Escape the Fate @Webster Hall- photo pit
On Friday September 8th, 2023, Escape the Fate celebrates their latest album "Out of the Shadows" at Webster Hall, NYC. On this tour, they bring out Garzi, Stitched Up Heart, Point North & D.R.U.G.S. as special guests for this tour and what can I say? Nothing disappointed me whatsoever.
To begin the night of "Out of the Shadows" tour fans are welcomed by Garzi. Christopher Garzon "Garzi" is an artist located from Miami, Florida. He is an artist who gives his fans a blend of what rock and rap would sound when combined. When he first started creating music, bands such as Paramore, Fall Out Boy, Sleeping With Sirens were one of his main influencers that inspired him to start creating the emo genre; but Denzel Curry was one of his main inspirations to lean his work onto being rap. Honestly I was very impressed when he first took the stage considering I never really listen to a genre which consists of both rock/alternative as well as rap.
Garzi @Webster Hall- photo pit
Throughout his performance, I was slightly impressed on how active the crowd was and it didn't take long for fans to show their love for his music. While I was photographing the set, I turned and looked at the barricade and everybody was waving their arms around and trying to reach their arms over the barricade. At some point during the set, I was only able to hear most fans screaming along to his lyrics and overall it was a wonderful experience since during some opening bands, not many people are very active until the headliner band goes on.
Next up on the bill, fans are delivered Stitched Up Heart. Stitched Up Heart is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 2010. The band is run by front-woman, Alecia "Mixi" Demner, Randy Mathias with his wicked skills on bass & lastly Merritt Goodwins on his heavy guitar playing skills. The band is currently signed on Century Media Records and recently released a new record titled "To The Wolves" on September 1st, 2023 seven days prior to their comeback in New York City.
One thing I would like to comment is how beautiful Mixi looked and how her aesthetic was for the night?! Not going to lie, right when the lights dimmed and it was their time to make it to the stage, I was a bit spooked out. The aesthetic and the mood that was set for the night gave off a gothic, haunting setting and it definitely gave fans the anticipation for what was to come.
The dramatic, haunting sounds then transitioned to their first song off their set which was "To The Wolves" which is also the title of their most recent album. Since the song started, fans were roaring and all went feral as soon as Mixi stepped foot on the stage. Mosh pits started to form later as the song continued and people immediately started crowd surfing. From the beginning to the end of their set, the chaos never stopped and it was one of the main highlights of the night.
As their set continued throughout the night, one thing I wanted to point out is how much heavier their music has gotten, from heavy riffs to heavy breakdowns and how Mixi's vocals have progressed throughout the years. From her clean vocals to her screams, she does know how to put on a wonderful show for their audience. If you were to hear Stitched Up Heart live and then compare it to the studio version, there is barely a difference because of how on point they all are. One thing too that I would like to add on is Mathias' bright green hair. When the dark blue light would reflect, his hair would start glowing as well as his bass, which has the Monster logo on it; which I found to be hilarious. The scenery and the vibe was phenomenal nominal and I would definitely recommend checking out their latest album, which you can stream here.
As we make our way closer to the final band of the evening, Point North is next to take the stage and bring the heat. Point North is an American indie rock band from California which was formed in 2017. This trio consists of members Jon Ludin on vocals, Andy Hershey on guitars & lastly Sage Weeber on drums. In their discography, the band has released bangers with artist features such as Kellin Quinn, Jonathan Vigil from The Ghost Inside and Jeris Johnson.
This is the second time I've seen Point North perform; the first time was back in September 2021 when they toured with A Day To Remember & Asking Alexandria. Since the last time they performed, they definitely have improved and gained such a strong audience.
The most latest single they released with an artist feature is "Safe and Sound", which features Jonathan Vigil from The Ghost Inside. Before they performed the song, Ludin asks the crowd "Do you guys want to hear something heavy?" and immediately the people in the pit were going feral, knowing what the next song was going to be performed. I was curious on how they were going to perform this song since I was unaware on how they were going to do Vigil's part of the song, which was the breakdown since none of the members really have screamed during previous releases. Hershey filled in for Vigil's vocals for the breakdown and goddamn I never expected him to scream! I was very impressed on how spot on it was in comparison to the original version. From start to finish, there was an endless circle pit during Safe and Sound. I guess people decided not to be safe and instead cause chaos.
Overall, their performance was outstanding and I would definitely pay to see them again live and hopefully photograph them in the future since they had such strong energy and a huge bond with the crowd.
As we are almost finished with the evening, Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows also known as "D.R.U.G.S." keeps the night rocking before Escape the Fate takes on their headlining show. D.R.U.G.S. consists of Craig Owens on vocals. D.R.U.G.S. is an American post-hardcore band that formed in Michigan back in 2010. As soon as the first song from their set kicked off, there was a period of endless chaos that I have not really seen at a concert as much until now.
