All That Remains/Lacuna Coil/Maylene and the Sons of Disaster Tour Hits The Starland Ballroom

Last Friday night, I was fortunate enough to see four great bands at the Starland Ballroom. The first band was one I had never heard before, Taking Dawn, from Las Vegas. Their set was obviously influenced by 80’s metal, with a little bit of a faster pace. Lead vocalist/guitarist Chris Babbitt was very animated while working the crowd onstage, and even moving out into the crowd, and playing his solos in the middle of the circle pit. All of these antics combined with an off-color yet spot on cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” got me intrigued about what to expect from Taking Dawn in the future.

Up next was Maylene and the Sons of Disaster. They opened up their set with their current hit “Step Up (I’m On It)”, and only went uphill from there. The set that they played was very heavy on the Southern rock influence, and it was easy to see that the guys were having a good time, which in turn got the crowd into the show. Maylene puts on a great show, and would definitely fit a headlining spot well.

Lacuna Coil came on next, to raucous ovations from the entire crowd. From the opening riff to “Survive”, all the way to the end of “Our Truth”, there was no shortage of energy from anyone in the venue. Cristina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro were definitely getting the audience worked up for every single song, and put on an amazing show.



Finally, it was time for the headlining act, All That Remains. The fun started when the band came out to “Nothin’ But a Good Time” by Poison, and then going right into “Before the Damned” as soon as they got onstage. It was easy to tell that the band was having fun onstage; while playing, you could see smiles on the faces of the members, and Phil Labonte was humorous with his crowd work. A good mix of tracks were played from This Darkened Heart, The Fall of Ideals, and Overcome, and fans were able to hear all of ATR’s most well known tracks, including “This Calling”, “Forever in Your Hands”, and the smash single “Two Weeks”.


With the mainstream success of All That Remains, the Starland Ballroom was packed, and I have a feeling that none of them were disappointed.


-Melldawg




[All photos courtesy of Nicole Stapinski]