One of the hottest rock bands in the world today is Danish hybrid Volbeat. With the massive success of Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies (2013), Volbeat continue to tour the USA into 2014, playing to dedicated and newly converting followers . On their latest tour, they took along metal band Trivium and hard rockers Digital Summer. Kicking off on April 3rd, the month-plus tour made one of its final stops on Thursday May 8th at The Paramount in Huntington, NY.
Starting off the heavily guitar-driven concert was Phoenix, AZ based Digital Summer. Together now since 2006, the band has tirelessly toured the USA making a name for themselves as an energetic live band. With plenty of blood, sweat, and tears put into their craft the band has released three studio albums and are now seeing big things happening with their recent stint on Shipwrecked Festival 2014 and landing an opening slot on this tour.
Walking onto the stage with an intense light show, each band member stood atop pedestals with blue lights flashing underneath them. Lead vocalist Kyle Winterstein threw himself off the pedestal, jumping down to the stage, getting into “Chasing Tomorrow”. Stimulating the audience, he jumped on and off the speakers with immense amounts of energy. After the songs “Whatever It Takes” & “Suffocate” Kyle expressed how much he missed New York and how appreciative Digital Summer was for being on this tour. While some of the audience was unfamiliar with the band, by the time “Breaking Point” began many were moving around the floor while others were nodding their head and taking it all in. Digital Summer released their first full acoustic album titled After Hours: Unplugged & Rewired in October 2013 and are possibly one of the scene’s best kept secrets ready to come out.
Directly following was the metal force from Orlando, FL known as Trivium. Since their beginning at a young age back in 2000 the band has warranted attention. After their signing to Roadrunner Records in 2004 their popularity has grown with each passing year, releasing six studio albums and selling over one million albums worldwide. Consisting of mainstays Matt Heafy (vocals, guitars), Corey Beaulieu (lead guitar, backing vocals), and Paolo Gregoletto (bass), the band was ready to rock. Despite the announcement a day prior to the show that drummer Nick Augusto would no longer be part of Trivium, the excitement on and off the stage was not hindered as drum tech Matt Madiro filled in.
With the audience chanting their name at elevated volumes, the band walked onto the stage ending the anticipation. Heafy stood proud, center stage, wearing a huge smile going into “Brave This Storm”. As Heafy sang, you could see his intensity in each passing facial expression. Through the set each member made it their duty to include the audience in the performance as they came to the edge of the stage, making connections with everyone on the floor. Blasting through songs like “Strife”, “Black”, and “Through Blood and Dirty and Bones”, Trivium was in peak form musically and enthusiastically. Heafy threw his fists in the air, arousing the audience and inviting fans to sing along. The nine song set closed out with the metalcore influenced powerhouse “In Waves”. Trivium continue to be an asset to American heavy metal, and at still a very young age, they have many promising years ahead of them.
With Volbeat having graced the stage of The Paramount two years earlier, Long Islanders were hungrily awaiting the band’s return. With their success sky-rocketing to new heights in recent years, the crowd was larger and more amped-up than ever before. The amazing thing about the band is what was primarily just a metal following earlier on in their careers has morphed into a colorful mix of fans of all ages, styles, and backgrounds. Continuing the chanting from a set earlier, the room belted out “Volbeat” in unison, wanting to experience the band’s electrifying performance.
The Uproar of noise exploded when Volbeat walked onto the stage with fans holding metal horns in the air. The very ground of The Paramount rattled and vocalist/guitarist Michael Poulsen, humbled by the reception, smiled and went right into “Doc Holiday”. With more crowd-surfing than at any other point in the night, the adrenaline level was through the roof. Drummer Jon Larsen kept a strong beat as bassist Anders Kjølholm and guitarist Rob Caggiano stood at the edges of the stage enticing the hyper audience while showing immense instrumental skills through “Hallelujah Goat” and “Boa [JDM]”.
Keeping the vibe flowing, the band played through “Lola Montez”, a signature cover of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire”, and older song “Sad Man’s Tongue”. One of the best qualities about Volbeat, besides their music, is the overwhelming positive feeling they feed the audience. They absolutely love performing and express it in a euphoric fashion. Consistently moving around the stage, they played on with songs like “Dead But Rising”, and the emotional “Fallen”. At one point, Caggiano stuck his head under a balcony to the people in the darkest corner of The Paramount to make sure everyone had equal attention. Poulsen did his fair share of crowd interaction as well, making eye contact with many fans and throwing a kiss to a girl in the handicap area on the side of the stage.
During the track “Evelyn” Poulsen invited the boys of Trivium out on stage to help out. With the invitation, Heafy and Beaulieu came out to combine efforts with Volbeat for an amazing listeners’ experience. The audience showed appreciation, cheering loud and often after this and every other song offered up. Adding to the excitement, Poulsen informed the audience they are working on a new album and proceeded to tease everyone with a few bars of an unknown song. Memorable and exciting, this preview only left everyone eager to hear more. The moment bled right into fan-favorite “Still Counting” followed by “Pool of Booze, Booze, Booza” and “The Hangman’s Body Count”.
It is difficult to fathom the string of hard rock radio hits Volbeat has put together, and when at their live show, it all comes to life with a full and passionate delivery. As the set winded down Poulsen invited some kids onto the stage making the statement “Here is the future to our generation; I want you guys to have some fun, but please girls stay away from the bottle of Jack” ( referring to the bottle of Jack Daniels that was on stage behind them). With the heartwarming and kind gesture, they went into “Thank” with the kids participating. Poulsen even put his guitar over the shoulder of a little girl, standing behind her, assisting in playing the music notes. This was truly an experience this child will never forget and perhaps inspire her to become a musician one day. Putting the icing on the cake, the amazing set concluded with the jolting metal rockabilly tingler “The Mirror and the Ripper”.
Volbeat continue to show why they have become a dominating force in rock music. They have an edge which satisfies metal heads, a tone that attracts the mainstream, and a aura of pure rock-n-roll fun. There is no sign of this fire flaring out anytime soon, and it seems Volbeat is here to stay as they climb to the top.
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