On October 7th, we were so excited to finally see Avenged Sevenfold for our first time! They’re a band that has had so much influence on my music taste and one of the main reasons I even got into metal in the first place. This lineup also included one of our other favorite bands, Falling In Reverse, so it was set up to be an amazing night, or so we thought. After Falling in Reverse performed, we watched the Avenged Sevenfold crew set up and they placed the iconic chair on stage, waiting for M. Shadows to sit in. We waited and waited and every time the in-house music would change or the lights changed in the slightest, the whole crowd would get excited thinking they were about to take the stage.
As time went on, the crowd was getting a bit restless.
We were also getting a bit restless in the photo pit, as we were watching more security coming in and crowding us. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much security in any photo pit, so we were starting to wonder what’s up, why this much for Avenged Sevenfold? A few minutes later the head of security called us over and told us to keep quiet. He said the show has been canceled, get out as soon as possible before they make the announcement in a few minutes because the crowd will lose their shit. We got out of there fast and when we got to the car, we heard the announcement followed by the collective “awwwww” and people immediately started flooding the exits to their cars. There was no chaos, no riots, or anything. Just some tears of disappointment and hugs from fellow metalheads. I did hear of some people who made the best of the situation though and had their own concert in the parking lot by listening to the entire setlist.
We may have not gotten to see Avenged Sevenfold that night but we did get to see Falling in Reverse with our favorite controversial frontman Ronnie Radke. I know a lot of people hate on him, but we love him and we were so excited to see them open for Avenged Sevenfold. Ronnie thanked Avenged Sevenfold for not being afraid and having the balls to take them out on this tour. There were a few assholes around us yelling “Fuck Ronnie” their entire set. If you don’t like a band, go get a beer or wait in the parking lot. There’s no need to ruin it for the fans. Again, say what you want about him, but when he asked fans to light it up, the whole place was lit up and loud! Even Ronnie was stunned. Their set list was amazing opening up with “Zombified,” “I’m Not a Vampire,” and “Losing My Mind.” They also played their latest song, “Watch the World Burn,” which includes an insane rap and it was so fun to finally rap to it live! The man is talented on so many different levels. They closed out their set, and technically the night, with “Popular Monster”
Flash forward a couple of weeks and it was time for Avenged Sevenfold round two!
It goes without being said that this was a long-awaited and even during the show, M. Shadows spoke about how Avenged Sevenfold and Chula Vista have a sort of strained relationship. They were supposed to play at this venue back in 2018 but had to cancel the entire tour because M. Shadows was dealing with some serious vocal cord issues. Then again on this tour, they had to cancel the October 7th show also due to M. Shadows losing his voice. This tour was in support of the band’s June release, Life Is But a Dream…, which was their first new album in seven years! Since this was a rescheduled date and not technically part of the tour, Atreyu stepped in as the main support! I always love seeing Atreyu live because they have such amazing energy and are genuinely just having the best time on stage. Their sets feel like one big house party with hundreds or thousands of your closest friends.
It was finally the moment of truth to see if Avenged Sevenfold would finally play Chula Vista! The show was a couple of minutes late and it sort of gave us a PTSD moment from the last show! The lights went down though and the band entered to the gentle pre-recorded acoustic that opens the new album. Frontman M. Shadows took a seat in his chair low to the stage, wearing a black ski mask as they went into “Game Over.” The night's setlist stretched across Avenged's two-decade career, but with a majority of it coming off Life is But a Dream…. The new album mixes Sevenfold’s core metal sound with experiments in pop, prog, hip-hop, electro, and even jazzy piano moments. The new sound is accompanied by lyrics on eternal questions about modern existence, which also dives deep into topics like absurdism and psychedelics. Life Is But a Dream... is the most dramatic step for a band that chose a long time ago to not repeat the same sound from their first successes nearly 20 years ago. While their last release, 2016's The Stage, was also an ambitious statement that pushed hard against the boundaries of heavy metal, the new album operates with no boundaries at all. Life Is But a Dream... is weird and avant-garde by design
It was such a core memory moment hearing songs like “Afterlife,” “Nightmare,” and “Unholy Confessions” live because those are all songs I used to love “scaring” my friends with back in middle school. They also played "So Far Away," from 2010's Nightmare album, which was dedicated to the band’s late drummer, The Rev. They had the crowd light up the amphitheater, and towards the end of the song, a silhouette of the Rev was displayed on the big screen. It was one of those truly beautiful moments. Closing out their set with “A Little Piece of Heaven,” the crowd was super high-energy and probably the most energetic of the whole night! The band walked off and came back a couple of moments later for the encore. They played “G,” “O(rdinary),” and “D(eath),” before walking off to “Life is But A Dream….” During the entirety of LIBAD, all the lights were off but there was red fog behind the drum that looked like a fire. It left a sort of anticipation feeling like not knowing if the band was going to come back on stage or not especially because they didn’t say goodnight or thank you. It was definitely an interesting vibe change but not necessarily a bad thing. They peacefully walked off the stage and it really just put a nice relaxing tone and eased you out of the high-energy moments. It made you just sit and appreciate the final song in the now.
I’m so grateful I finally got to see a band that has had so much influence on my music taste and are one of the main reason I listen to metal today. Hopefully, Chula Vista doesn’t have to wait another 5 years to see Avenged Sevenfold return!
Comentarios