Five Five Death Punch brought their headlining tour with support from Marilyn Manson, Slaughter to Prevail, and The Funeral Portrait to Honda Center in Anaheim. This was definitely an interesting and diverse lineup bringing four bands with four different styles all together.
The Funeral Portrait, who just released their latest album, “Greeting From Suffocate City”, on Friday the 13th this month, kicked off the night. This band is the definition of stage presence. Their energy radiates off the stage and you could tell they are all just having a really good time up there. Whether they’re running from side to side, swinging guitars over their heads, or even getting a little kiss in, they are just so entertaining to watch. Check out our interview with frontman Lee Jennings HERE.
Usually, we see Alex the Terrible looking really scary, with no shirt, a shaved head, and contacts that make his eyes white. At this show though, he came out in a DucksXSlaughter to Prevail jersey and a little baseball hat. Every time they play “Viking,” Alex asks the crowd to be totally silent right before the breakdown. He drops the mic and screams without it. I’ve seen him do this a few times before when I was close to the stage and he was super loud then but this time, we were in the seats further from the stage and you could hear him just as loud as you could being up close. The man needs no mic! Everyone sitting around us were big Slaughter to Prevail fans (including us) and we all knew this moment was coming. We're all giddy in our seats waiting for it to happen. They then closed out their set with “Baba Yaga”
Next up is the iconic and controversial Marilyn Manson! He was on a bit of a hiatus and this is his first tour since 2019. This was my first time seeing him, and as a photographer this is one of those bucket list items. After hearing the rumors we’re all wondering if we will get spit on or will he be hiding in the dark and we get nothing? Well, none of that happened. The band looked great, they had amazing light, and it was pretty awesome to be right there in front of Marilyn Manson. If you are a Sons of Anarchy fan, you know he played “Tully” in Season 7, so I was kind of fangirling on that aspect, too.
Five Finger Death Punch is a really fun band to see live. They’ve been labeled “Dad Rock”, and “Military Guy Music”, but their fan base is all ages. Front row there was a 50s-something man headbanging, singing every word to every song. Next to me, a 20s-something girl jumping up and down, dancing, singing every word to every song. Then there’s Rosie, maybe 7 years old, wearing a 5FDP hockey jersey. Frontman Ivan Moody spotted her in the crowd and brought her and her parents up on stage and they got to watch the rest of the show from the side stage. If you haven’t been to a 5FDP show yet, gifts are always flying. It might be guitar picks, might be bags of gummies (yes, special gummies), might be jewelry, bills, jackets, or might be all of the above. So you're most likely walking away from one of their shows with at least something!
Five Finger Death Punch only has a few more dates left on this tour, but you can also catch them later this month at Louder Than Life or next month at Aftershock!
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