Hurricane Over South Bend

Written By Nathan Holt
Photo By Nathan Holt

If the combined force of Theory of a Deadman, Pop Evil and Stellar Revival didn’t sell out Club Fever in South Bend, Indiana, they definitely packed the place close enough. Normally when fans show up, they impatiently wait through opening bands until the headliner(s) finally come on. Tonight was a little bit different.

Opening up the show that night was a great upcoming band called Stellar Revival. Right from the moment they took the stage lighting, sound and their stage presence was nothing of an opening band, but that of a headliner. Making the crowd feel like they were part of the show was only one high point as they blasted out six songs titled “Watch You Walk Away,” “Edge of a Dream,” “Saving Grace,” “Love, Lust and Bad Company” and their rocking single “The Crazy Ones.” Without an album yet, the band will be releasing their debut album Love, Lust and Bad Company in June and you won’t want to miss it because they have the potential to do some great things in the future with the sampling of what was heard that night.

The Michigan rockers Pop Evil were up next, bringing a darker set but still giving the crowd everything they had. Lead singer Leigh Kakaty got the crowd yelling by adding South Bend and Indian’s name in random parts of songs. Speaking of songs, all their hits were included like “Somebody Like You,” “Breathe,” “100 in a 55,” “Hero” and a few others including “Daisy Chain,” “Purple,” and “Broken & Betrayed.” Wrapping up their set with “Monster You Made Me” and “Boss’s Daughter,” the highlight of the show was their final song “Last Man Standing” when Kakaty walked out on the crowd’s hands to sing. You could say it was quite uplifting.

Canadian Theory of a Deadman seem to like to flaunt that they’re from Canada by kicking off their set with the song “Blame Canada” from South Park. It was followed by songs like “Gentleman,” “Got It Made,” “All or Nothing” and “Bitch Came Back.” Before beginning “So Happy,” lead singer Tyler Connolly got the crowd into their set with a yelling match between the two sides of the venue. He always seems to be the only one of the band that talks and jokes with the crowd, but they didn’t seem to mind at all. The colorful lighting was good, but the spotlight literally seemed focused on Connolly while very little light was on bassist Dean Back or guitarist Dave Brenner who definitely deserved a little bit more.

After “Nothing Can Come Between Us,” they played “their most popular breakup song ” “Not Meant To Be.” After their title track off their newest album “The Truth Is.. (I Lied About Everything),” Connolly introduced the next segment, asking the crowd if they had heard of MTV and how back when the M used to stand for music (“and now it means Snooki Television”) there was a segment called “MTV Unplugged.” The band played acoustic versions of “Out of My Head,” “Easy to Love You” and “Better Off” while the crowd sang along.

After the acoustic set, the band wrapped up their set with “Lowlife,” “Santa Monica,” a J.J. Cale cover of “Cocaine” and their hit “Hate My Life.” Beforehand Connolly told the crowd how ridiculous ticket prices are and how they try and keep their prices low as possible for the fans. “Most artists forget that without you beautiful people, there is no us. We came here to see you, as cheesy as it sounds. We’re going to sing this next song for everyone here about having a bad day.”

After leaving the stage, there came flashes of white light to the sound of lightning before the band performed an encore of “Hurricane” and then wrapped up the night with the crowd favorite “Bad Girlfriend” with a “Paradise City” by Guns N’ Roses intro included.

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