Hard rock legends Sevendust made a weekday trek out to H.O.M.E. Bar in Arlington Heights, IL to support their most recent record Kill The Flaw and their Grammy nominated single “Thank You”. The opening lineup was Westfield Massacre, Like a Storm and Trivium.
Kicking off the show Wednesday night was the band Westfield Massacre, who hail from Los Angeles, California. You may know the lead singer Tommy Vext from his days as the lead singer of Snot. A few hours before the show I had a thought provoking interview with Tommy and bassist Erik Tisinger where we discussed a handful of different topics. At the end of the article will be a link to the interview. Westfield Massacre impressive set included the cuts “Build Your Thrones”, “Honorable Discharge” and a cover of Nirvana’s “Heart Shaped Box”. Vext and the guys inflict an emotion on stage that is hard to find with a lot of bands and Vext interacts with the masses like few front men do. Westfield Massacre is one Bad Ass band and will be a name you will see rise to new heights, mark my words. They will be on some festival lineups this summer, including Dirt Fest in Pontiac, MI in August.
Hailing from New Zealand and rocking HOME Bar next was Like a Storm. Lead singer Matt Brooks pulled out all the stops as the band brought out sick renditions of “Love the Way You Hate Me”, “Wish You Hell” and “Become the Enemy” among others.
The third band that made it to the stage was veteran metal band Trivium. I have seen Trivium a number of times and they NEVER disappoint! Touring in support of their latest album “Silence in the Snow”, the boys from Orlando, Florida lubed up the packed house prior to the headliners. Front man Matt Heafy always seems to have a blast on stage as he thrashes around smiling and while sticking his incredibly long tongue out in an interesting fashion. Heafy blew out his voice in 2014 and has worked with a vocal coach so he could train his voice to be a more melodic, clean singing style and you can hear it in the new album since its the first album to not feature any kind of unclean vocals. Trivium’s set had it all, new and old cuts that brought the house down.
That set the stage for Sevendust. The last time i’ve seen the guys from Atlanta, Georgia was probably 1999 when they opened up for Limp Bizkit at the House of Blues in Chicago and they were sick! HOME Bar was packed to the rafters and as full as i’ve ever seen that place. The anticipation grew as the minutes wound down to Sevendust coming out of the darkness to the waiting throng of die hard fans. Lead singer Lajon Witherspoon snagged his microphone from the stand and stared down the mob as he belted out the first tune. His extraordinary voice is one that when you hear it you know exactly who is singing. Their set included early hits like “Black” ” and “Denial” and newer favorites “Decay” and “Thank You”. Lajon and the guys know how to put on a killer show and entertain an audience.
Overall this was a show that had it all, new up and coming bands and veteran rockers. Put it all together and you had one hell of an evening of great music and performances!
