The World War III Tour feat Hollywood Undead – REVIEW

The World War III Tour feat. Hollywood Undead tore its way through the Riviera Theater in Chicago. Along with them came: Asking Alexandria, Borgore, We Came As Romans and D.R.U.G.S. You can check out our review after the break.

Right from the get-go I didn’t know how I felt about the line-up for this show.  I was mostly interested in Hollywood Undead and Borgore before the evening began, but I went into the show with an open mind.  This event was originally planned to take place at the Aragon Ballroom in Uptown Chicago, but due to lower than expected ticket sales the show was moved to the Riviera Theater which is pretty much right across the street.  Called “The Riv” for short, this theater is a cool old-timey looking place that seems to have plenty of history.  Located on Lawrence Ave and Broadway, this theater is in the heart of Uptown Chicago, and it was a pretty decent place to catch a show.

D.R.U.G.S., or Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows was first to take the stage at the Riviera, and this was before the theater even began to really fill up.  The start time for this show was around 4:30 so for those that didn’t play hooky on work or school; it took them some time to fight traffic down to the venue.  The first immediately noticeable thing about the crowd dynamic as D.R.U.G.S. began their set was that the vast majority of the patrons were younger kids that all seemed to go with the skinny jeans and Asking Alexandria t-shirt look.  Despite the weak looking underage crowd, Craig Owens the former vocalist of post-hardcore band Chiodos and current front man of D.R.U.G.S. demanded the crowd to move and participate in the show, and that’s exactly what happened.  The Riviera was a bit small to accommodate mosh pits, circle pits, and especially walls of death, but songs like “The Only Thing You Talk About,” “My Swagger Has A First Name,” and “Sex Life” commanded movement from the crowd.

One thing I can for sure comment on about We Came As Romans is that I enjoyed their set a whole lot more than Asking Alexandria’s.  I almost feel like I would have rather they co-headlined with Hollywood Undead than Asking Alexandria.  The few songs I caught from We Came As Romans were “Mis//Understanding,” “Beliefs,” and the song that I think every fan was waiting to hear, “To Plant A Seed.”  I felt a sense of originality from these guys and I was definitely able to appreciate their stage presence.  I like the fact that these guys have dedicated members to sing both clean and unclean vocals, which to me makes their sold sound seem not so over-processed and fake like some hardcore bands.

Borgore is one act that most concert-goers didn’t seem to understand.  I for one love that a dubstep DJ was put on the WWIII tour; I think Borgore fit into the scene quite nicely, and I think the crowd would have agreed after having heard him perform.  Borgore came on stage and was immediately followed by two pole dancers wearing what looked to be only underwear, who then proceeded to performed on either side of the Israel-native DJ while he did his set.  I’m not sure how the ladies of the audience felt about this, but it was clear the guys at the show were pretty in loved with the combination of pole dancing and dirty dubstep beats.  I was absolutely in awe of Borgore as he played probably the best dubstep I have ever heard.  I’m sure the Riviera’s monster sound system didn’t hurt the cause, but some of Borgore’s choices really made his set.  Some sexually-provocative original material was played, like “Glory Hole,” “Nympho,” and “Love,” but plenty of tracks from other artists were dropped too.  “Bass Cannon” by Flux Pavilion, “Chop Suey” by Sinister Souls, and “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” from Skrillex were all worked into the set as some kind of remix.

After the dubstep was out of the way the crowd seemed ready to push and jump on each other again, and with that Asking Alexandria came out on stage.  They began with a bang; their banner dropped, there were small explosions of smoke, and plenty of cheering.  Asking Alexandria’s backdrop was an extremely large version of the cover from their 2011 album release, “Reckless & Relentless.”  The larger banner featured a trashy looking female bending over in a low-cut top while standing next to a smashed out TV.  Right away as the first song began I knew I wasn’t going to care for Asking Alexandria too much.  “Breathless,” “Dear Insanity,” and “To The Stage” were a few titles of songs that I caught, and they all seemed to feature the same annoying synthesizer sounds and poor vocals.  I also couldn’t help but think that their excessive use of large blasts of fog were a bit cheesy.  I’m sure the fans of these guys that were at the show would crucify me for saying that because it seemed the majority of the Riviera’s crowd loved this band.  Nevertheless, their performance went on without a hitch and after they were through with two encores the crowd only wanted them to come back for more.

Before Hollywood Undead took the stage I think it was obvious what they were going to open with.  The first time I saw these guys was a few months ago at the House of Blues and that was really my first experience with HU, and just like with that show, they once again opened with their smash hit “Undead.”  The energy was immediate from the masked rap rockers and they kept that energy going throughout their entire set.  Their song list was pretty standard, with good choices coming from both of their albums.  “Been To Hell,” “California,” “Lights Out,” “Save Your Soul,” and “City” were a few of the tunes that kept the crowd loudly singing.  The two songs that I was most pleased to hear were “Paradise Lost” and “Bullet,” which the band didn’t play the first time I heard them live.  I liked at this point that the crowd dynamic had completely changed from people pushing each other during all the metal music, to couples just dancing together and enjoying all that was Hollywood Undead.  This was a great way to end the night in my opinion, despite the fact that it seemed most people had left before HU even went on.

If you take some metal bands, throw in some dubstep, add some pole dancing, mix in a little bit of rap/rock, and then add a bunch of excited kids, that’s what this show amounted to.  It was a good time in a cool place, and I wouldn’t hesitate to head to the Riviera again to catch another show sometime.

Information about the review…
Tour: The World War III Tour feat Hollywood Undead
Bands: Hollywood Undead, Asking Alexandria, Borgore, We Came As Romans and D.R.U.G.S.
Reviewer: Michael Nutting
Date: November 8, 2011
Venue:  Riviera Theater in Chicago, IL