Hollywood Undead + Atreyu - Showbox Sodo (Seattle, WA; November 14, 2009)

To start, I’ll note I was quickly hooked on both Atreyu and Hollywood Undead after hearing them both on the Madden soundtrack. Thus with my limited exposure to the metal genre, I arrived at the Showbox ready for Atreyu. I arrived in time to heat up with the crowd for about fifteen minutes before the group took the stage. I must mention that this was a very all-ages crowd: along with the teen+ contingent, I saw some baby booomers and a couple of children that couldn’t be more than eight. The crowd chanted three separate times for Atreyu to begin, energizing the audience, though it didn’t seem to speed anything up. I find Atreyu’s music to be easily identifiable. Even during equipment check I recognized the drums rhythms to a couple of songs off of Lead Sails Paper Anchor.

When Atreyu finally came out, it was quickly clear that they were worth the wait. Opening with “Stop Before It’s Too Late And We’ve Destroyed It All,” a song off their new album, Congregation of the Damned, the crowd was quickly chanting along with the eminently repeatable line, “Kill! Kill! Multiply!” Atreyu continued on with my personal favorite, “Becoming The Bull,” by which time there was a very energetic group of people smashing into each other and surfing atop the crowd. Lead singer Alex Varkatzas told the crowd that since the band couldn’t crowd surf that we would have to, which was easy enough given their style of music. At this point I joined in, and note taking became a whole lot more difficult. Atreyu started off with almost all their singles and continued on with a good mix of their various albums, drawing most heavily from their two most recent releases with a sprinkling of some older favorites. Varkatzas encouraged the crowd to “put your forks up,” which is like the “I love you” sign but missing the thumb. Varkatzas asked us if we wanted to have the guitarist Dan Jacobs “shred [our] fucking heads”? This was followed by the crowd screaming wildly, and Jacobs tearing the place down with a two-minute solo. Closing the set was “Lip Gloss and Black,” and Da Kurlzz from Hollywood Undead came out to join in on vocals.

It’s pretty apparent that the Hollywood Undead (hereinafter referred to as HU) has a good following. Lots of people in the crowd sport the bandannas covering the lower part of their face, and the merchandise booth was popular throughout the night. While waiting for the group to come out, I was talking to a couple of guys in from Montana to see the show, lamenting there was no way HU was making a stop in Montana. Soon, a humorous situation arose involving one party-pooper and several enthusiastic moshers. As a couple of my new Montana friends were slamming around, another guy got upset and told them it was stupid to mosh when there is no music, insulting them with various questionable lines, such as, “What are you, Joe Dirt?” I should mention that there is no better way to become a target in a pit than insulting large gentlemen eight drinks into the evening, and I didn’t see much more of the insulter that night. Though the crowd chanted throughout the set break, HU chose to make their entrance when we weren’t expecting it.

On tour for their new album Desperate Measures, HU started with their hit “Undead,” the epitome of a hip hop rock (Hip Rock), track. HU has filled musically the place for me that Linkin Park used to inhabit (no disrespect intended). Their more rock-like songs are paced great for crowd sing-alongs and sing-backs, and employ a generally underutilized strategy a group can do to make a show better. Though all the group members came out in masks, they didn’t keep them all on throughout the show. There was amazing energy in the crowd for both groups, and HU made sure to match that on stage, bouncing around and constantly interacting with the crowd. They encouraged people to make a circle and bounce off each other and crowd surf. It’s amazing how people can just smash into each other for hours on end and still high five at the end of each song. My watch had told me we had been in the pit for about three hours, my adrenaline said it wasn’t long enough, and I suspect my body will tell me tomorrow that it was too long. About three-quarters into the set, HU asked some of the girls to “show some titties for t-shirts.” Several girls were immediately hoisted onto shoulders and began taking their shirts off. Conveniently a little late, HU informed the girls that they would have to go over to the merchandise table and show them to get the shirts. It’s amazing how many cell phone and cameras came out in those couple of seconds.

The set continued strong with tracks off of Swan Song such as “Black Dahlia”, and “City.” They played their last song and walked off to thunderous applause. No on moved anywhere except closer to the stage to cheer for an encore. Funny note: “Hollywood Undead” is not easy to chant. You get a real mix of “Holly Wood”, clashing with “Undead” while the crowd is surging back and forth. Needless to say, taking notes at this time was difficult. HU came back out in an amazing display of lights. They played a couple more songs and then for the final song of the encore slowed the show down for a moment. “Everywhere I Go” was the final song of the evening, and to the last second the crowd was surging. I saw someone clapping with shoes at the end of the performance, noteworthy in itself. Amazing because the shoes were from two different pairs. If that’s not love for a group than I don’t know what is.

DOWNLOAD: Hollywood Undead - City (MP3) or Follow us for more Hollywood Undead MP3s (Twitter)

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