Nonpoint with (Hed) P.E., Sumo Cyco, and VRSTY
Mercury Ballroom
Louisville, KY
December 12th, 2023
Florida alternative rock/metal band Nonpoint brought their recent Million Watts Tour 2023 to Mercury Ballroom to a room full of fans who were ready to rock! Opening the show this evening was New York R&B and post-hardcore/metal band VRSTY who really started things off with a high-energy set. The band layers R&B vocal styles over their heavy grooves to make for their own sound. Singer Joey Varela danced around the stage and really made sure to engage the crowd, leading them in sing-alongs and chatting with them a bit between songs. The band performed songs from their various singles, EPs, and albums, including their most recent album Levitate, released on October 27th. IUt was a great start to the evening! Next up was Canadian alt-metal crossover band Sumo Cyco. Singer Skye Sweetnam, with her pink hair tied up into braided pigtails, was all energy from the first note, dancing and twirling around the stage and standing up on the front of stage platform to engage directly with the crowd! Along with guitarist Matt Drake, bassist Oscar Anesetti, and drummer Joey Muha, they performed various singles and tracks from their various albums, all of which invite listeners into the imaginative conceptual location of “Cyco City”. It was clear that this band lives for the live experience and performing for their fans and were having a great time on stage. That fun and electric energy definitely translated to the crowd, who were giving that energy right back! Next up was long-running punk infused hip-hop band (Hed) P.E.. Formed in 1994 in Huntington Beach, CA by frontman Jahred (Jared Gomes), they fuse the region’s punk rock heritage with G-funk-inflected hip hop, a sound he calls “G-punk”. The crowd was full of fans who were cheering and singing along with the band throughout their set! Jahred chatted quite a bit with the crowd between songs, joking and having fun with them and thanking them for coming out this evening. They played a varied set list from their long career, comprising songs from their many albums, EPs, and singles.
Closing out the evening was Nonpoint. The crowd was hyped up and ready as the dimmed lights brightened, with singer Elias Soriano and the rest of the band blasting onto the stage to a roar of cheers and clapping. Last month, the band released their latest EP, A Million Watts, starting out evenig with a track from the album, “A Million Watts”. Performing a couple of other songs from the EP, “Golden Gloves” and “Wannabe King”, the band performed songs from their many albums, EP’s, and singles since forming in 1997. The band was in good spirits this evening, with Soriano laughing and joking and having fun with the crowd. At one point he asked “How many longtime fans are here tonight? You’ll appreciate this. Our new EP is on cassette tape! But don’t worry. If you don’t have a cassette tape player, we’re selling those too! Get em’ while they last!”. He also kept referring to things as “bananas” in refernce to a guy in the crowd who was wearing a full body banana suit, which garnered a lot of laughs from the crowd! Towards the end of the set, the band performed “That Day”, for which they invited out the singer for Sumo Cyco, Skye Sweetnam. It was a great duet, with the crowd having fun singing along with both singers! The band “ended” their set with the hit “Bullet With A Name”, before leaving the stage and coming back out for an encore. The band ended the evening with “Tribute” from their 200 album Statement, with the crowd going wild for one last song. It was a great night of music that left the crowd wanting more!
VRSTY
Sumo Cyco
(Hed) P.E.
Nonpoint
