Atlanta Sonically Assaulted by a Band of Brothers as Drowning Pool and Ill Niño Make a Stop
Storms were rolling across the city of Atlanta as a crowd gathered at Center Stage in Midtown for a hump day, hard rock buffet. The evening had Drowning Pool, Ill Niño, Hed PE and Evolution Empire in store as they performed for a make-up date of their Band of Brothers Tour, originally scheduled for 2021 but delayed due to COVID-19. Fortunately for us here at ConcertHopper, we were on hand to check out all the action!
The evening began with Evolution Empire which, for those who don’t know, is something of a heavy music supergroup. The band has members hailing from New Jersey and Texas and consists of members that have formally played with Hellyeah, Danzig and Fear Factory. With such staples of heavy music, it’s certain that some expectations would be in place for how the performance would go. These expectations did not go unmet as the band played an amazing set where their experience as incredible musicians were able to shine through.
Evolution Empire set the stage perfectly for the genre-breaking California natives, Hed PE. With their trademark blends of rock, reggae, hip hop, ska, blues, funk and jazz, the band rifled through their considerable backlog going all the way back to their classic song “Bartender”. The band was full of energy and very engaging with the fans. Plus, the brought out a melodica; when’s the last time you can say you saw a melodica on stage at a hard rock show? It was an awesome spectacle to take in in-person and a perfect set up for the next artist up to bat.
Ill Niño have recemented themselves among heavy metal royalty as they reemerged from a tumultuous period where the band’s status was in a bit of limbo. There are plenty of other articles out there if that sort of drama is enticing to you. But here at ConcertHopper, we’re all about the live music experience and that’s what we prefer to focus on, and Ill Niño is still, most certainly, a live music experience. It’s easy to see that the band’s passion for being on the stage hasn’t diminished despite the past as the show was full of jump kicks and fan interaction. One of the greatest parts of taking in a live show from our vantage point is seeing how bands and fans feed off each other’s energy and by this point in the night, all three of these bands had the crowd enraptured and the crowd was pouring that energy back into Ill Niño as they tore through their legendary library of music and even previewed new songs for those in attendance.
Finally, it was time for the last band of the night, the co-headliner Drowning Pool. From my perspective, Drowning Pool is an awesome story of triumph over tragedy, perseverance, and dedication to their craft and their art. For those not familiar, as the band was just beginning to truly feel a meteoric rise where they were finding their music in everything from WWE to Dragonball Z soundtracks, vocalist Dave Williams had passed away during a tour from an undiagnosed heart condition. This would certainly be enough to stop many in their tracks, but the band persisted and that brings us full circle to today where the original members along with vocalist Jasen Moreno have continued to put out great music and have the band back out and in front of their dedicated fans.
We were lucky enough to catch Drowning Pool at last year’s Blue Ridge Rock Festival but seeing them at an indoor venue was amazing. The band clearly pulled out all the stops and the stage set up was incredible, plenty of amazing lighting and the staple of any good rock show, smoke, created a lively atmosphere for the band to rip through their backlog of tracks, all of which the crowd yelled back at them enthusiastically before the night culminated in the classic Bodies. It was a great show and a wonderful way to close out a stormy Wednesday in Atlanta.
As always, please feel free to browse around ConcertHopper’s website further and to check out our articles covering a wide variety of topics. Please also check us out on social media on our Facebook and Instagram pages. Life is a beautiful thing and music only adds to that beauty, make some time to get out and celebrate beauty and life with a community of like-minded individuals at a concert soon, it’s always worth the price of admission.