even louder, it was like a sing off between Jacoby & the fans. Ending out the night with the crowd chanting Papa Roach, as the band bowed to conclude their set. The stage then fading to black as the show came to an end.
This tour package is one hell of a package and definitely one of the best tours this year. I would highly recommend getting out and seeing all of these bands either on this tour or on future tours. The diversity of the bands on this tour, and most of all passion, put out by each act was remarkable. All of the bands were great, but Papa Roach and Seether both definitely stole the night. You didn’t need to know all of their songs in order to enjoy the show, because the bands were constantly enjoying themselves, which resulted in a decidedly great time.
