Summerfest presents… Hollywood Undead
On this very hot & humid night, and the last night of Summerfest, the rock stage was alive and ready to roll. With opening bands, Dirge Within & 10 Years the crowd was packed earlier than any other day of this festival; tonight being the largest crowd this stage has seen in 11 days.
Never seeing Hollywood Undead before, I was curious as to how they would pull this off live, with wearing masks and performing. I got there just as the show was about to start. This show also had the largest amount of photographers, so I had to work my way around for shots.
As the opening notes of Undead started, the place exploded and everyone was jumping all over. All the guys came out in their signature masks that would light up when the lights went low throughout the song. Being a fan of rap, I noticed they had that hip-hop flow and swag to them as they moved all over the stage taking turns to sing/rap.
After the 3rd song they all took their mask’s off and preformed the rest of the show without them
Charlie Scene was doing duel work with his guitar slung close to him to play that killer riff that Undead has. They followed up with Sell Your Soul - one of my favs and features Da Kurlzz on drums & J-Dog on Keys and Been to Hell off the new album, American Tragedy. Been to Hell has
a very Linkin Park feel to it, but with a HU twist to it that makes it their own. This was one song I wondered if they could pull off live, but the intense live performance crushed any doubts one might have about this group. With Gangsta Sexy, they went back into a hip-hop flow and had the crowd moving their hands from side to side. Being back stage at this time, I have to say, it was an impressive site to see thousands of people moving together.
They played for about 1 ½ hours and a 16 song set that included, City, Black Dahlia, My Town, No.5, and Young. As the night neared the end, the guys thanked Milwaukee for showing them so much love and let them know they would stay to sign at the merch booth for as long as it takes.
The encore was, Everywhere I Go and Hear Me Now. If you have never seen a rock show where the crowd is bouncing up and down and not on concrete, but all on long, metal bleacher chairs, you would have seen one tonight.
After the show the guys signed close to 1000+people item’s or just to say hi to them. It’s always nice to see a band is never too big for their fans.
Hollywood Undead will be touring all this summer and can check online at www.Hollywoodundead.com
What a great way to end Summerfest 2011, got a chance to cover the bands I wanted to cover with a few surprises along the way.
I look forward to 2012 and anyone who has a chance to come see the largest music festival in the USA should make it a point to go.
All Photo Provided by Peter Lizano
