Review and Photos by Bethany Anna Packer
Galleries for: Issues, Crown the Empire, One OK Rock, and Night Verses
Monster Energy’s Outbreak tour made a stop at the House of Blues Boston April 12th with headliner Issues alongside Crown The Empire, One Ok Rock and Night Verses. This tour was right up my alley and I couldn’t wait to get to the House of Blues. Issues will be out this summer on Warped Tour and with my obsession with the alternative festival, I was chomping at the bit to check them out.
The venue slowly filled with young, eager fans as opener Night Verses was first to take the House of Blues stage. The crowd was not yet prepared for the high energy Deftones-like performance of the heavier post hard-core sound. Had it been later in the show I think that the solid energetic performance from the group would have been better appreciated. They closed out their set at a 10 and the venue was close to full by the time One OK Rock was set to perform.
It was clear that a huge part of the fan draw of this show was brought by Japanese alternative rock group One OK Rock. These guys have a serious fan base that showed up in droves. Once the performance began it was clear to see why. Their stage presence was strong, and they put on a high energy performance jumping around and engaging the crowd from start to finish. At the end of their set they had Issues vocalist, Tyler Carter join them on stage.
After One OK Rock’s set wrapped it was clear that the crowed thinned out. I was surprised that they chose not to stay through the next two groups, their loss. Despite the loss in volume, the energy remained electric as Crown the Empire was next to perform.
Crown the Empire’s two vocalists, Andy Leo Velazquez and David Escamilla were mesmerizing to watch. They played off of two risers on the front edge of the stage through out the set, interacting with each other and with the crowd like they had it down to a science. The dark colorfully saturated lighting played off the group as they perfectly meshed a poppy sound with a heavier edge delivering a killer performance that had fans in the crowd shouting and dancing along.
Headliner Issues was next to take the stage in front of a street-like stage set of a graffiti wall, chain-link fence and garbage barrels. The Atlanta based nu metal group was the recipient of the Alternative Press Music Awards Artist of the Year award in 2015. As a new fan of their music I was stoked to see them live, and they exceeded my expectations. The beautiful vocals of Tyler Carter are perfectly complimented by the dirtier sound of vocalist Michael Vohn. The two front men worked together and off of each other smoothly as the rest of the band proved to be equally entertaining. Bassist Skyler Accord was an absolute maniac (in the best sense of the word) who seemed to spend more time in the air than on his feet. Among the many jumps, Skyler leapt from the drum riser which appeared to be a good 7’ off the ground. The bassist landed gracefully while not missing a single beat. Beyond impressive.
Monster Energy thank you for again making the Outbreak Tour an incredible experience.
Monster Energy’s Outbreak Tour – House of Blues, Boston
