The Bury the Hatchet tour featuring Falling in Reverse, Escape the Fate, Chelsea Grin and Survive This made its stop at the Royal Oak Music Theatre on Tuesday. This tour has had much anticipation due to the fact that Escape the Fate and Ronnie Radke have had a famous feud. Based on the performances everyone saw, it truly seems like they did “Bury the Hatchet.”
Falling in Reverse played alongside Escape The Fate, Chelsea Grin and Survive This at the Royal Oak Music Theatre Tuesday night. Photo / Falling in Reverse
The first band to hit the stage was Survive This! They’re a band that incorporates elements of electronic, with hardcore and pop punk which definitely leads to an interesting live show. It took about two songs for the fans to really get into it, but once they did, it was crazy. The next band on the bill to perform was by far the heaviest band of the night, Chelsea Grin. With everything from punching double bass and face melting guitar riffs and solos all the way to the piercing screams of frontman Alex Koehler, this band is definitely one that you do not want to miss.
Escape the Fate was up next, and they played the intro song “Choose Your Fate” off their self titled album. As soon as this ended, frontman Craig Mabbitt yells to the crowd “Let’s see some f*cking movement!” Needless to say, the band was not let down as the crowd stirred into a frenzy during one of their heaviest songs, “Ungrateful.” Next up was a fan favorite “The Flood.” The fans definitely showed their appreciation for Escape the Fate due to the fact that there was never a dull moment in the crowd. The band showcased a good handful of songs from their newest album “Ungrateful,” with half of the setlist being from that album. One of the highlights of the performance from Escape the Fate was without a doubt their guitar solos.
Kevin “Thrasher” Gruft pulled these solos off with perfection and ease. They sounded just as good as they do in the studio version. Another highlight that the fans were pleased to see was the addition of founding member Max Green back into the band. Max is recently sober and hes never looked or sounded better, with him running all around, having lots of energy, and his backup vocals.
The only ballad of the night was a song called “Picture Perfect” which was co-written with Fall Out Boy singer Patrick Stump. During this song, the crowd illuminated from the glow of all the phones and lighters. The last song of the night was by far the most intense.
“This War is Ours” was full of excitement and filled with the voices of fans, and lots of movement. Mabbitt even asked the fans to separate the crowd for a wall of death during the bridge of the song and when he said “Go!” the crowd collided together into a massive pile.
Next up was the headliners, Falling in Reverse. The bands intro was a parody of the opening to the TV show Full House. Once the band took the stage, the crowd erupted.
Singer Ronnie Radke came out looking like a ghetto Stevie Wonder, wearing glasses that looked like the kind elderly or blind people wear. Radke was also wearing a skirt, a hoodie that was 5 sizes too big and gloves with gold metal studs on them. It should also be noted that the stage setup was a little bit overkill with the roughly 15-2o foot tall drum riser, 10×6 scrims and the huge screen on the drum riser. but nonetheless that didn’t mean their performance had something to offer.
The first song, of the night, “Rolling Stone,” was from their most recent album “Fashionably Late.” This song perfectly showcases what the bands current direction is, mixing rap, electronic and hardcore. The following song in the setlist was “I’m Not a Vampire” from the bands debut album.
One thing that should be noted about the screen on the drum riser was the cheesy graphics they were using which displayed the songs name which looked like it was made directly in Microsoft Word.
The third song of the night was the song “Fashionably Late” which the ending definitely was disturbing. The normal ending of the song says “Without a doubt, I’m sorry about, having sex with all your friends.” But live, Radke changed it to “…having sex with all your kids.” It was interesting was that every single member of the band handled vocal duties, and they pulled it off exceptionally well. The band performed the song “Tragic Magic” which was a very strange choice to have on the setlist because it is a direct insult to his former band Escape the Fate which happened to be on the same bill. At one point during the show, a fan yelled out “Ronnie, you are the voice of our generation!” and Radke held the mic up to him to repeat it. This would upset many people to hear this because its almost guaranteed they would beg to differ. It almost seems as if Radke did this to feed his already massive ego.
The highlight of the night had to be when Max Green, Robert Ortiz, and Craig Mabbitt from Escape the Fate joined Radke and company on stage to perform the two classics from Escape the Fate, “Not Good Enough For Truth in Cliche” and “Situations.” The fans went absolutely crazy because that was the first time Michigan had seen Radke on stage with Escape the Fate in 6 years. Overall the fans seemed to be happy with the show and they did not leave disappointed at all.
