Five Finger Death Punch & Otep, NJ 10/11
Starland Ballroom ignited last Sunday night on October 11, when Five Finger Death Punch, Shadow's Fall, Otep, and 2 Cents performed together as part of the "Shock and Raw" tour. The line-up might sound familiar to those that saw Five Finger Death Punch the last time they played in Jersey. The reason is because this same line-up minus 2 Cents was in town last April for WSOU's 60th anniversary concert also featuring Unearth and A Life Once Lost.
Fans came back seemingly thrilled for the line-up, especially since everyone excluding 2 Cents had new albums out. Five Finger Death Punch released their sophomore album, War is the Answer and Shadows Fall released Retribution both in September and Otep released Smash the Control Machine back in August. Sure enough, the venue was packed. Even pulling up to the parking lot at 7pm, there was a long line up people waiting to get in. The night was filled was metal, crowd surfing, and most pits, of course, but also chants, and cover songs.
2 Cents hit the stage at 7:20pm, but I only caught two songs, their hit "Wedding Dress" and a cover of Pantera. The band sent out the song to the late Dimebag Daryl. It was interesting seeing the singer also playing drums. They had a great rock n roll driving punk sound.
Otep always put on a tight set. Even when Otep isn't feeling well she still manages to give it her all. At one point it looked like she was using an inhaler. But the crowd seemed ready. The Otep chants began. They started off with "Confrontation" and some oldies off Sevas Tra. They also squeezed in one new song and of course their cover of Nirvana's "Breed."
Shadows Fall played a good set, but for a fan like me that heard them early in their career I was bumped that they only played one older song. They mostly seemed to play from their new and last albums. One new song that got the crowd pumped was "A Public Execution" where the band curses for what seems the first time, screaming "Fuck it all." The lyrics speak to those that are tired of conforming to things, at least just from those lines. Sometimes you can't really care about things, so you let it go. It was great seeing Brian headbanging with his massive dreadlocks
Five Finger Death Punch played a good mix of new and old material which spanned a 90 minute set. Lead singer Ivan Moody seemed to pull into his tough guy attitude. He wore a bullet proof vest and joked about opening for Shadows Fall last time. But overall 5FDP had a tight set and the lyrics are pretty great. The music is driving, catchy,yet heavy. Ivan also said "Thank you for giving me my soul" and also made a shout out to Otep saying "Nobody throws down like that girl except you." Of course he also thanked all the bands for being on the tour and referred to Otep as the "princess of poetry and pain." They closed if off with "The Bleeding."
Each band managed to slip in a cover song into their set. 2 Cents did Pantera, Otep did Nirvana, Shadow's Fall did a snippet of a Pantera riff, and Five Finger Death Punch did Bad Company. It was great to see these bands remembering the roots of the music and dedicating the songs to these aspired musicians. It was a great night!
More pics and setlists below.
Five Finger Death Punch
Shadows Fall
Otep
Otep setlist:
(in order)
1. Confrontation
2. Crooked Spoons
3. Smash the Control Machine
4. Blood Pigs
5. My Confession
6. Breed (Nirvana cover)
Five Finger Death Punch setlist:
1. Burn It Down
(in no particular order)
2. Way of the fist
3. Salvation
4. Devils own,
5. White knuckles,
6. Can't heal you,
7. Death before dishonor,
8. Meet the monster
9. Never enough
10. Dying breed
11. Hard to see
12. Bulletproof
12. Bad company
13. War is the answer
Encore:
The Bleeding
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