Mar 27

AVENGED SEVENFOLD Pittsburgh PA (A Parent's Perspective) Show Review

Recently, metal giants Avenged Sevenfold disembarked on the third leg of their massive North American "LIFE IS BUT A DREAM" Tour which features Sullivan King and Poppy with their previous tour legs featuring the likes of ALEXISONFIRE and Falling In Reverse.

This leg of the tour kicked off at the beginning of November in Buffalo New York and has hit major cities across the North East including Toronto ON, Knoxville TN, Cleveland OH, and Raleigh NC. This tour is in support of their forthcoming album "Life Is But A Dream..." which dropped last year in 2023.

Monday, March 25th, 2024. AVENGED SEVENFOLD on their "Life is but a Dream...Tour" rolled into the city of Pittsburgh, PA to the PPG Paints Arena, famous for the Pittsburgh Pens hockey arena alongside opening acts Sullivan King and Poppy. Fans were piling in every entrance of the venue on the surprisingly warm March afternoon with doors opening at 6:00 PM sharp.

At a prompt 6:30 PM, Sullivan King took the stage. I didn't know much about the act prior to the show and boy was I in for a surprise. Sullivan King's act was a one-man-band act that combined EDM, metal, and remixes all while lone man Keaton Prescott aka Sullivan King sang, played guitar, and crushed the turntables.

The act itself consisted of a number of pop-punk, metal, and emo remixes and snippets of popular songs including the likes of Throne by Bring Me The Horizon, Dragula by Rob Zombie, Bleed It Out by Linkin Park, The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance and Slaughterhouse by Motionless in White all while adding his own tracks in there which include songs Blame, Unbound, Riot and Watch the Crown Fall. in addition to the EDM aspect, Sullivan King also hopped from behind the turntables and shredded on guitar on certain tracks and also sang his own music which was extremely impressive. Sullivan King is a MUST-SEE act if he's ever in your town.

After a short intermission, the beautiful and talented Poppy was up. For a three-piece band, they killed it, although back-tracking was involved it wasn't a focal point of the set. Poppy's energy and angelic voice steals the show with her straight-to-business attitude pumping out one track after another with not a lot of crowd banter in between songs.

Opening with track BLOODYMARY off of 2020's record I Disagree and into Church Outfit off of 2023's Zig album. Bite Your Teeth was next followed by I Disagree, the title track of the aforementioned album. It was awesome to see Poppy jump back and forth on tracks, taking the helm at the microphone while also taking time hopping on a beautiful white J-Bass guitar as well as providing synth samples on a keyboard. My favorite track X was up next and she even managed to stick the track V.A.N which was a Bad Omens cover that she had collaborated with earlier this year before closing out with the track Concrete.

After yet another brief intermission the headliners of the night Avenged Sevenfold took the stage. Coming out to Kavinsky's Nightcall the band opened up with track Game Over from their recently released record "Life Is But A Dream..." Dawning a black ski mask lead singer M. Shadows takes the stage on a chair and sings the first half of the song before being joined by the rest of the A7X misfits. Track Mattel was up next, another track to their latest record before diving into some older stuff, a fan favorite Afterlife. By now, the ski mask was off and all five faces of the Avenged crew were present on stage.

Not stopping with the fan favorites, track Hail to the King, title track from their 2013 album was up with more from their latest record with track We Love You followed by more from Hail to the King with Shephard of Fire. Very little crowd banter in between songs just like their support band Poppy, however, singer M. Shadows did take a moment to ask fans if they remember the album City Of Evil which is on its 18th anniversary as a record-playing track Blinded in Chains from that album which got a huge fan pop, followed the next track Bat Country which sent every person into the room into a sing-a-long.

Nobody off of their latest record followed by Nightmare, the title track from their 2010 record, the first album put out after their drummer The Rev tragically passed away. The opening bells part to that track sent fans into a frenzy with the following track Unholy Confessions really blowing the roof of the 20,000-capacity arena. A drum solo in the middle of Unholy Confessions was done by Brooks Wackerman who's been Avenged's drummer since 2015 and has also played with the likes of Bad Religion and Suicidal Tendencies. The night ended with the band playing the tracks Save Me from the Nightmare album and closing out with a trippy new track called Cosmic which saw M. Shadows playing a synth.

Seeing Avenged Sevenfold really brought me back to my years in high school. I've only ever seen the band one other time at the 2006 Ozzfest. I was fortunate enough at the time to see The Rev before his passing but not old enough to appreciate it until now. With almost 30 years under their belt, A7X is still going strong with a diehard fanbase and an unforgettable sound that has bridged generations without the band ever losing their edge or skipping a beat.

Check out the Avenged Sevenfold photo gallery and highlights below!

GALLERY