Tag: Papa Roach

Papa Roach
Who Do You Trust? USA Tour
W/Asking Alexandria, Bad Wolves
Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park, NJ
09/08/2019
Review and Pictures by Andy Jansons

There are a lot of bands that have already lost their relevancy in recent years and cannot live up to their previous glory, but not Papa Roach. Since their meteoric rise to stardom in the early 2000’s they have maintained their popularity and since the release of their ninth album “Crooked Teeth” in May 2017 have regained new life in mainstream rock. They continued to build on Crooked Teeth’s success releasing tenth album “Who Do You Trust?” in January of this year so they are taking this summer to tour across the US with British Hard Rock (formerly Metalcore) band Asking Alexandria and American rising stars Bad Wolves.

On a beautiful summer evening in popular New Jersey shore town Asbury Park, which is known as rock legend Bruce Springsteen’s hometown, the tour came to the Open Air Summer Stage at the legendary Stone Pony venue. After Bad Wolves set a fantastic mood, British rockers Asking Alexandria came on to ignite the crowd. Vocalist Danny Worsnop was dressed in an elegant suit and vest to go along with expensive loafers. His outfit may not exactly have been made for a hot summer night, but it was his performance that made it count!

They opened the set with a brand new song called ‘The Violence’ and followed that up with two songs from their latest self-titled album ‘Into The Fire’ and ‘Where Did it Go?’ After those Danny took some time to talk with the audience and asked if there were any fans who have never heard of them. Surprisingly many hands went up. Using the situation he cracked a joke by saying that their next song would be a new one that the band had never played before. Well, it was one of their biggest hits ‘Run Free’ off of third studio album “From Death To Destiny”.

There was no swearing coming from Danny this evening though, as he said, those words were just simmering inside of him to come out. The Stone Pony stage is located by the Ocean boardwalk, where many families were enjoying their vacation with kids, and because only thing that separated them from this rock concert was a simple fence, the venue made a request for artists to mind their language. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. What’s a rock concert without a few F- bombs?

While a majority of their songs came from latest self titled album, none of them came from their 2016 work called “Black”. At the time Danny was not with the band and they had eccentric Dennis Stoff as vocalist. Although the album was popular they haven’t played anything that was not made with Danny in the lineup so the set was wrapped up with their last biggest hit ‘Alone In The Room’.

I’ve seen Asking Alexandria three times already and they never disappoint. Their performance was absolutely electrifying. James Cassells on drums, Sam Bentley on bass and Cameron Liddell with Ben Bruce on guitars were full of energy and all had a great show!

https://www.facebook.com/askingalexandria/

Papa Roach seem like they have taken the rule book and thrown it in the fire. Every album they do is something new with a fresh approach to their style. Many bands claim this but rarely deliver the goods; on the other hand Papa Roach succeed. Ten studio albums to date and every one of them have something special. “F.E.A.R.” was Traditional Hard Rock “Crooked Teeth” incorporated new electronic sounds and there are even more of those on “Who Do You Trust”? One thing is certain; Papa Roach enjoy making new music and do not shy away from invention!

Their set for the night was mostly made up of their two latest albums with a sprinkle of classics. Opening track was the latest album’s title track ‘Who Do You Trust?’ followed by ‘Help’ and ‘American Dreams’. They then followed this with their fifteen year old mega hit ‘Getting Away With Murder’. They also played ‘She Loves Me Not’, ‘Between Angels And Insects’ and ‘Last Resort’. Notably the band and vocalist Jacoby Shaddix made a tribute to the late British music legend Keith Flint from The Prodigy who took his life earlier this year. They played a Rock version of The Prodigy hit ‘Firestarter’ and, oh boy, did that start the fire with the assembled crowd absolutely loving it. Somewhat fittingly the next song Papa Roach played was Born For Greatness!

Jerry Horton on guitar, Tobin Esperance on bass and Tony Palermo on drums delivered the same greatness that they do every night. Also, an integral part of the band is Anthony Esperance who joins Papa Roach on on tours and does a little bit of everything playing rhythm guitar, keyboards and percussion!

Last time I saw Papa Roach they played a two hour set so for tonight their hour and a half set felt far too short. We all needed more of their music. What an amazing band they are to see live.

https://www.facebook.com/paparoach/

 

 

Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Andy Jansons and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.

Photograph reproduced here with kind permission from Andy Jansons