Falling in Reverse, with All That Remains, at Skyway Theatre, Minneapolis (27 Sep 2017)

Stepping in at the last minute was local metal band By The Thousands (bassist Adam Sullivan, drummer
Carlos Monserrate, guitarist
Dustin Korth, guitarist
John Riviere, and vocalist
Hondo Torres-Pena). We previously caught them in Iowa in 2015 and noted, “Their music sounded great, as always. It was clean and tight and perfect. I could hear the people around us talking about how great they sounded and I couldn’t help but let the smile creep across my face.”


If you’ve never seen By the Thousands, sometime they have a “Cookie Monster” metal sound, and by the end of their set, singer Hondo Torres-Pena would often do some heavy head banging with his hair let loose.



Massachusetts-based All That Remains (Philip Labonte
Oli Herbert, Mike Martin, Jason Costa, and Aaron Patrick) came on next, playing some tracks from the new album Madness (Razor & Tie Records). All That Remains is unique in that they crossed over many musical genre, including pop/punk and country music, which they demonstrated with a cover of the great Garth Brooks’ ‘The Thunder Rolls’. Believe me, you haven’t lived until you see body surfing to a country song.



When asked why they decided to cover ‘The Thunder Rolls’, former Shadows Fall and current All That Remains vocalist, Phil Labonte said, “We’re continuing to push what people’s notion of what All That Remains is and what we’re allowed to do and what we’re willing to do, in what ways we’re willing to go and experiment… That’s always our point — How can we reach out to new people?”



We last saw the group at the Skyway Theatre in 2015, when they were touring for The Order Of Things (their 7th studio album on Razor & Tie).



Now back with Madness (also on Razor & Tie), this is one of the band’s biggest hit album to date, hitting #1 US Top Hard Rock Albums and #9 US Top Rock Albums charts. The band was obligated to play a few tracks from the album, including the previously mentioned Garth Brooks cover and the title track, ‘Madness’ which started their set.



Highlight of their set was ‘What If I Was Nothing?’, a song done in the styles of “an 80s power ballad”, as Labonte explained. It was as epic as you would imagine the song to be live.



Falling In Reverse (singer Ronnie Radke, rhythm guitarist Derek Jones, bassist Zakk Sandler, guitarist Christian Thompson, and drummer Chris Kamrada) was last seen touring with Atreyu for their Christmas Vacation tour, right after their Supervillains Tour (with Attila, Metro Station, and Assuming We Survive), and now they are on their Coming Home Tour. At this point, the band is never going back home to Las Vegas.



Although it was clear that vocalist Ronnie Radke was sick, due to his raspy voice, Radke said he wouldn’t cancel the show because of his fans. He gave it his all, jumping, screaming “mother****rs!” and being his usual hyperactive self. If this was an ill Radke, wait until you see Radke in tip top form.



Although their new album Coming Home just came out, they did play it a little safe by playing some of their biggest hit from their #1 third album Just Like You, such as ‘God, If You Are Above …’, which, a woman fan in the front had taken off her bra and tossed it to Radke.


The remainder of their set was basically dedicated to Coming Home, so if you love the new album, you’ll love this current tour.