Hollywood Undead, Skindred @Fowlers Live, Adelaide(28/09/2011)

Tue 4th Oct, 2011 in Gig Reviews

I must admit, it wasn’t until I was researching the bands due to play at this year’s Soundwave Revolution festival that I first encountered Hollywood Undead. Amongst all of the bands scheduled to play at the cancelled festival that I loved and was dying to see, there were a couple that caught my attention and had me interested in checking them out for the first time. As a sucker for theatrics, it was Hollywood Undead’s use of Halloween hockey masks that got me interested at first. I initially assumed they were a Slipknot clone but after checking out their current album American Tragedy, I realised they had very little in common with that metal act, and sounded more like Linkin Park with their mix of rap and rock.

First up at this Fowlers Live gig was another Soundwave Revolution casualty, Welsh act Skindred. They were just hitting the stage when I arrived and they had most of the 400+ crowd as close to the stage as they could get. Between frontman Benji Webbe’s strong vocals and big personality, combined with the band’s tight mix of heavy rock, electronica, and even reggae, it was hard not to enjoy Skindred’s set. They had the crowd moving for the majority of their set which was heavier rocking than the headliners yet still had a real groove to it. I think the fact that the bar was practically deserted for the majority of Skindred’s set, showed how commanding their performance was.

When Hollywood Undead arrived on stage, complete with their various masks, the room did manage to somehow lift in energy for their performance. The band, decked out in hoodys and masks (some with eyes that glowed) looked more ominous than their music sounded. Surprisingly, for me at least, it was only after a couple of songs that the band ripped their masks off and performed the rest of the show without them.

When previously listening to their music, their often dumb party lyrics didn’t actually suit the image that I had in my head of Hollywood Undead. Seeing the songs performed without the masks actually made more sense, as the songs were delivered by regular guys who proclaimed they were already drunk and seemed to be having fun on stage. During the set, the only real constant musical entity on stage was the drummer providing the rock and rap beats but apart from that, the configuration changed constantly as for some songs there were two drummers, for some there were four vocalists but then for others, there would be two guitars, bass, and one vocalist. This musical flexibility in the band allowed them to switch with ease from their heavier rock songs, to their more rap/hip hop based songs, and even to songs that were quite mainstream pop sounding at times.

The good time that the band were having on stage certainly spread to the crowd as they all sang along whenever required, which was pretty often. I didn’t expect to see a party band when I went to see Hollywood Undead, but that was how they came across at the end of the day and due to the fun and fast paced set, their already relatively short set of about an hour, seemed even shorter when they walked offstage after a short encore and the lights were switched on.

Although it was very disappointing that Soundwave Revolution was cancelled, I was glad to have been able to at least catch a couple of the lesser known bands who I may have missed if I had been at a very busy and hectic all day rock festival.