Hollywood Undead at the House of Blues – Boston, MA

Photos and Review by Jeff Palmucci
Holllywood Undead photos HERE

The body bags and little rags of children torn in two
And the jellied brains of those who remain put the finger right on you.
— Iron Maiden, Two Minutes to Midnight
I wish that I could fly, way up in the sky,
Like a bird so high,
Oh I might just try,
— Hollywood Undead, Bullet

Take a look at the lyrics above and tell me which one you think is the more f-ed  up and disturbing of the two. It’s obviously a trick question, but bear with me for a second.

The first is an incredibly hard metal tune sung by Bruce Dickinson, a guy with arguably one of the most intense singing voices ever to lead a metal band.

The second is from a song that bounces along with a strumming guitar. A drummer taps away at a simulated tap dance in the background. That particular lyric is sung by an adorable sounding little girl who must be 3 or 4 years old. While she sings, one of those funky xylophone things that your 3rd grade music teacher used to play [1] is going off in the background, sounding like a kid’s music box. Yet in spite of, or perhaps because of the tone of the song, that lyric is the most disturbing verse I’ve ever heard. That cute little girl is singing about committing suicide by tossing herself off a roof.

To me, disturbing is not a bad thing. I love a song that makes you feel something or tells you an interesting story. The worst thing in the world is to have a brainless toe-tapping ditty echoing around in your brain taking up valuable neurons. That’s probably why I like the music that I do. Give me a good angry song to get my blood going (Undead). Or maybe something with a little humor. (“That Charlie Scene has got a weenie that he loves to show.”) Or something, like above, that just makes you sit back and think about how f-ed up the world can be sometimes.

The Undead played last Tuesday at the House of Blues in Boston with openers Crown the Empire and I Prevail. The tour supports their new album, out last March, Day of the Dead. The set list, was surprisingly light on tracks from the new album with only 4 out of 18 new songs.

One cool highlight of the show was when a couple of fans  were invited up on the stage during Coming in Hot. There was an 18 year old and I think he said a 10 year old. Check out this photo. How fun does that look? Getting a shoulder ride on-stage in front of a wild group of fans while crowd surfers come over the top at you.

They put on a great show to a rowdy crowd. I’m going to thank them not only for a really fun night, but for giving me a new top most disturbing song of all time. Kudos to them! [2]

[1] It’s a glockenspiel, I Googled it.
[2] And Mr. Dickinson, sir? Please don’t be upset at the loss of that title, because I still plan on begging you guys for photo passes next March.

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