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Posted on May 17, 2019
Photo taken by Samantha Carter
On May 12th, 2019, Chicago had some very special visitors. Headlined by Falling in Reverse, the Episode III Tour made its way to the House of Blues for a sold-out show and gave the concertgoers a Mother’s Day to remember. Even though Falling in Reverse may have been the headliner, I was particularly excited for the opening bands – Ice Nine Kills, From Ashes to New, and the spectacular New Years Day.
New Years Day
Photo taken by Samantha CarterAsh Costello, New Years Day
New Years Day is so special, in my opinion, because they are a female-fronted band, which is pretty rare in rock music. Fronted by the absolute legend Ash Costello, they make hard-hitting rock music that makes you want to sing at the top of your lungs while dancing around your bedroom. I’ve been following New Years Day for about four years now, and this show marked my third time seeing the band, so I already knew before the show even started that New Years Day was going to give everything they had and put on a phenomenal performance that draws you in.
Episode III Tour Recap
Photo taken by Samantha CarterNikki Misery, New Years Day
New Years Day hit the stage first, and I was so happy to see that so many fans came out early to see this fantastic band play their set. Coming out with a bang, the band opened up with Come For Me, the third single off of their new album Unbreakable, which was released on April 26th, 2019. The energy in the room during this opening song was so contagious. The crowd was feeding off of the band’s energy and New Years Day was feeding off of the crowd’s energy, so much so that you couldn’t help but nod your head and jump around to the music. After finishing up “Come For Me,” the band went right into the first single off of their 2015 album Malevolence– Kill or Be Killed. Fans knew every word and were screaming the lyrics right back into Ash Costello’s face, something that is such a surreal thing to experience.
Episode III Tour Recap
Photo Taken by Samantha CarterAsh Costello, New Years Day
Transitioning away from original songs, the band played one of their most popular songs, Gangsta, a Kehlani cover off of the “Punk Goes Pop, Volume 7″ album. I personally love this cover so it was incredible being able to see the song played live, and performed well at that. New Years Day then went back to “Unbreakable” and played Skeletons, the first single released back in November of 2018. The opening riff of “Skeletons” is honestly one of my favorite guitar riffs of all time, and seeing guitarists Nikki Misery and Austin Ingerman play it up close made me melt inside (I’m such a sucker for good guitar riffs). I then got the surprise of my life once the band finished playing “Skeletons” – Ash started pulling people from the crowd to stand in front of the barricade to catch crowd surfers during New Years Day’s cover of F***ing Hostile, originally performed by Pantera. After the fans crowd surfed, Ash would even bend down and hug every single crowd surfer or give them high fives WHILE SINGING, which is something that lots of bands don’t do, so I absolutely LOVE her interaction with the crowd.
Episode III Tour Recap
Photo taken by Samantha CarterAustin Ingerman, New Years Day
The band finished up their set with two of my favorite songs – Shut Up, off of “Unbreakable” and Defame Me, off of “Malevolence.” Hearing the fans sing the many, many “whoa’s” during “Defame Me” was something I absolutely NEED to hear again – they were literally louder than Ash, which is INSANE! All in all, Ash Costello is an absolute angel with a fantastic voice that needs to be protected at all costs, and New Years Day is a must-see for anyone who likes rock music. Ash is such a role model to girls all over the world, showing them that, even in a male-dominated industry, women CAN be successful and CAN do what they love. She is a huge inspiration to all, and I highly suggest New Years Day to everyone. SUPPORT FEMALE ROCK MUSICIANS!!!!
Episode III Tour Recap
Photo taken by Samantha CarterAsh Costello, New Years Day
New Years Day Setlist:
Come For Me
Kill or Be Killed
Gangsta
Skeletons
F***ing Hostile
Shut Up
Defame Me
From Ashes to New
Photo taken by Samantha CarterLance Dowdle, From Ashes to New (Exhibit A)
From Ashes to New played next, which I was really excited for because I have never seen them live before. And may I say, they definitely did not disappoint. They gave 110% the entire show and their rapper, Matt, gave a couple of inspirational speeches throughout the night which I thought was so cool. Major shoutout to their guitarist Lance for posing literally any time that he saw my camera pointed at him. Exhibit A (slightly bad picture but it’s so funny I had to include it).
This is the same guy who kept doing kicks and jumps throughout the set, and still, the same guy who decided he was going to crowd surf during Through It All and gave his guitar to his guitar tech before diving into the crowd. I was definitely entertained, which is how all shows should be. I couldn’t recommend From Ashes to New more!
