Nothing More and Wage War at The Ritz in Raleigh

I know that I’m a bit biased, but when I saw the line up- Sleep Theory, Veil of Maya, Nothing More, and Wage War- I was shocked to say the least. From my perspective, these are all bands that I hear people talk about consistently enough that in most ways except tenure, they’re all roughly at the same standing. So to have four bands so popular on one ticket is still mind blowing to me. It continued when I found out that Sleep Theory isn’t as popular as they are in my circle. They’re a consistently mentioned band within 2470 and are mentioned frequently enough outside of 2470 that I was, and am, genuinely surprised that I talked to so many people that were just finding out about them through this show. They put on such an amazing show and handled the tech difficulties that popped up like pros. And even with the tech issues, the crowd was absolutely eating them up. From show start to finish, the crowd was going crazy the entire time. Having just ended a short run, keep an eye out for their next tour, new music, and hopefully some merch to follow. 

Following, Veil of Maya came out with insane energy that they kept up their entire set. Granted, they don’t exactly have a lot of slower songs to slow things down with, but I’ll always give credit where credit is due in terms of putting on a great show. Lucas Magyar, vocalist, commanded the crowd so well that I was in awe of the stage presence he had while screaming his head off. And several times through their set I was laughing at the shear energy that guitarists, Marc Okubo and Danny Hauser, had through the show. Not only did Magyar have such an intense crowd control that I was awed from the start of song one, but I was applauding Okubo for not only the amazing wardrobe choice of ramen pants, but also I genuinely don’t know if I’ve seen anyone headbang as much as he did. On top of the shear stage presence and energy the band had, the crowd showed up in equal form with nonstop crowd surfers the entire set. If you’ve ever seen of Ten56- Veil of Maya is the American equivalent, and vise versa- both put one hell of a show that is more focused on music in lieu of crowd interaction- and man do they do it well. 

Co-Headlining this tour, Nothing More came on and immediately stunned me. Starting with an emotional “If It Doesn’t Hurt,” Nothing More came out swinging. I talk a lot about stage energy and stage presence in my reviews and Nothing More had the most energized stage presence I’ve seen. Only similar to AVOID where their vocalist crowd surfs with a bed mattress during their set (if they do or do not do this on future tours, I don’t know- go to the show to see that chaos first hand). During Nothing More’s performance, not only did Jonny Hawkins, vocalist, literally step over me and onto the barricade but they even ended their set in the crowd playing instruments that were held up by the crowd themselves. On top of that, Mark Vollelunga on guitar, also jumped in the pit and even offered to let those at the barricade help finish out the song they were playing. From not only beautiful vocals, that are better in person than recorded, to getting the crowd continually involved and hyped up through their set, Nothing More put on one hell of a show. Most notably for me was just how emotional the show was- from starting the show with “If It Doesn’t Hurt” to Hawkins talking about the story behind “Jenny,” this show was cathartic for me to just watch. I genuinely can’t wait until I see them again. 

Closing out the night was Wage War. Wage War was the main attraction for this show for me. The line up was a cherry on top, but Wage War was one of the artists that pulled me back into metalcore genre and into photography. Seeing them live was definitely a moment since I can cross them off my own list. And they didn’t disappoint. Playing both new and old music, Wage War kept everyone happy through the entire night. When they started “High Horse” the crowd went wild. Through the entire night there was at least one mosh pit but it seemed like the whole crowd became the mosh pit. I wasn’t even near the crowd, opting to watch from above on the balcony, but I felt the movement through the venue. Hearing their newer songs like “MAGNETIC” and “NAIL5” mixed in with songs like “True Colors,” “Death Roll,” and “Manic” was such a great mix of of their discography and showed their range. I mentioned that I felt the crowd during “High Horse” but they seriously were non stop throughout the entire night; vocalist Briton Bond called the crowd out a few times for the energy and at one point towards the end he mentioned that the crowd couldn’t fade just yet- but man, the crowd definitely held their own through the night. While Bond had the crowd engagement down, clean vocalist Cody Quistad shocked me with his vocals and how they were even better life than recorded. I’m sure you can tell, but I was just continually so happy with everything about this concert from start to finish. With production or quality of vocals, every aspect of this show blew me away from start to finish. I know that different regions show up differently for mosh pits but I have been continually impressed and proud of the North Carolina Metal scene and the crowd activity that shows up. And for this show it was start to finish matching energy from the bands themselves. If you ever have the chance to see any of these bands, definitely take the chance when you can.