Alpha Wolf Makes Nashville Earn It’s Namesake As “Music City”
Ever since seeing Alpha Wolf open up for Motionless in White on the Touring the End of the World tour last year, I’ve become a massive fan of the boys from the Gold Coast. The band gives everything they have during their set. Going into this show and seeing them as a headliner, I had much higher expectations. Supporting their new album “Half Living Things," Alpha Wolf brought Chamber, UnityTX, and Emmure out on the road with them as support.
The first to take the stage at Nashville‘s Eastside Bowl was the city’s own Chamber. Chamber is a straight-up hardcore band in every sense of the word. Controlled chaos would be a perfect way of describing the band. Vocalist Jacob Lilly commands the stage and isn’t afraid to engage the fans. Fans responded quickly by opening up the floor to a massive mosh pit. The set was over before I wanted it to be, but at the same time, it felt like I kept getting punched in the mouth the entire time they were on stage. It makes my heart happy to see local boys getting more exposure on a tour like this, and I can’t wait to see what’s to come for Chamber in the future.
UnityTX might be one of the best things that has happened to the scene in quite some time. Blending hip-hop and metalcore was everything I didn’t know I needed. Admittedly, I had never listened to them before, but after the show, they were an immediate addition to the Spotify playlist. The vocalist, Jay Webster, has such a powerful delivery and raw emotion. That, combined with his stage presence, creates such an aggressive yet engaging atmosphere. During the final song of the set, Webster jumped down off stage and climbed on the barricade to join the crowd. UnityTX is a band I could easily watch night after night because of how great they are on stage.
UnityTX’s backdrop comes down, and Emmure’s goes up just as fast. A quick swap out of drum kits, and the road-hardened Emmure is set to take the stage. The crowd-favorite guitarist, Josh Travis, creeps slowly out from behind the curtain and walks onto the stage, staring down at the crowd. The rest of the band joins the stage, and the intro to “You Asked For It“ starts to play. Vocalist Frankie Palmeri walks on stage and, with the most abrasive scream, hits the famous “Get the fuck up!” as the band and entire floor start bouncing. The pit immediately opens up, and seemingly everyone is inside of it. This was my second time seeing Emmure live in less than a year, and every single time these dudes absolutely slam!
Palmeri has arguably one of the most electric and commanding stage presences of anyone I’ve ever seen. He is always encouraging the crowd to move more and get rowdy, all while prowling the stage like a caged animal. It’s obvious that Emmure has been doing this for quite some time. The band is so tight and never misses a lick. It’s like a well-oiled machine. They finish the set with my personal favorite “When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong," and by the crowd's reaction, it was their favorite as well.
The crowd heads to the water jugs to prepare themselves for Alpha Wolf to take the stage. Fans packed in tight, trying to get as close to the barricade as possible while the crew was setting up the stage for the headlining act. There was no dimming of the lights and no fancy track to listen to while the band made their way to the stage. Each member simply went to their respective instruments, and chaos ensued. The band comes out of the gate straight into “Bring Back the Noise." The vocalist, Lochi Keogh, runs side to side of the stage while performing, and the crowd is screaming every single lyric back at him. By the end of the song, Keogh has taken off his shirt. He tells the crowd that he normally doesn’t lose the shirt until halfway through the set, but tonight it was hot in Nashville.
Just before starting “Double-Edge Demise," Keogh tells the crowd that Alpha Wolf is from the Gold Coast and that they surf a lot there, so he wanted to bring a little bit of Australia to Nashville and called for crowdsurfers for the entirety of the song. Fans happily obliged as additional security ran to the front of the stage to help surfers down. Later, Keogh stated that all he had heard was that Nashville is “Music City," but he hadn’t seen anything yet to think that they deserved that title. He then splits the floor in half and incites a Wall of Death, and on his count, fans smashed into each other and turned into an old-fashioned hardcore push pit. The set continues for the better part of an hour. The setlist included songs for fans old and new alike. One thing is certain: Alpha Wolf has staked their claim as one of the best bands in the scene right now.
