The Psychotherapy Sessions Tour with Mudvayne, Coal Chamber, GWAR, Nonpoint & Butcher Babies made a stop in the valley and took over Arizona Financial Theatre. What an amazing lineup that brought back some great memories growing up. With growing up listening to Coal Chamber and Mudvayne from the early to mid 90’s and seeing them many times from the years past I was excited to see this team up once again.
With the temps in the 115+ outside that didn’t stop the fans from showing up early for this one. I arrived about 3:30 to get my VIP sorted for the Mudvayne pack and already had fans a head of me. Much of the talk from fans was about when they last saw Coal Chamber live and if they would still stand up to the old days. But we had to wait and see if that would be the case.
Opening the night would be Butcher Babies. Unfortunately, during the first three songs they had some pretty bad audio issues, but that didn’t stop them from coming out strong. With the high energy Heidi, Carla and Henry ran around the stage like it was their first show in years. Opening with “Red Thunder” before thrashing right into “Monsters Ball.” Each track had the duo seamlessly interweaving vocals as the rest of the band kept the pace at a fever pitch. Their set had fans banging heads all the way through to “Magnolia Blvd.” Butcher Babies provide the perfect spark to start the fire that is a show on the Psychotherapy Sessions Tour.
Butcher Babies Setlist: Red Thunder – Best Friend (Saweetie Cover) – Monsters Ball – BEAVER CAGE – It’s Killin’ Time, Baby! – Last December – Magnolia Blvd
After clearing the stage it was time for Nonpoint! Based out of Ft. Lauderdale, FL, this heavy metal band is fronted by Elias Soriano on vocals, with Robb Rivera on drums, Adam Woloszyn on bass, and Rasheed Thomas and Jasin Zeilstra on guitars! Nonpoint shows no signs of slowing down, having released their most recent single, “A Million Watts,” mere weeks ago in mid-July. The track off their upcoming EP Heartless, expected out November 17th, was one of a few on display for the Phoenix crowd.
Nonpoint hits the stage with one of the oldest and most popular songs in “Victim”. The crowd responds with fists in the air and “devil horns” flying. As the set progresses, they energize the crowd with yet another oldie, but ever popular “What a Day”. Rivera, who always sets his kit up sideways so he can engage the crowd, does so by hitting the kit extra hard while engaging the crowd.
In the short set, they included their brand-new single, “A Million Watts”. This draws a nice pop from the crowd. Before the roar can quiet, it swells again as they lead into “Chaos and Earthquakes”. The set rounds out with the ever popular “Bullet with a Name”! The crowd jumps and dances along with band and rewards them with a huge cheer and round of applause as the band bids goodnight to all in attendance.
Nonpoint Setlist: Victim – Dodge Your Destiny – What a Day – A Million Watts – Chaos and Earthquakes – Ruthless – Bullet With a Name
Virginia’s Shock Rock act GWAR was up third. The band clad in barbaric costumes joined the stage, ready to cool off fans in their own special way, drenching the masses in enough stage blood to have any movie earn a hard R rating. Starting off with the opening track “Hail, Genocide!” the sci-fi-infused metal band put on quite the show. Two tracks later, for “Mother Fucking Liar,” the band brought out a representation of Vladimir Putin, who put up a fight but was ultimately and literally ripped apart in front of the Phoenix crowd. Regardless of what song they were playing; GWAR could find a reason to get the blood flowing. The cheering and screaming from the crowd only seem to goad them into further violence.
GWAR Setlist: Hail, Genocide! – The Cutter – Mother Fucking Liar – Sick of You – Completely Fucked – Let Us Slay – Fuck This Place – Berserker Mode – If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)
Three bands down, and only the headliners remained. It’s not surprising to see Nu-Metal making a comeback as of late. In this sometimes watered-down, overprotective world we live in, it’s no surprise that some are once again turning to the unapologetic and defying nature of the genre.
