On December 3rd, 2023- From Ashes To New performed at the Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio with special guests: Ekoh, Catch Your Breath, and The Word Alive. The line before the doors even opened spread through at least 4 blocks with waiting attendees. This show also had a lot of famous tiktoker's that attended as well which made the show more memorable due to fans being able to see their favorite bands and tiktok influencers
Opening the night was Hip Hop Rapper with a taste of alt-rock and everything else in between; Ekoh. It's amazing that the lineup included a rapper because Ekohs lyrics will penetrate your heart with so much emotion. Ekohs song "Save Yourself" is one of my favorites that was released on December 31st, 2021 which is actually my birthday! Ekoh is considered "Heart Hop" from fans due to his true passion to hip hop music. Jeff Thompson is the vocalist for Ekoh
Ekoh released his newest single; "Hole In Your Head" on November 17th, 2023
Thompson dealt with drug addiction and he stated while he was in rehab; he would constantly write in journals and eventually he put those words behind music. His lyrics does express about suicide, mental health issues, and hardships with addiction.
Ekoh had no problem crowd surfing and still peforming at the same time! Once he returned back to the stage, he stated; "I think that was the longest crowd surf I did so far"
Next up was Catch Your Breath from Austin , Texas! I think I've seen this band at least 3 times this past year and everytime I saw them; I feel like their fan base keeps growing and becoming larger. The band consists of; Josh (Vocals) , Teddy Herrera (Guitar) , Onell Hernandez (Drums) , and Cianan Mandigan (Bass). On October 20th, 2023; the album "Shame On Me" was released with "Dial Tone" being the most popular song with 37 million views. This band became very popular on tiktok with the song "Dial Tone" being used as a sound for thousands of videos with fans listening to the lyrics and having those lyrics relate to their current lives or past experiences. All of Catch Your Breaths songs are relatable which is why they have such a large fan base. And the most outgoing person in that band is Teddy who is one of the most down to earth and wholesome individual I've met. Throughout the year; Josh's vocals has hit a vocal range that will only get better and better. You will always count of Cianan making the most brutal looking faces that feels like he can see straight through your soul. And you can't forget about the drummer; Onell. Drummers has always caught my attention and you can see in his face how much he appreciates these amazing opportunities that the band has been receiving this past year. And I give props to them for having the stamina and endurance to perform a set for 30 minutes straight.
Next up was The Word Alive to perform which is wild because the last time I've seen this band perform was at Vans Warped Tour in 2011. The Word Alive formed in 2008 in Phoenix, Arizona by Craig Mabbitt, Zack Hansen, and Tony Pizzuti which at the moment Zack Hansen is the remaining founding member of the band. The band consists of; Telle Smith (Vocals) , Zack Hansen (Guitar) , Jose Delrio (Guitar) , and Daniel Nelson (Drums). The band earlier in the year headlined their "Hard Reset" Tour with Dark Divine and Nerv
I've been listening to The Word Alive since 2010 and 13 years later this band has not stopped creating amazing music and the stage presence each band member had was intense and made sure to keep the whole crowd engaged. You can see the raw emotion in Telle's face when he performs and I know he was on full force because his family was there to support him that night. And you can notice Daniel engaging with me while I was taking photos and sticking out his tongue and Telle screaming in front of my camera as well!
The band did release their newest album "Hard Rest" in August with "One Of Us" having almost 3 million Spotify plays
From Ashes to New was finally up to perform on their headlining "Black Out" tour performing songs from their newest album release! At the moment; the song "Nightmare" on the newest album currently has 13 million Spotify plays. The band consists of; Danny Case (Vocals) , Lance Dowdle (Guitar) , Mat Madiro (Drums) , Matt Brandyberry (Vocals) , and Jimmy Bennett (Guitar). From Ashes to New formed in 2013 in Lancaster, PA with Matt being the last remaining founding member. Their music has been described as rap metal, rap rock, and nu-metal as well. My personal opinion of having a musical group like this that adds rapping and rock at the same time brings a whole new sound to the scene. I was never a fan of rap, but when its mixed very well into rock or metal, it changed my mind completely.
In a recent interview; Case stated about the new album; "It’s intense, emotional, heavy, and most importantly, it’s us. This album truly represents who we are as a band and its massive sound will prove to be our best record yet. We are so incredibly proud of this album, and we are confident it will quickly become our fans’ favorite FromAshesToNew record ever"
The stage presence between the smoke machine, elevated elements for the musicians to stand on, and the erratic lighting made the whole performance memorable and eye catching. Not one moment I didn't have my eyes off the stage due to the amount of stimulation that was radiating off that stage
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