Sunday, February 2, 2020

Five Finger Death Punch, Megadeth and Bad Wolves: Cardiff, Wales, UK

Five Finger Death Punch, Cardiff, 2020
Five Finger Death Punch, Cardiff, Wales, 2020
Five Finger Death Punch, touring Europe and supported by both Bad Wolves and Megadeth - yes, that Megadeth - zoomed into the UK to play two dates, mid-tour: Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena and London's Wembley SSE Arena. Cardiff was a bit more of an adventure - hadn't been there since many, many years - and a little more personal, with a capacity of 5,000 versus the SSE's 12,500. I'm used to seeing them in front of tens of thousands at USA festivals so the smaller venue would be cool; Cardiff is reachable by train, road, bus, and plane, accomodation is more affordable than London... and there are dragons... who can resist dragons! So for this tour, Cardiff was my choice, though I'm sure Wembley was stunning and those who were able to experience both shows must have been ecstatic and there was a teeny, weeny bit of green monster wriggling in my thoughts after the Cardiff show - and a question: why didn't I plan on going to both? (Must not be greedy. Must not be greedy. Must not be greedy. Let everyone have their turn.)

Five Finger Death Punch, Cardiff, 2020
Five Finger Death Punch, Cardiff, Wales, 2020
With show-openers Bad Wolves (so much more than their excellent cover of Zombie), and mega-metal-stars Megadeth playing too (with Dave Mustaine now happily cancer-free), this was a not-to-miss tour.

Five Finger Death Punch, Cardiff, 2020
Five Finger Death Punch, Cardiff, Wales, 2020
Five Finger Death Punch opened with Lift Me Up and the crowd erupted. A full, high-energy, more-up-than-down FFDP setlist including an acoustic Wrong Side of Heaven and ending with The Bleeding. Accompanying the music; visuals including a giant skull and crossed bats, lasers, blasts of pyro that heated the entire arena; two, yes two, explosions of wonderful confetti; Jason Hook rising way, way up into the sky on the  pointy end of a vertig-inducing, tiny platform; dreadlock swirling from Chris Kael's beard and Zoltan Bathory's hair; epic drumming from the new boy, Charlie Engen; and in front of it all, Ivan Moody. Love the hat, Ivan. Love the hat.

Five Finger Death Punch, Cardiff, 2020
Jason Hook, guitar, Five Finger Death Punch
Five Finger Death Punch have a way of involving every person in the audience; whether it's shining flashlights for a birthday song, celebrating sobriety, or simply singing along to the songs. This, together with knowing just how much they do for military veterans and other causes, make the show is a moving experience; if you haven't seen them yet, a) why not and b) it's about time.

The tour continues in Europe throughout February with dates in Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, and Bulgaria. Catch them if you can.

Five Finger Death Punch have a new album, F8, set for release on 28th February and available for pre-order now.

Five Finger Death Punch, Cardiff, 2020
Confetti... Five Finger Death Punch, Cardiff, 2020
Sometimes I'm at a show with an official photo pass and pro cameras; sometimes I'm there to embrace the fan experience. This was definitely the latter - the photos are all phone pics taken from the crowd. Atmospheric maybe - zoomable, poster-size quality, definitely not! You'll find a more photos here. I'm very happy to have shared the experience with one daughter who travelled in from France, two best friends from the East Midlands, and a whole slew of fans from all around the UK and further. Music tourism is great - we should have added on a day, and tickets to the Wales-Italy rugby match too (I'm sure some FFDP fans did just that!)

Photos from previous Five Finger Death Punch shows at Aftershock Festival, Louder Than Life, Chicago Open Air, and Reno Nevada: http://www.alisontoon.com/-/galleries/music/five-finger-death-punch. Previous show and release reviews are scattered throughout this publication.

Here's a preview from the new album: Inside Out, available now:

Just a couple of nothing-to-do-with-the-performance-or-the-band niggles:

  • Timing: people were at the venue early, patiently waiting for 6.30 pm: snaking around the building for what felt like miles. Security clearance was rapid and efficient, and yet so many folks missed part, if not all, of Bad Wolves set - including those who were there specifically to see them. Maybe Motorpoint Arena should have opened the doors thirty minutes or an hour sooner. Someone must have known how long it would take to bring a capacity crowd into the venue - it's not rocket science.
  • Beer: I have been to many, many concerts over many, many years, in many countries and venues, and never have I seen so much spilled beer - and dumped plastic cups - all over the floor, in my hair, and over other people and left in puddles at the end of the show. Back in the day, you wanted to drink (and talk loudly), you stayed in the bar and consumed from oft-reused glass mugs; the venue floor was for the music and the music alone. Would I be a party-pooper to say I preferred that? 
  • Merch prices: the sticker-shock was palpable. I don't know who set the prices for the UK merch (way higher than USA prices) - it might have been the concession at the venue rather than band management - but if they had thought about the average UK salary they'd have known just how far out-of reach many of the items were. If you're someone who resisted a purchase because of the cost, perhaps consider ordering a release bundle for the new album - music and a hoodie together make a much more reasonable offering! (Scroll down to the bottom!) Or at the official UK merch store via the website or on EMP for licensed merchandise. More affordable if you didn't bring home a treasure from the show!

Five Finger Death Punch, Cardiff, 2020
Happy fans, FFDP, Cardiff Motionpoint Arena, 2020