I love Sevendust. I love Static-X. And I love Dope. And now I love Lines Of Loyalty. What an amazing lineup they put together for the Machine Killer Tour.
I was fortunate to see it the show in Portland, Oregon. It was a Thursday night, which always sucks when you have to get up to go to work, but they started the four-band show at 6:15 PM, which made it really nice.
The Roseland Theater was packed. Once the doors opened and we were through security, the rush of fans to the front of the stage was swift. I decided to peek at the merch tables before the crowd, and the merch from each band was plentiful. I picked up a unisex Static-X shirt and a tank top for Sevendust.
Before the show started, all of a sudden the crowd rushed to the right of the stage to see what the commotion was. There was screaming, fighting, yelling. It seems that a couple of girls were fighting. Yes, a real live cat fight. While waiting in line, I noticed a girl who had what I think are pasties on and a white mesh bodysuit over the top. That is what it looked like to me anyway as I passed by quickly. I remember thinking that it was quite bold of her to wear, but she was super cute and pulled it off. The other girls around were also barely dressed. A friend of a friend heard from his son that there was an altercation, and the girls were hitting each other, pulling hair, and punching guys. That is all I know of what happened. It was a full-on opening act of its own before the first band even took the stage. As the ladies were “escorted” out of the venue, the crowd cheered and clapped.
There were like 8 photographers. Three of us local photographers, and the bands appeared to have their own photographer.
LINES OF LOYALTY
Myself and the photographers waited at the far left of the venue for the lights to go out until we could approach the stage for the opening band, Lines of Loyalty (with a right-leaning slash through the O of “Of.”
From Wisconsin, the three-piece Lines Of Loyalty took the stage and they were great! Lines of Loyalty are: Nubz Morrison [vocals, guitar], Redo Ianni [bass, vocals, keys], and Shane Madsen [drums, percussion.] They stood strongly on their own, and were a fantastic choice to open the show for Dope, Sevendust, and Static-X.
Obviously, a shorter set, they played only eight songs, with the last song, as Nubz opined, “All songs except the last song are available on the new release –[in] this last song, we are going to take you back to where it all began.”
Professional and headline-ready, Lines Of Loyalty are a band to watch. They reminded me a bit of Nonpoint, but updated.
I read up on the band and found them to be really interesting. Tattoo artists as well as musicians, there is a plethora of information on this band who, in my opinion, will be a big deal in the near future.
DOPE
I love Dope, and I’m now totally in love with Dope bassist Daniel Fox.
I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing vocalist/
guitarist Edsel Dope in the past and really enjoy Dope. I was sad that they didn’t play, “6 6 Sick,” but their time slot wasn’t very long either.
The band played “Blood Money,” “Bitch,” “Debonair,” fan favorite “Die MF Die,” “Die, Boom, Bang, Burn,” and then Edsel gave some advice to the fans: “[Here] is a lesson that what you do now follows you around for life.” He told the story of being asked to play on a soundtrack, and he was stoked to do it. But to his surprise, as he said, “[I] had to record the stupidest song I’ve ever heard in my fucking life,” and then they broke into ‘You Spin Me Round (Like a Record,)’ originally recorded by Dead or Alive back in 1985.
Edsel sincerely thanked the crowd for being there, stating, “I know that you all have responsibilities and paid hard earned money to see the show and get here. He pumped up the crowd by yelling, “Is everyone here excited for Sevendust and Static-X,” and said he was going to partake in some amazing Portland weed.
I mostly stayed stage left –because that was where bassist Daniel Fox was (wink wink). He was very energetic and so fun to photograph.
SEVENDUST
The anticipation was palpable for Sevendust.
Screens dominated the back of the stage and each side with vivid interesting images. As each member took the stage the crowd roared with anticipation. With drummer Morgan Rose’s announcement back in 2022 that they would break up at a date only they knew, you could not tell from this night. All the members looked like they were having a blast, and they were the epitome of perfection.
Decorated in gold jewelry, Lajon was spot on vocals and friendly, engaging with the crowd often..
Playing both old and new, the crowd was deafening when fan favorites “Denial,” “Black,” “Enemy,” “Everything,” “Bitch,” and “Face to Face.”
While it is possible that the men of Sevendust are tired after all of these years (as stated back in 2022 with a “we are breaking up notice,” I have a sneaking suspicion that if they do indeed “break up” it will be either short-lived, or they will regroup on occasion because they will miss it (and us) so much.
Sevendust has provided us with songs that reflect how we feel. When a band can do that – to provide us with a tangible sound to play to someone to show exactly how we feel, and to remind us that we are never alone – that is a very special band. Sevendust is a special band.
Sevendust Setlist was:
- “I Might Let the Devil Win”
- “Truth Killer”
- “Alpha”
- “Till Death”
- “Pieces”
- “Hero”
- “Denial”
- “Black”
- “Enemy”
- “Splinter”
- “Everything”
- “Bitch”
- “Face to Face”
STATIC-X
Pretty much everyone stayed for the mighty Static-X. It felt like a lifetime between Sevendust and Static-X’s set though – mostly due to the anticipation.
I had the pleasure of seeing Static-X back in the day with Wayne and have also seen them with XerO. I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing bassist and original member Tony Campos and I love what they have done to preserve the brand that is Static-X.
While likely everyone knows who XerO is, I love that they choose to pay homage to Wayne instead. It feels like this band has no ego, no “I’m so important,” – rather they exude the vibe of “We love playing in Static-X and want to continue the beloved old songs and move forward with new music.”
The mood was set by a concoction of strange, yet uplifting music starting off with “Walk” by Pantera and Rocky Horror Picture Show’s “Let’s Do the Time Warp.” Everyone was singing.
As I awaited the men of Static-X to appear, I realized that my favorite Static-X album, “Wisconsin Death Trip” was 25 years old.
Donning a new mask, front man/guitarist XerO’s new look was very cool. LED-looking red eyes glowed from a sort of robot/cyborg outfit with lifeline-like computer cords and tubes running throughout the mask.
I just kept thinking…it must be really hot in there.
There were giant robots, fuzzy confetti, and smoke-filled bubbles all over the place. It was not just a concert, it had moments of exquisite time travel back to the 90s. With the four original members: Koichi Fukada on lead guitar, Ken Jay on drums, Tony Campos on bass, Ken Jay on drums, and vocalist and guitarist XerO made Static-X authentically Static-X as much as it could be sans Wayne Static. The four original members made a great choice to continue Static-X’s music with XerO and take it even further. It must be hard to gain the respect of fans when a prime member leaves the band. In this case death happened. While no member of Static-X is more important than the others, I must say they have done a phenomenal job by how they have approached what could have been the death of a band, and we’d be really missing out as fans.
Thank you, Tony, Koichi, and Ken, for your sticktoitiveness, love of Static-X, and inspiration to go forward with XerO.
It was an amazing show – one that won’t soon be forgotten.
Static-X played:
- Hollow
- Terminator Oscillator
- Love Dump
- Sweat of the Bud
- Fix
- Wisconsin Death Trip
- Bled for Days
- Get to the Gone
- Black and White
- Zombie
- I Am
- Cold
- I’m With Stupid
- Push It
The tour played a second night in Eugene, Oregon, which is pretty uncommon, but obviously, they knew in advance that Oregon loves Dope, Sevendust, and Static-X.
Touted as “The tour not to miss in 2024” – that is an accurate statement!