Coal Chamber has been an off and on band over the last several years. They recently reunited to play the Sick New World Festival in Las Vegas and became a part of the Psychotherapy Sessions tour shortly after that. But given the pauses in their career, they came out swinging and the crowd was clearly happy to be a part of their return!
The foursome surprisingly opened up with arguably their biggest hit in “Loco,” perhaps trying to draw in fans as quickly as possible. Other fan favorites, “Fiend” and “Big Truck,” rounded out the first three songs, providing fans a refresher course on why Coal Chamber was so beloved in the first place. After covering Flood’s “Rowboat,” a couple of songs later, Dez began chatting with the crowd between tracks, having fun with fans and getting them hyped up for more tracks.
Rascón often came to the center, crouching low for his solos. Cox often playing with his eyes closed or with a very intense look on his face showed the emotion that always goes hand-in-hand with music. Peulen danced and swayed with the beat with her hair blowing in all directions. The full set included a good variety, only leaving songs from 1999’s Chamber Music off the setlist. “Sway” would provide a satisfying closing to Coal Chamber’s time on stage.
Coal Chamber Setlist: Loco – Fiend – Big Truck – I.O.U. Nothing – Rowboat – Drove – Dark Days – Oddity – Another Nail in the Coffin – Something Told Me – Sway
With four of the five act’s out of the way, Mudvayne’s large banner was draped over the front of the stage while the crew set up for the headlining act. The tour marks Mudvayne’s first headlining tour in nearly a decade and a half, not counting a shared headlining tour with Rob Zombie last year. The heavy metal band that formed in Peoria, IL in the mid-90s. The group consists of guitarist Greg Tribbett, drummer Matthew McDonough, bassist Ryan Martinie, and Chad Gray on vocals.
As fans became antsy for the band, the lights went dark, and the band kicked off their performance with “Not Falling” as the banner dropped to reveal the band; Frontman Chad Gray, guitarist Greg Tribbett, rhythm guitarist Marcus Rafferty, and bassist Ryan Martinie in full-faced horror-style makeup. Gray spent much of the performance as close as possible to the crowd, often perched on one of the front speakers, praising the crowd with “Phoenix, you’re fucking incredible.” There are a lot of great front men in metal, but in my opinion, no one embodies what a true front man is better than Chad Gray.
As the band played “World So Cold”, the crowd was encouraged to take out their phones and light up the room Four songs into an already fantastic set, the banner behind the band was swapped out for one with a conjoined skeleton of an angel and devil against a black canvas during “World So Cold.” Cuts of “A New Game” and “Severed” followed as Gray and the band gave it all on stage, giving quite an emotional performance. “Death Blooms” was next as the band dove into the second half of the set. “Dull Boy” would lead to another change in banners, this one simply having “Mudvayne” against a black background. When the mosh pit worked together to quickly help a downed fan, Gray quickly urged them on, stating how he loved how metal fans knew how to pick up their own when they were down and out. .
While he couldn’t be easily seen through his massive drum kit, Matthew McDonough pounded through every song with extreme precision. And not to be forgotten; touring guitarist Marcus Rafferty stayed towards the back of the stage, dressed in all black with pure white make up. His contributions to the show were extremely important.
Mudvayne show is the respect shown to the photographers in the pit. Both during the show and on social media, Gray thanks us for being there and encourages us to share our photos online and tag him in them. In today’s world, that kind of respect for the media is rare! As the show came to an end, Gray dove into the crowed and sang the entire song, ”Happy” with a smile on his face. No one walked away from this show disappointed. All five bands had great performances with each one feeding off the previous band’s energy.
Mudvayne Setlist: Not Happy – Under My Skin – Internal Primates Forever – World So Cold – A New Game – Severed – Death Blooms – Fish Out of Water – Dull Boy – Determined – Nothing to Gein – Dig – Happy?
All photos by: Adam Messler
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Mudvayne
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