Sep 21

FALLING IN REVERSE Pittsburgh PA 9/12/24 (A Parent's Perspective) Show Review

Say what you want about rock, metal, alternative? Who knows. Let's just go with, "melodic alternative hardcore with "viewers discretion advised" rock to play it safe for the readers. Anyways. Say what you want about Falling In Reverse, pros or cons, the band knows how to put on one hell of a live show and write one hell of a record, all the while stirring up controversy which still lands them as the first rock and metal band to receive a gold RIAA certification for a new studio album released in 2024.

Ronnie Radke and the rest of the rambunctious bunch also know how to pick one hell of support for a tour with this particular second leg of the "Popular MonsTOUR" (Part II) featuring the likes of Dance Gavin Dance, Black Veil Brides, Tech N9ne, and alternating dates featuring Nathan James and Jeris Johnson, a tour named after their 2024 record Popular Monster, as previously mentioned.

Thursday, September 12th, 2024. FALLING IN REVERSE'S "Popular MonsTOUR (Part II)" rolls into Burgettstown PA, just outside. of Pittsburgh PA, at the infamous amphitheater Starlake which has been a previous home to such infamous shows as Ozzfest and the Vans Warped Tour in the past. The 23,000-capacity venue was booming waiting for the first act to go on Jeris Johnson.

With the rest of the bands on the bill for the night, this band had a lot to live up to, and holy shit did they make. a name for themselves. For anyone familiar with the infamous game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, this band was the embodiment of that plus a dash of hip-hop, metal, alternative rock, and even death metal blast beats at some point.

Rapper, and who I declare as "the king" of cross-over Tech N9ne, was up next after a brief intermission. He, along with his band of misfits blasted through a nearly 45-minute set of tracks and medleys including Come Gangsta, Blackened the Sun into URALYA Dysfunctional into Caribou Lou, Face Off into Hood oGo Crazy before closing out with EBAH, but the night wouldn't see the last of Tech N9Ne.

Dance Gavin Dance hit the stage with a 2011 nostalgia of Spooks from their Downtown Battle Mountian record followed by a newer track Synergy from 2022. Dirty/scream vocalist Jon Mess has killed it, especially on tracks like Carve and Speed Demon before closing with track Evaporate on 2018's Artifical Selection.

Up next, was a bucket for me, was Black Veil Brides. This band, to me, is like the punk rock Motley Crue, with style, sound, and attitude, especially after seeing them live, they are truly a band you need to experience up close and in person. They kicked their set off with track Faithless from their 2014 self-titled record into track "Breeders" followed by the title track of that same record, then playing a sort of deep cut from a 2022 EP entitled The Mourning called Devil. Lead singer/frontman Andy Black dedicated the next track to bassist Lonny Eagleton for his birthday, so this must be an onrunning joke in the band. It was for myself, every night in the bar band I used to play in was my "21st birthday", I got so many free drinks out of that gag. Side note, Lonny's real birthday is January 1st, for anyone who cares. Anyways, BVB played a cover of Billy Idol's Rebel Yell which they absolutely killed at, the heaviness mixed with Andy's voice delivers the song perfectly. Black Veil played one of my favorite tracks The Legacy off of their Set the World on Fire record next. I love this track because a lot of it is bass driven, and I'm a bassist myself, before closing out with Knives and Pens from their We Stitch These Wounds album way back from 2010 and closing out with track In The End, one that a lot of fans, myself include, were looking forward to.

After a final intermission, a backdrop setup, and a small soundcheck, Falling In Reverse closed out the night. The lights went black showing the band from a backstage camera shot in the dressing room that lead them all the way to the stage, with AC/DC's Highway to Hell playing them out, kicking off the night with the first track "Prequel" from the newly released Popular Monster record, straight into ZOMBIFIED from the same album. A fan favorite from their 2011 The Drug In Me Is You record, "I'm Not A Vampire" which blew up on TikTok last year and has maintained momentum followed by Fuck you and All Your Friends from 2017's Coming Home album.

Another fan favorite, and TikTok popular track Bad Guy was next with the title track The Drug in Me Is You with stand-alone single Losing My Mind to follow. Always one to poke fun at everyone, including himself, frontman Ronnie Radke made fun of a Falling In Reverse song that everyone likes but he thinks is "corny" and they played it anyway which was track Game Over with the giant screens behind the band depicting people recreating the song on TikTok while he poked fun of them in a playful way. Finishing the song short he admitted that he was infact an asshole which segwayed perfectly into track "Just Like You" where the lyrics "I am aware, that I am an asshole" are the taglines in the song.

The band lept offstage and took a camera back with them where a "fight" between Dance Gavin Dance and Black Veil Brides took place. Entering the stage again, they kicked into track All My Life which features Jellyroll with the music video playing behind them on the screen. Title track Popular Monster followed with song Voices in My Head from the same record before closing out with the latest single Ronald which features Tech N9ne whom they brought out to do the song with. After a giant photo opp with the crowd at the end, Queen's We Are The Champions played the band off stage and fans back to the parking lot.

It was my first time seeing a lot of these artists and it was definitely one hell of a show. Putting any personal opinions aside about any of the bands, they all put on an amazing show, and I would definitely recommend checking out Falling In Reverse live at least once in your life especially now that they've gotten to this capacity. When it was the smaller clubs, the pyro, cyro, and the sheer size of things weren't there, with this new bigger cap rooms that they're able to play in, it definitely gives the band a better and bigger stage presence, one i suggest to anyone who likes at least one Falling In Reverse song to check out live.

Falling In Reverse is currently on tour with Tech N9Ne, Black Veil Brides, Dance Gavin Dance, and more!

Check out photo gallery, tour dates, highlights, and more below!

GALLERY