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A7X/Buckcherry/Papa Roach/Burn Halo
| March 21st, 2009 @ Giant Center |
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by Courtney Campbell
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Avenged Sevenfold, Buckcherry, Papa Roach and Burn Halo invaded Hershey Pa on the 21st of March. This was a line up that was sure to pack an arena and considering the price of concert tickets, the $35 price was a bargin for this line up. Although each of these bands side towards the heavier side of rock, they have different fan bases which was definitely evident in the audience. Their were lines snaking around the building prior to doors opening for those wanting to get their places up close on the GA floor as well as those looking for that perfect spot in the GA seats.
The night kicked off with Burn Halo whos debut album was soon to be released. Great to see this band on a bigger stage with a bit of production seeing that we had been seeing them quite frequently over the past couple of months. One would have thought they were an East Coast band with the amount of appearances they had made out here. Although the band is new, frontman James Hart is not a newcomer and knows how to work a stage and a crowd. Their single "Dirty Little Girl" has been getting quite a bit of play and was definitely a crowd favorite. The band definitely gained new fans this night and that was surely evident in the cds that they sold. After their set they came out into the crowd to meet people and were easily noticed by the clumps of fans around them.
 As with each Papa Roach show, Shaddix came out into the crowd and sang. Security had to scramble to keep up with him. I could overhear the security guys talking prior to the band going on about how the singer would go out into the crowd but nobody knew when. Of course their set ended with "Last Resort"
This was a co-headlining tour for Buckcherry and Avenged Sevenfold and tonight it was Buckcherry that was direct support. Even if frontman Josh Todd's inter-song banter leaves something to be desired, you cannot help to sing along to songs like "Lit Up" and "Crazy Bitch". Buckcherry knows how to bring it whether they are the headliner or the direct support. They also used the entire stage with its ramps to its full potential.
Avenged Sevenfold closed out the night. Avenged have been on the road in support of their self-titled cd now for almost a year and a half and are at their winding down point. At times during this set, they almost appeared to be bored. They had big stage production but didn't really use the stage set up at all.
I hate to say that because I love this band both live and on CD but it was as though they were just going through the motions. Maybe I've just seen them a bit too much, who knows. Being it was a co-headlining set and not just an A7X headlining set, the crowd didn't get "A Little Piece of Heaven" but that didn't matter. The set was heavy of songs from their current album but of course hit highlights from City of Evil as well as "Unholy Confessions" from Waking the Fallen for their long time fans. In the midst of the set was a solo by guitarist Synyster Gates which considering this was a shorter set than a normal headlining set, it would have been better to see another song by the band. This is a band that with their last album showed their diversity and I know that I for one cannot wait to see what they come up with next.
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