From Ashes to New Setlist:
The Avengers Theme Song
The Future
My Fight
Forgotten
Crazy
My Name
Broken
Through It All
Ice Nine Kills
Photo taken by Samantha CarterSpencer Charnas, Ice Nine Kills
Ice Nine Kills has been one of my favorite bands for almost a year now, so I was a little giddy when they came on stage once From Ashes to New finished their set. I’ve only seen them once before, and it was at Warped Tour in 2018 and I knew I liked two of their songs (I became obsessed shortly after), so I came prepared for their show this time around! Before the set even started though, their preshow playlist was playing and I just want to say that it was all music from horror movie soundtracks, and I honestly was expecting Michael, Jason, and Freddy to all jump out and ambush me. However, once the band came on stage, they were so captivating.
Their entire set is so incredibly theatrical, and they make sure to use props and costumes to connect their performance and songs as part of their horror-theme. The American Nightmare, Stabbing in the Dark, and IT Is The End off of their latest album The Silver Scream (which was my favorite album of 2018) brought all the crowd surfers out and caused the floor to shake so much that I thought I was going to fall through the floor, no joke. Communion of the Cursed, was arguably one of the heaviest songs of the night and I found myself screaming the lyrics so loud that my voice hurt afterward. I may have teared up a little bit (OK… I definitely did) when the band played A Grave Mistake, based off of the movie “The Crow,” which is my favorite song by the band and such an emotional song for me. Truly, Ice Nine Kills is just as good, if not better, live than recorded, which is so hard to do, so if you can get out to one of their shows I can promise you won’t regret it.
Episode III Tour Recap
Photo taken by Samantha CarterRicky Armellino, Ice Nine Kills
Ice Nine Kills Setlist:
The American Nightmare
SAVAGES
The Jig is Up
Thank God It’s Friday
Rocking the Boat
Stabbing in the Dark
A Grave Mistake
Communion of the Cursed
IT Is The End
Falling in Reverse
Photo taken by Samantha CarterRonnie Radke, Falling in Reverse
Falling in Reverse closed out the night and absolutely killed it! They played fifteen songs in total, and with the singer, Ronnie Radke performing while sick, Falling in Reverse gave their all for all fifteen songs. There was also the lovely surprise of Christian “CC” Coma of Black Veil Brides joining Falling in Reverse on drums for this tour. Some standouts from the set definitely include hearing their new song Drugs, which features Corey Taylor of Slipknot and Stone Sour, live for the first time, which I have to say is absolutely fantastic live!
The first song the band played for the encore also stood out – they played All Star by Smashmouth. Before they played the song, Ronnie made an effort to get the fans to create a Wall of Death, which apparently they weren’t doing fast enough since he said: “Y’all got a curfew, man, hurry up!” I never thought I would see a Wall of Death and mosh pit while “All Star” is playing, but there’s a first for everything, right? Hearing Not Good Enough for Truth in Cliché and Situations from Ronnie’s old band Escape the Fate was also a great experience. Overall, I’m giving Falling in Reverse a 10/10!
Episode III Tour Recap
Photo taken by Samantha CarterMax Georgiev, Falling in Reverse
Falling in Reverse Setlist:
I’m Not A Vampire
Rolling Stone
Bad Girls Club
Losing My Mind
Game Over
Losing My Life
Drugs
Fashionably Late
Raised By Wolves
Alone
All Star
Not Good Enough for Truth in Cliché
Drug in Me is You
Situations
Just Like You
Dan Sugarman, Ice Nine Kills
Lance Dowdle, From Ashes to New
Ricky Armellino, Ice Nine Kills
Ronnie Radke, Falling in Reverse
Spencer Charnas, Ice Nine Kills
Danny Case, From Ashes to New
Spencer Charnas, Ice Nine Kills
Ronnie Radke, Falling in Reverse
Overall Thoughts
I cannot stress this enough – the Episode III Tour is an absolute killer tour with four strong bands that can put on a great show. The rest of the tour is either sold out or has low tickets, so if that doesn’t tell you that this tour is good, I’m not sure what will. Keep an eye out for future Chicago shows for these four bands because I honestly can’t recommend these bands enough, particularly New Years Day because, you know… female-fronted band, woman empowerment… we love that!! Go ahead and buy or stream “Unbreakable,” the new album by New Years Day on all of your favorite music platforms! Or if you already are streaming “Unbreakable” 24/7 (and if you are, I love you… keep streaming it!!) and want some new music to listen to, then go buy or stream “The Future” by From Ashes to New, “The Silver Scream” by Ice Nine Kills, or Falling in Reverse’s new single “Drugs.”
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