Victim of the New Disease Tour

Victim of the New Disease Tour Concert Review
By Gina Dierolf

On February 28th, 2019 I attended a concert at the Reverb in Reading, Pennsylvania. The bands who performed were Vitruvia, Sleep Signals, Escape the Fate, Attila, and All That Remains. Tickets were fairly cheap, $22.00 (I received my tickets for free since I won a contest sponsored by Vertigo Music) and the doors opened at 5:30 PM and it would appear that concert had begun at around 6:00 PM.

Vitruvia was the opening band to perform during this concert. They are a local Pennsylvania band that I have seen numerous times and each time their set is a blast and they have an energetic stage presents that makes you want to be a part of the action. I was only able to catch the last two songs in their set this time since the line to get into the venue was very long and the concert had started earlier than I assumed it would. I believe Vitruvia had played a fifteen to twenty-minute set which included and array of songs. Vitruvia consists of four members, Dana Hinnershitz (Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Keyboards), Christian Howell (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Kris Morganti (Bass Guitar/Vocals), and Travis Harwick (Drums/Percussion). Vitruvia work very well together on stage and are always in sync with one another during their performance. Kris Morganti adds to the atmosphere of Vitruvia with his screaming abilities. Also, after their set they always can be seen out on the floor enjoying the other bands performing and talking to/taking pictures with their fans old and new. Vitruvia is always a pleasure to see live.

Set List:

1. Once an Angel
2. Bloodlines
3. Power Rangers Theme Song
4. Before I Wake
5. Mr. Highway
6. It’s Not Over Now

The second band to play was the Minneapolis based band Sleep Signals. I thought that they put on a very good show as well. They have positive energy on stage and their lyrics are well written. On stage they are able to draw a crowd and get them to participate in the songs and atmosphere of the show. Their set time was around twenty to thirty minutes long. After their set they also hung around to meet with fans and support the other bands.

Escape the Fate was the third band in the line-up to play their set. Escape the Fate originates from Las Vegas, Nevada and is composed of four members, only one being a part of the original line-up (Robert Ortiz). The current members of Escape the Fate are Robert Ortiz (Drums/Percussion), Craig Mabbitt (Lead Vocals), Thomas “TJ” Bell (Rhythm Guitar/Bass Guitar/Vocals), and Kevin “Thrasher” Gruft (Lead Guitar, Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals). This was my second time seeing Escape the Fate perform and my third time seeing Craig Mabbitt perform. Everytime that I see them perform I am never disappointed. Their set time in my opinion could have been longer I don’t feel like played that many songs or maybe I was just that engrossed in their set that the time seemed to go by very fast. All of the members of Escape the Fate work very well together and are never in one place on the stage for very long, they always seem to be moving around. Craig Mabbitt is a very good live singer, you can’t tell any difference between his love and studio recordings, which blew my mind the first time I heard him sing live with Dead Rabbitts. Also, Kevin Gruft is a very good guitar player which stood out doing their set this time because there were moments where it would just be him playing and it was outstanding. After their set Robert, Craig, and Kevin came out to talk with fans and take pictures. During “One for the Money” Kevin also took himself and his guitar out into the audience and was crowd surfing around until he was ushered back to the stage. They were very nice and willing to listen and have conversations with all of their fans and the people in line waiting to see them, which is not something you normally encounter with ‘big’ bands. I also, decided to buy a shirt from their merch table since they were the main reason I had decided to go to this concert.

Set List:

1. Do You Love Me
2. Ungrateful
3. Digging My Own Grave
4. Empire
5. This War Is Ours (The Guillotine II)
6. Just a Memory
7. Broken Heart
8. One for the Money

The Last band at this concert that I had stayed for was Attila, and I only stayed for about two songs of their set, because I was in line to meet with Escape the Fate. Attila is a metalcore band that originates from Atlanta, Georgia. They consist of four members, Chris “Fronz” Fronzak (Lead Vocals), Chris Linck (Guitars), Kalan Blehm (Bass/Backing Vocals), and Bryan McClure (Drums). A lot of the other individuals in the crowd were hyped up and excited for Attila to play, so it seems like they have a very intense and big fan following. It would also appear that many of the people in the crowd were into their set, since before I left a lot of individuals were singing along and and moving around to the music. I did not stay for their set because I had tried listening to them previously and I couldn’t get into them. In my opinion I can only describe them as an even more horrible version of Insane Clown Posse with a hint of Hollywood Undead. They were set to play an hour long set according to a paper sitting on the merch table for All That Remains. I am unsure if Attila did free meet and greets like the previous three bands.

Set List:
1. Perdition
2. Three 6
3. About That Life
4. Bulletproof
5. Moshpit
6. Middle Fingers Up
7. Shots for the Boys
8. Party with the Devil
9. Bad Habits
10. Villain
11.Proving Grounds
12. Pizza

All That Remains is a heavy metal band from Springfield, Massachusetts. They are composed of five members, Philip Labonte (Lead Vocals), Mike Martin (Rhythm Guitar), Jason Costa (Drums), Aaron Patrick (Bass/Backing Vocals), and Jason Richardson (Lead Guitar). From my observation they appear to have a strong fan following and a lot of people were pumped to see them perform on stage. They didn’t have an allotted time set to play, the list said that they went on at about 9:30 PM and played until the end. I believe they were having fans pay to meet and greet with them for $40.00 after the show was completed since they had a sign up at their merch table to sign up for it or for $30.00 if you bought $20.00 worth of merch from their table. I had decided to buy one of their shirts because I really like what it had said on the front and back of the shirt.

All in all I believe that this was a very entertaining concert and all of the bands seemed to go together well and really engaged the audience. I believe this was a sold-out show, which doesn’t happen very often during concerts at the Reverb. I enjoy going to the Reverb for concerts since the club is pretty close to my house and since it is a nightclub set up it allows you to have more intimate opportunities to see bands perform and to even meet them. MY only negative concern about the Reverb is that I feel like they need better or maybe updated equipment because during some of the set’s mics were cutting and out and some people were singing but their mics just were not working. Also, sometimes there is horribly feedback coming through the amps/speakers. But hey, maybe that why it’s called Reverb? I do feel like the merch prices set at this concert were pretty expensive compared to other concerts I have attended at the Reverb, I paid $25.00 for one t-shirt which means collectively I paid $50.00 for two shirts. I also believe that the venue or bands could have reworked set times and the times that individuals were allowed to enter the venue, because I believe they were still people on who were on the will call list in during Escape the Fate and Attila’s set. This means that if anyone was hoping to see the opening bands, they either caught the end of their set or missed most of their performances. This experience just taught me to make sure that you get physical or printed tickets each time you go to a concert, which I normally always do!)