Avenged Sevenfold has been off the music radar a bit of late in terms of both releasing new material as well as live performances, however, the band has been making the rounds at the tail end of this season’s hard rock and heavy metal festival circuit while also finding the time to sprinkle in a few headlining dates. One of these one-off headlining gigs saw Avenged Sevenfold play to a near capacity crowd at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN back on September 21st alongside touring mates Avatar, Killswitch Engage and Volbeat. Currently in the midst of divorce from their previous record label Warner Bros., Avenged Sevenfold didn’t bring the over the top stage production and accoutrements to the Music City metal crazies this time around. Instead A7X treated the audience to what could only be described as a stripped down stage production that was by far and away an afterthought following the band’s brilliant and at times heart felt two-hour set.
The first half of the band’s performance saw A7X lean heavily on material from their last three releases Hail to the King, Nightmare and their 2007 self-titled release Avenged Sevenfold. A7X separates themselves from most of the other hard rock and metal acts out there today because of the simple fact that every member of the band, including new stickman and former Bad Religion drummer Brooks Wackerman, is a gilt-edged musician. A7X’s superlative level of musicianship along with M. Shadows ever improving vocal range allows the band the freedom to perform any song in their catalogue and as the second half of their set carried on, tracks from classic Avenged records such as Waken the Fallen, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet and City of Evil began to emerge.
One of defining characteristics of A7X in a live setting is their innate ability to create a show environment that feels both intimate and deeply personal even if they are playing to a crowd of 25,000 lunatics. This in turns creates a natural symbiosis with their fan base that comes off beyond genuine and one that serves to strengthen their bond with each and every one of their fans anytime and anywhere the band performs.
The evening’s performance hit its crescendo with back-to-back-to-back blistering takes on three of the A7X’s most treasured songs, “Beast and the Harlot”, “Bat Country” and “Unholy Confessions”. Most of the crowd would have left the arena in state of metal euphoria bliss had the show ended at that point, however, A7X came back out to hit the audience with a three song encore that ended with an extremely emotional as well as transfixing rendition of their ballad “A Little Piece of Heaven.”
One can count on a single hand the number of hard rock and metal acts out there today that can play to arena sized audiences and deliver the musical performances required to win 20,000 dedicated fans over. Avenged Sevenfold continue to prove time and time again that they are still one of the best, if not the best, players in the game. Hopefully the band’s legal matters come to an end soon so the world can have unleashed upon it a new wave of A7X’s brand of metal greatness.
In the meantime, if Avenged Sevenfold just keep showing up to arenas and football stadiums here and abroad, I don’t think they are ever going to lack an audience to play to anytime soon.
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Photos and Review by Bob Forte, RockRevolt PhotoJournalist
