Every now and again, there are shows that remind me why I enjoy doing this so much. Originally I’d wanted to go mostly for Despised Icon, whom I later found out would not be playing the Omaha date, but for you fine folk at home, I felt it was my due diligence to go anyway to observe and report — and I’m honestly glad I did. I was a huge Suicide Silence fan until ‘The Black Crown’ came out, at which point I lost interest altogether. Feel how you want about the album and all the material released after, but personally, not a fan. Anyway, I mention all of this so y’all understand my mentality going into this particular gig. The show was at The Waiting Room, which is one of the bigger, nicer venues in town that was definitely the right venue for this crowd. Especially for a Wednesday night as well, the turnout was impressive.
Oceano raised the bar up another notch when they came out. The hardcore dancers went absolutely berserk for the gurgling vocals and nasty chug-a-lug guitar tones. You could feel the energy in the room growing more electric with each passing track, especially when they brought out their original break-out tracks. I honestly wasn’t sure what was more entertaining to watch for a while — the band, or the kids going insane in the massive pit that was taking over the main standing area.
With Carnifex, I was pretty impressed with how quickly the crowd reacted and lit up. The energy in the room just kept building track after track, which gave me a good feeling about the rest of the night. The Waiting Room did a fantastic job on both sound and lights that night, so everything sounded sharp and looked incredible. Definitely one of the most active pits I’ve seen in an “opening” band as well.
Whitechapel has been a consistently good live band every time I’ve seen them. They’ve been touring for long enough to have it down to a science, and you can tell. This venue was a much more appropriate size for them as well, and with the venue’s PA and lighting rig, it made for a killer live show. You could hear the definition on all the down-tuned bullshit chugging, and the solos were squeaky-clean and clear. Again, with each band, the energy went up substantially and the pit just kept getting more aggressive. When they finished with “The Saw is The Law”, I watched multiple kids get thrown, launched, dropped, decked, or just flat-out crushed in the pit — all with the biggest grins on their faces the entire time.
By the time Suicide Silence actually came out, you could charge a car off of all the electricity in the air. It was genuinely refreshing to feel a crowd that energetic and actively engaged in a show. I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect with Eddie Hermida on vocal duty, but he didn’t disappoint in the slightest. The moment “Unanswered” started, the whole crowd fell into madness — it was incredible. They played a mix of their old hits and songs off their newer albums, which was bittersweet for me. I got to hear everything I thought I’d never get to hear live, but at the same time, I got to hear all the songs I had no interest in. But the set wasn’t tailored towards me — it was for the crowd, and they ate every bit of it up. Kids were flying all over the place, moshers were throwing down with the hardcore kids, cats were throwing down with dogs — it was fantastic!
I will honestly admit that I was totally wrong when I judged this bill before the show. I thought I was walking into something totally different than what I got. This was one of the most well thought-out tour line-ups I’ve seen in a long time. Each band built upon the solid foundation set by the band before. Not a single band was a disappointment, and even though I’m not a big fan of deathcore, I genuinely had a great time at the show. I recommend everyone that can still go see this tour, go see it.