The Latest News & Reviews

Mudvayne brought The Psychotherapy Sessions tour to Charlotte last Sunday, July 23, and despite the heat and ultimately the rain, the show was an adrenaline-packed punch to the face. With opening support from Coal Chamber, GWAR, Nonpoint, and Butcher Babies, every band came out swinging and ready to get rowdy. We were fortunate enough to be on site to cover the show.

 A little backstory:

Life has a funny way of coming full circle sometimes. The second concert I ever went to was none other than Pantera with opening support from Anthrax and Coal Chamber. I scored tickets off the radio, and the show was the night before an exam...my first exam that would count toward high school credits. This was during a time in my life that my walls were covered in posters and pinups from magazines like Hit Parader, Revolver, and Metal Edge. I had stacks of CDs and cassettes everywhere. Add to it the fact my old man couldn't enter a room without cutting on a radio, and that radio damn well better be on the same station as the other rooms. And it better be loud. Putting it simply, we lived in music. Had you told me then what I would be able to do now, I'd have never believed you. Hell, I don't know that I believe it now. But if you fast-forward 25 years and change, this past Sunday, I was afforded the amazing opportunity to cover several of these same bands that plastered those walls of my youth. 

Now, looking back on Sunday's show, it slayed. The crowd was pretty thin unfortunately but that didn't stop the bands from delivering. And the fans who were there? DAMN were they into it. Both Butcher Babies and Nonpoint seemed to have an anti-gravity set going for them with nonstop jumps and an incredible energy. Nonpoint's synergy felt tighter than ever, packed full of the familiar positive vibes that radiate through the crowd. No matter how many times I've seen them, it's just never a long enough set. Thankfully, we're already rallying the Crew to show up big for their pre-party appearance at Blue Ridge Rock Festival in September. GWAR had their typical set. Rowdy, bloody, offensive, loud...and fun. In all the GWAR ways. Coal Chamber was chillingly on point. Having not been active for so long, to get to see them bring that presence back, commanding the crowd with dark industrial grooves was just amazing. Mudvayne continues on their path back to the powerhouse they've been. Hearing the hits live from all of these bands carries an air of nostalgia blended perfectly with present chaos, all begging to just open the pit up.