A little band called Sevendust knocked Albuquerque to its musical knees Monday.
The Sunshine Theater helped bring in hordes of Albuquerque youth, who showed their unabashed devotion to the still underground thrasher rock band, and the unknown opener, Nonpoint. The two bands didn't pull any punches and gave the audience exactly what they wanted — a raucous, kick-ass rock concert.
Sevendust and fellow innovators Tool have easily become two of the most influential bands within the world of rock since the days of Nirvana and Soundgarden, with up-and-coming techno metal bands such as Disturbed paying homage to them by playing Sevendust covers during their own concerts.
Sevendust has conquered the rock underground with the success of its outstanding self-titled debut album. Songs such as "Black" and "Bitch" opened the rock world's eyes to one of the most talented bands to emerge in the late '90s. The release of its second album, Home, only furthered the band's success when kids everywhere started rocking out to the songs "Denial" and "Waffle."
Doing some hard promotion of its brand new album, Animosity, along with songs from their first two albums, the guys of Sevendust — lead singer Lajon Witherspoon, Clint Lowery and John Connolly on guitars, Vince Hornsby on bass and drummer Morgan Rose — gave a show easily worth using as a basis of comparison for all other rock concerts. The band really worked it that hard.
Finally able to score some commercial success with the video for Animosity's first single, "Praise," which has been circulating on MTV, Sevendust also gave a heartwrenching tribute performance of "Angel's Son" dedicated to all the people lost on Sept. 11 and flight 587 that crashed in Queens, N.Y., Monday killing 260 people heading for the Dominican Republic.
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Emotions ran high during all of Sevendust's performance, as teenagers and 20-somethings had been looking for something to help ease them through the grief, fear and anger they've had to deal with in the wake of the Sept. 11 attack. Sevendust more than provided that outlet with its own combination of music and grief.
A band that has toured relentlessly to reach the top has hooked up with acts such as Creed and played a killer set during Woodstock '99 that managed to steal the show, as well as earning it appearances on "The Tonight Show" and "The Conan O'Brien Show." Sevendust's hard work has finally paid off with its own headlining tour. The Atlanta-based band is ready to kick the world down from there at the top and its performance Monday night was just a superb indication of what awaits the group in the future.
Don't expect these guys to twinkle and fade because they're here for the long haul and ready to kick ass while they're screaming down the road.
