Hollywood Undead performing at the Fillmore Charlotte on Friday, July 19. Photo by Patrick Bogans
From the moment the masked men of Hollywood Undead hit the stage on Friday night, the crowd at the Fillmore Charlotte knew an insane party was about to start.
The Los Angeles band’s hard rock/rap brings out the hardcore heart in any listener. With their electric rock, Undead uses defining electronic elements and unforgiving rap lyrics – just imagine a strong mix between Eminem and Linkin Park.
And though their music is heavy, it isn’t not hard to listen to – if you’re okay with some pretty uncensored lyrics about sex, drugs and alcohol. The lyrics have a simple, but strong delivery and their most popular songs tend to have repeating choruses and bridges.
At the Fillmore, members of the crowd were already drunk from the beginning, but the aggressive energy of these rock-rappers from California had the crowd completely wasted. Middle fingers were in the air and mosh pits commenced before the band decided to take off their masks.
And aggressive is describing it lightly. In particular for their first three songs, which included the beloved “Undead,” the energy from the stage was unrelenting. Strobe lights didn’t let up, nor should they have. It’s one thing when a band isn’t delivering nearly enough energy to match the lights show behind them. It’s another thing when they are Hollywood Undead.
The forefront vocal members consistently rotated at the mic for certain songs. Their powerful vocal chops made it easy to wonder how they could deliver such forceful performances night after night.
And the bass was severe enough to knock out most of the confetti still stuck in the ceiling from Paramore’s performance at the venue in mid-May.
At one point, Jordon Terrell (vocalist/lead guitarist) brought a kid up on stage to introduce the song, “Comin’ In Hot.” (Yes, this show was all ages apparently – despite the somewhat violent mosh pits and strong lyrical content.)
Terrell spoke about how he smoked some “Carolina Kush” before hitting the stage and mentioned how this was one of the best show he’s ever performed at. He also spoke about their almost rained out performance at Carolina Rebellion earlier this year. “They told us to stop, but we just kept going,” said Terrell.
That pretty much sums up the mentality of Hollywood Undead. Just when you think they’re going to stop or a least bring it down a notch, they crank their levels to 100 and keep on going. And their levels were about at a 101 in Charlotte Friday night.