As soon as the first song of the set kicked off, Owens immediately called the crowd to start a wall of death. I felt bad for those who were trying to avoid the pit, but it was hilarious to see everybody charging at each other in pure madness. As their set carried on through the night, there was people crowd surfing on top of one another and honestly I felt bad for the security guards working that night because when I say it was a lot of people, it was a LOT! The mosh pit that took place throughout the set took up most of the space in the pit, even I threw myself in the mosh pit and it was one of the best pits I've ever been in and didn't make it out with any injuries!
The band performed a large variety of songs such as "Graveyard Dancing", "The Longest Road" and more. During the performance of "The Longest Road", Owens asked the light and sound tech to turn the disco ball on inside the venue and requested the crowd to turn on their flashlights. The flashlights lit up the room so well that stage lights didn't have to be turned on because of how bright the room was. During that song, I was super dazzled when Owens reached the high notes in that song, for example when he sings the lyrics "Memory" and "The Longest Road". The crowd all started dancing together in the pit as if they all united and joined in together as if they were part of a team. After I came home from the show, I took his songs a listen, especially that song and holy crap his vocals are extremely talented and on point.
Alas! The time everybody has been finally waiting for!! Escape the Fate takes on Webster Hall on their headlining tour in dedication to their new album release "Out of the Shadows". The crowd immediately starting chanting the band name as they were waiting for the moment they all have been waiting for.
Escape the Fate is a Las Vegas band that originates in 2004 which gives fans a taste of post hardcore, hard rock and screamo. Members of this band consist of Craig Mabbitt on vocals, Tj Bell on rhythm guitars, Matti Hoffman on lead guitars, Erik "SHREDZ" Jensen on bass and backing vox, and lastly Robert Ortiz on drums. Mabbitt showed so much pride and interaction within his fans as you can see on the images below.
To start off their set, the band performs "Forgive Me" which is also the first song that is featured on their latest record "Out of the Shadows". I love when bands release new albums and then goes on tour promoting the new releases because it feels like I am listening to the whole album discography in song order. Instantly the fans were all singing and screaming along to the lyrics and so many smiles were put on people's faces that night as soon as the members appeared on stage.
As their headlining set continued, so many people were crowd surfing nonstop and at some point, Mabbitt jumped off the stage to help out the security to ensure the safety of his fans and gave some of his fans a hug while they were let go of security as they finished crowd surfing. Seeing the looks on those faces made me feel so emotional from how much love the band has for their fans. As people kept coming, Mabbitt high fived some of his fans as they were walking their way back to the pit. Hearing Escape the Fate perform was definitely a phenomenal experience because of how powerful their sound was, from Mabbitt's screams and clean vocals, Hoffman's talented shredding skills on guitar to Bell's & Jensen's talented vocals on screams.
The band performed a cover of a Def Leppard song which most people know as "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and the instrumentals were exact to the original. The participation from the audience was definitely worth experiencing since most people knew the lyrics and hearing everybody singing the chorus together was memorable.
Before transitioning to "This War is Ours (The Guillotine II)", Hoffman spent a few minutes in an interlude just playing and shredding his guitar to a track drum beat and as a guitar player myself, I would never be capable or even have the finger strength or memory to keep up with the beat. People's jaws were dropping as in how shocked they were while he was having his solo moment.
After his solo shredding, they performed "This War is Ours (The Guillotine II)", and immediately everybody started cheering since it is one of Escape the Fate's most popular song. The song begins with a lick riff on the guitar then transitions to screams, which reminds me of the music I used to listen to when I was younger back in the early 2000's. Seeing Mabbitt point his microphone to the fans and them screaming "This War is Ours" was the most crazy moment of the night.
To close off the evening, the final song that the band performs is "One for the Money" which was released back in 2013 from their album titled 'Ungrateful'. This was definitely the most rememberable and most entertaining part of the night. To celebrate the last moments of being on stage at Webster Hall, Bell decides to pull a prank on the fans by showing up on stage in a Ghost Face mask. If you are a fan of horror movies with a bit of comedy, I would definitely check out Scary Movie where you can see the mask of 'Ghost Face' with its tongue out and the most memorable scene where Ghost Face says "WAZZZUPP". Seeing the looks and the laughs from both the people in the pit and the security guards was the more hilarious thing ever!
Overall, all the bands have put on an amazing set and I would recommend checking out all the artist's latest releases. If you haven't streamed "Out of the Shadows" yet, I would totally check it out. Spencer Charnas from Ice Nine Kills is featured on the album and overall it definitely made my 2023 banger of the year. The band is currently touring and will be finished by October 7th at Aftershock Festival. Definitely catch them on their future tour dates.
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