Ryan McCombs is a linebacker with a killer voice. Ryan McCombs would scare me in real life, but when the dude is on the stage, he owns you and you are okay with this, because its entertainment baby! Drowning Pool’s show on Saturday night had some potential for bad things to happen, but the guys of Drowning Pool are at the very least resilient and McCombs would not let a little mic problem get in the way of a great show.
Starting off the night with “Sinner”, you could feel an energy building from the first note of the song. The band knew that they had a very popular opener in front of them and you kind of felt like that pushed them to really do it well. “Sinner” not only had some good crowd surfing and a good sing along by the crowd, but you could just hear how crisp the band sounded right off the bat. Impressive opener.
After that, you just had this feeling that the whole Drowning Pool show would be strong and for the most part it was. The guitar work all night by CJ Pierce was really well balanced and the sound of the guitar all night was crisp and clear. It is always enjoyable to hear a band just rock out the riffs, but when the guitar work isn’t overly flashy, but really sound in its delivery, well, those riffs gain even more strength.
Bassist Stevie Benton was fun to watch all night as well, the guy has stage presence, which one would think might be a prerequisite to play in a band, but be honest, not every bassist you have seen has the skills of Benton and the ability to keep focused on the crowd and earn their attention. The dude was all over the neck and while I am not trying to say he is the replacement for Steve Harris as most active bassist alive, he is solid and entertaining.
New single, “Enemy” was a hit with the crowd as well. The song rocks, which you expect coming from Drowning Pool, but the live version really brings a lot of energy to a song that is quite strong off the most recent DP CD “Full Circle”. Once again, McCombs voice brought out the energy of the song and while that should be expected, it isn’t always delivered by the bands that I have viewed in the past. McCombs is a true pro and you see that on songs like “Enemy”, which might be singles, but they aren’t: 1…2…3…4!
OK, now the reason why people that don’t know anything else about Drowning Pool would still come out to see them: “Bodies”. The song was a classic from the first time it was played in some record label’s office, but got to admit, took a few listens for me to feel that song. Well, I more than see how cool the song is now, but just to see the reaction of the crowd, the band, the whole scene, was just amazing. Piere’s is a place that I have been many times to see many shows, but something like “Bodies” isn’t a typical thing for a rock show, it is an event and Drowning Pool didn’t do anything to disappoint.
Egypt Central is a Ft. Wayne/Piere’s favorite and I know this due to all of the Egypt Central t-shirts that I saw at the show. The guys have built a following that would make you think that they were from Ft.Wayne, but they aren’t, they’ve just adopted it as a home…or vice/versa.
First thing I noticed was the sound of the band, quite good for the opener…yes I know that Loaded 357 was the “real” opener, but you know what I mean. It was as if the guys from Drowning Pool were being cool to the band before them and letting them use more of the P.A. as opposed to most bands and more of the lighting system was in use too.
John T. Falls has energy, lots of it and he used it to fuel the crowd, but I think the opposite is true as well; the Piere’s crowd really likes Egypt Central and I am pretty sure that the band was totally feeding of the crowd too. This might have been a different show if the place was half full, but it was filled for Egypt Central and they band responded accordingly.
The new single that is dropping on June 23rd was called “Taking You Down” and the first thing I noticed about the song was the complexity of the drumming on the song. This was a fun listen, you gotta love it when a band realizes the strength of the rhythm section and on this song in particular, Egypt Central knew what they were doing.
Lastly, I’d like to point out about the crowd and the wait staff. The crow was quite large at about 8pm, so the staff was working the crowd quite a bit. The wait staff was as courteous as you might expect in a small place, but Piere’s isn’t small and still it was cool to see smiles at 8pm, 9pm, 10pm and on and on. This was a first class show, even if they bands aren’t hitting number one on the charts right now, but both have the potential to stay up high on the rock charts for the foreseeable future.