The “Summer Slaughter Tour” featuring Hatebreed stopped in Milwaukee at The Rave/Eagles Club just this past Sunday, which was its second-to-last date on this tour. It’s no secret that frontman for Hatebreed, Jamey Jasta, loves The Rave — he hosts the Milwaukee Metal Fest at this establishment every spring — because this special show featured two stages of music. The bar stage featured three local metal bands, while the main stage featured the bands on this tour. The set times only overlapped by a smidge, allowing you to watch both stages without missing too much if you wanted to. The diehard barricade fans were only seen at the main stage.
Local bands Toxic Ruin, Micawber, and Molder played their best. I wasn’t in the room for enough of their sets, but despite playing the smaller stage, the room packed in as fans rushed from the main stage to the bar stages for their sets. The steady flow of the audience made sure they caught all of the metal bands playing that day.
The main stage, while delayed by five to ten minutes for each set, got the pit and crowd surfers going from the very start. The lineup included: Incite, Snuffed On Sight, Gore, Gridiron, Bleeding Through, and of course, Hatebreed. Each of the bands came out just owning the stage and running that crowd to keep the mosh pit open. I believe it was Bleeding Through that announced at the intro of their SECOND song that they wanted to see all the crowd surfers and joked, “let’s give security something to do.” Please wait for the fourth song after I’ve left the pit, thanks, please, ha.
I was most impressed by Gore – they were a pleasant surprise as vocalist Haley Roughton displayed jaw-dropping melodic vocals before launching into screams and growls. A woman after my own heart. The metal scene needs more female representation, and I’m loving the new acts that I discover here. She was amazing on stage with her kicks and headbangs. Don’t sleep on Gore.
After all the openers, the band and the man of the hour took the stage. Jamey Jasta entered the stage with full force, and everyone welcomed it with cheers, screams, horns, and singing along to all the songs. The best part was when they brought the ball of death. Hatebreed doesn’t do a wall of death; they do a ball of death. This inflatable ball spanned at eight feet and was a monster. The moshpit did their job and it stayed on course, as fans ran in the circle and kept it afloat. It was such a sight to see. My favorite Hatebreed song, “Destroy Everything,” was used during this time.
The “Summer Slaughter Tour” might be over, but that doesn’t mean Jamey doesn’t have any tricks up his sleeve. We’ve still got time left in this year, so follow all his social media pages to make sure you do not miss any announcements.
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