Pierce the Veil at Upstate Concert Hall: A Singer Stops the Show, and A Band Leaves the Tour

Sunday night, March 5th, Pierce the Veil brought their "Rest in Space" Tour to Upstate Concert Hall!  With an entry line that spanned past the building overhang, and curved around the entire parking lot, the Sold Out crowd of fans (who waited hours for entry and rocked with the Q Crew outside!) definitely got quite the rock show.

One of my current favorites, Crown the Empire, opened the show with about a 30 minute set.  I've seen this band multiple times live, and it's been great to see how much they've grown in popularity over the past year.  However, this is the first time that I had seen them since one of their lead vocalists, Dave Escamilla, parted ways with the band.  With nothing lost, vocalist Andy Velasquez impressed with his power and range, and the band killed it.  They opened their set with 'Zero' off of their most recent album, 'Retrograde,' and ended with a fan favorite- 'Machines' off of their previous album 'The Resistance.'  It was a short but solid set full of harmonies, crowd surfing, with an amazingly energetic crowd who ROCKED after standing for hours in the cold.  If you had doubts about how Crown the Empire would fare after losing one of their main vocalists, don't.  They were awesome.  I just wish the set was longer!

Next up came Falling in Reverse, a band based out of Las Vegas with a hybrid sound spanning from heavy rock and screaming to to pop punk.  Led by vocalist Ronnie Radke, the band garnered tons of high pitched screams as they performed a close to 45-minute set full of energy and aggression. They played songs old and new, and by mid-set got the crowd waving middle fingers in the air with them, instead or waving hands back and forth.  At one point I found myself on the side of the crowd while vocalist Radke started throwing slices of pizza, a veggie platter, and snacks out at the crowd, and then began biting pizza on stage himself.  At another point, security was escorting someone out of the crowd when vocalist Radke stopped the entire set and told the venue to turn the lights on.  Only seconds later, the band restarted the set.  Unfortunately, the band announced yesterday via Twitter that they will no longer be on the tour for the last three stops, due to "unforeseen circumstances"- what these are, I am not sure, but the tour will definitely miss out on their energy and stage shenanigans ( Falling in Reverse Twitter ).

Last up was Pierce the Veil, a San Diego based band, that emerged from the darkness on stage amidst  streams of white lights.  From the second the house music turned off and the band started playing, the crowd roared (and didn't stop!).  You could quickly tell as they began to play just exactly why they could draw a sold out crowd.  They were on point and had such a strong presence on stage.   It was a great concert overall, with a variety of metalcore and pop rock music.  Glad I got to be in the crowd for this one!

Falling in Reverse [Credit: Tatiana][/caption]

Pierice the Veil emerge From the Shadows [Credit: Tatiana][/caption]

Falling in Reverse [Credit: Tatiana][/caption]

Hands up for Crown the Empire [Credit: Tatiana][/caption]