Slaves and Escape the Fate are on a joint tour, The Beautiful Human tour, making a stop in Jacksonville, North Carolina. The original venue, The Tarheel, suffered significant damage due to Hurricane Florence. Despite the impact to the area and the last minute venue change, the place was packed with excited fans.
Set to Stun opened the night for the full bill. Set to Stun isn’t just their band name, but the level at which they perform. Lead singer Damien Wong performed with such an intensity all over the stage, jumping into the pit, standing on the drums, and playing on the ground. He was hard to keep up with, but the energy he brought on stage was absorbed into the crowd.
Picturesque was next on stage. Frontman Kyle Hollis wooed the crowd with his wailing voice as he screamed off-the-chart notes their whole set.
Getting back into touring after a long studio break, Famous Last Words were next on the bill singing songs from their new EP. Their audience interaction was memorable as lead singer JT Tollas was performing in the crowd. Ending their set, they riled up the crowd while humbly acknowledging all the work every artist brought to the stage.
Slaves finally hit the stage with a peak of exuberance matched equally with the vigor of the crowd. The packed venue of 400 people was the rowdiest crowd of the tour with dozens of crowd surfers coming in waves (no pun intended) consistently throughout their set. Johnny Craig went into the pit to be with fans as their set came to a close and gave special thanks to security personnel who were on their toes all evening with crowd surfers.
Escape the Fate closed out the night with a bang. Nearing the end of their set, the band broke out leaving Kevin “Thrasher” and Craig Mabbitt to an acoustic set, opening with a tribute to Chester Bennington covering “One More Light.” The acoustic set continued with their hit “If Only,” where Craig invited the crowd to join, and finally ended with a Backstreet cover of “As Long as You Love Me” where every female (and a few reluctant male) fan sang in unison. ETF then performed “Ashley,” leading into all of their heaviest songs to end the night. With Jacksonville being a military-dense town, Craig gave his sincerest thanks to the Marines in attendance and shared drinks with them in the bar before their set and then dedicated “Just a Memory” to Osama bin Laden, seeing as now that name is “just a memory.” After the final encore, Robert (drummer) and Craig lead the crowd in a Queen sing-along of “We Are the Champions” before heading to the front-of-house where all band members spent the rest of the evening with fans.
Check out any one of the bands’ social media pages for a tour schedule, and see them live on this tour if you can! You will not be disappointed with such a great lineup!
www.facebook.com/SETTOSTUN
www.facebook.com/famouslastwordsmusic
www.facebook.com/officialslaves
www.facebook.com/escapethefate
Escape the Fate Setlist:
Beautifully Tragic
Gorgeous Nightmare
Do You Love Me
Remember Every Scar
On To The Next One
Empire
I Am Human
One More Light
If Only
Ashley
Just a Memory
Digging My Own Grave
Ungrateful
This War Is Ours
Broken Heart
One For The Money
