Killswitch Engage

Such an exciting evening tonight being able to be a part of the Killswitch Engage and Parkway Drive concert. I am once again at the Diamond Ballroom in Oklahoma City. This time I would like to start off mentioning the staff at the Diamond Ballroom. We so often take the employees helping direct traffic, making sure everybody finds a parking spot, the bar tenders, and not to forget the security staff making sure everybody doesn’t just have a fun evening but is also safe, for granted. Let me give all of them a very big Thank You!!! It takes a lot to put events together and I have been at many, many different shows at the Diamond Ballroom and I can say I always have had a blast and was well taken care of.

Now let me go on to the entertaining part of the evening. The first band I would like to write about is Killswitch Engage, an American metalcore band which is from Westfield, Massachusetts. The band formed in 1999 and the band members are Jesse Leach – Vocalist, Joel Stroetzel – guitarists, Adam Dutkiewicz – guitarists, Mike D’Antonio – bassist and Justin Foley – Drummer. Killswitch Engage has been very successful and  even won the Metal hammer Golden Gods Award in 2004 for Best Album, and in 2007 won for Best International Band and again in 2014 for Best Live Band; as well as, the Boston Music Award in 2007 for outstanding Metal/Hardcore band of the Year and Act of the Year. The band is working on a new album at this time which is supposed to be released in Fall of this Year and fans are eager to get their hands on it. Tonight the band performed exceptionally and gave us a fun, energy filled, exploding performance. Lights went crazy, the crowd opened up the mosh pit and body surfing went crazy while the vocalist Joel showed off his growling as well as his vocal skills. To get closer to his fans Joel eventually went off stage and joined the crowd going to the bar, while performing. The audience loved every moment and showed it by cheering and rocking out as hard as they possibly could. To top off Killswitch’s evening they ended with DIO’S classic hit “Holy Diver” and they definitely did the song justice.

Killswitch Engage

Setlist:

1. This Fire Burns
2. Rose Of Sharyn
3. The End Of Heartache
4. The Arms Of Sorrow
5. The Hell In Me
6. Just Barely Breathing
7. Take This Oath
8.  Hate By Design
9.  Vide Infra
10.  Always
11.  My Last Serenade
12.  As Daylight Dies
13.  In Due Time
14.  My Curse
15.  Strength Of The Mind
16.  Holy Diver

To see more about the band I placed some links for you to look at

Facebook:                      https://www.facebook.com/killswitchengage

Twitter:                         https://twitter.com/kseofficial

Killswitch Engage:         http://www.killswitchengage.com/

Parkway Drive

While the workers changed the stage set up and got everything ready for Parkway Drive, the Journey song Don’t stop believing was playing and everybody in the Diamond Ballroom started singing along. Sometimes it amazes me how easy a special moment can be created with such simple things.

Quickly time flew by and it was time for Parkway Drive to make their entrance. Parkway Drive was formed in 2003 and is an Australian metalcore band from Byron Bay, New South Wales. The band members are Winston McCall – Vocalist, Jeff Ling – guitarists, Luke “Pig” Kilpatrick – guitarists, Ben “Gaz” Gordon – drums, Jia “Pie” O’Connor – bass. As a metalcore band they have released six albums, one EP, a split album, two DVD’s  and even a book which is titled Ten Years of Parkway Drive. Not to mention, the band reached the top 10 of the Australian ARIA Charts, with their album Ire reaching number 1 in October of 2015.

Tonight the band opened up with the song “Wishing Wells” from their newest album Reverence which was released May 4^th 2018. They also performed the songs “Prey”, “Cemetery Bloom”, “The Void”, “Absolute Power” and “Shadow Boxing” off the same album.  The crowed loved the bands performance and went absolutely nuts. Another mosh pit was created and the body guards had a hard time keeping up catching all the body surfers. It was a crazy atmosphere and when I say crazy I mean insane fun crazy. People just let go of all their daily worries and enjoyed themselves to the max. The band also performed “Vice Grip”, “Dedicated”, “Crushed” and “Bottom Feeder” off of their IRE album, which was released September 25^th 2015. Of course there had to be a few of the older tunes like “Carrison”, from the album Horizons which was released October 9^th 2007, “Karma” from the album Deep Blue released in 2010 and “Wild Eyes” off the album Atlas, released October 30^th 2012.

The show was great and this evening was a full on success!! The band put on an outstanding performance and the audience was well entertained throughout the whole evening. I can say this is another night to remember!!

Parkway Drive

Set list:

1. Wishing Wells
2. Prey
3. Carrion
4. Vice Grip
5. Dedicated
6. Cemetery Bloom
7. The Void
8. Karma
9. Absolute Power
10. Shadow Boxing
11. Wild Eyes
12. Crushed
13. Bottom Feeder

Go check these guys out as well at the following links:4

Facebook:                 https://www.facebook.com/parkwaydrive

Twitter:                    https://twitter.com/parkwayofficial

Parkway Drive

Parkway Drive:        http://parkwaydriverock.com/

Parkway Drive and Killswitch Engage

Diamond Ballroom, Oklahoma City-OK, April 24th  2019

Reviewed by RacerX / BackStage360

Images: Billy Esquibel / BackStage360

Email: Michelle@backstage360.com