Pierce The Veil's We Will Detonate Tour
Eager fans in Hampton, NH lined up at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom hours before the We Will Detonate Tour even began to see some of the best live bands perform together on the same tour. With how fun and energetic every band is, this was a dream lineup for not just music photographers, but fans too. The amazing lineup consisted of Pierce The Veil with support from Sum41 and Emarosa.
Emarosa
You could feel the anticipation of the crowd growing as Emarosa was soon to take the stage. There was a low murmur from the crowd about who had seen them before and whose first time it was. Before anyone knew it, the band had taken the stage, full-swing with “Sure,” a song they released a music video for not too long ago. Frontman Bradley Walden was walking on the top of the barricade, meeting already-screaming fans. The entire crowd was all smiles about the crowd interaction. The rest of the band remains on stage, jumping, head-banging, and fully in the music. During the third song, “Miracle,” Walden calls someone from the crowd over, spins them around, and hops onto his shoulders as Walden continues to sing and perform the song without missing a beat while in the middle of the pit, atop a fan’s shoulders. After the song ends, Walden is back on stage and asks the crowd to sing “Happy Birthday” to a girl named Rebekah, as the crowd erupts in song. The show resumes full power, as Walden takes to the barricade again for “Helpless.” Following the fourth song, Walden asks the crowd about each band individually on the night’s lineup, but when he gets to the headliner, Pierce the Veil, he teases the crowd by cutting off his speech before saying the band’s full title. When he finally asks about Pierce the Veil, the crowd erupts in applause as the stage lights light them up. Before starting the penultimate song, Walden teaches the crowd how to sing part of the song, asking them to repeat “hey young lonely” after him. Once the song started, the crowd never missed their chance to participate in “Young Lonely.” When Walden announces Emarosa only has one song left on the setlist, the crowd let out a collective “aww,” as the end of the set was coming. The band ended on crowd-favorite, “Cloud 9,” which brought the whole crowd to hand waving, ending Emarosa’s set on a high note.
Sum 41
A mysterious intro over the speakers and lighting raises the crowd’s anticipation and adrenaline for Sum 41. Once the band step foot on stage, waving at the fans, crowd surfers come pouring over the barricade. All the band’s members were all smiles through the course of the set, with energy feeding off the audience’s undying love for the music. Following the first song, singer Deryck Whibley chooses two random fans, one from either side of the crowd, and has security bring them up to watch their performance from side stage, undoubtedly giving those two girls the night and experience of their lives. Smiles never left their faces for the entire set. The lighting for the entire set was phenomenal, spanning every color, making use of the venue’s disco ball to spread colorful wisps of light throughout the whole room. The stage was set up with Sum 41 banners and made use of smoke machines through the night, making it feel like a celebration that the whole crowd was invited to. Whibley stops the fourth song, “Underclass Hero,” to let the crowd know how much he likes them, and asks for a circle pit, as kids start running in a circle in the middle of the crowd. The band played songs off their new album, such as “Goddamn I’m Dead Again,” “Fake My Own Death,” “War,” and “God Save Us All(Death to POP),” which the audience loved with unstoppable hand waving and crowd surfing. During “Goddamn I’m Dead Again,” giant inflatable beach balls were passed among the crowd, bouncing off heads and arms as the crowd cheered. As Sum 41 covers Queen’s “We Will Rock You,” Whibley asks for the crowd’s help singing because “everybody in this room knows this song, because every single person knows this song.” As loud and responsive as the crowd was for the cover, the crowd was even louder for Sum 41’s own hits “In Too Deep” and “Fat Lip.” Seeing Sum 41 live is more than just a good time, it’s a whole experience that should not be missed.
Pierce the Veil
Before anything even happened to set up for PIerce the Veil to take the stage, the crowd was chanting for the band, inciting a scream as a screen is raised in front of the stage with the band’s name projected onto it, leading to louder screaming. The crowd was ready for a set to remember, which would soon be delivered to them. The set started with Mike Fuentes on drums for “Texas is Forever” until the full band joins in, with even more crowd surfers than the night has produced yet. The stage had electronic boards covering the stage, projecting various images and colors to help set the mood of each song, from lightning to stars to cartoon skulls. With the guitar-heavy intro to the second song, “Bulls in the Bronx,” the crowd screamed before frontman Vic Fuentes even started singing. After the song ends, the crowd unpromptedly starts chanting for the band’s bass player, Jaime Preciado, as Vic announces his birthday, leading the crowd into their second rendition of “Happy Birthday” that night. The entire band spent their full set jumping and getting into the music as much as the fans did. Mike seemed to barely be able to stay in his seat behind his drums, there were times I was wondering if he’d give in and jump to the front of the stage or into the audience to join! Vic would try his best to grab any crowd surfers who came near him, succeeding a number of times. He took it down a notch to perform an acoustic cover of “Issues” by Julia Michaels and went into an emotional performance of “Stay Away From My Friends.” Vic welcomed the crowd’s help with singing, especially during the new songs, “Floral & Fading” and “Texas is Forever” off their most recent album, Misadventures, and older songs “Hold On Till May” and “King for a Day.” Throughout their entire set, Pierce the Veil saw no lull of energy or excitement on stage or in the crowd. It’s safe to say this was the best night of a lot of people’s lives.
