Awolnation

Goldenvoice presents Awolnation with special guests Middle Class Rut and Twin Atlantic on November 3, 2011 at the Music Box in Hollywood, CA.

Doors opened to an array of fans, many of which, being in their twenties and early thirties, wearing the casual jeans and t-shirt. During most opening performances, fans don’t even bother showing up, let alone watching the bands; but surprisingly, there was a packed house for both openers, Twin Atlantic and Middle Class Rut.

The curtains covering the stage levitated upward as the lights dimmed. The crowd chanted “Awol, Awol, Awol”. The intro, “Megalithic Symphony” played on a darkened stage while the crowd cheered in excitement. Instantly after, silhouettes of the band members appeared on stage and the band went into “Guilty, Filthy, Soul” which got the crowd swaying and singing along to the catchy tune.

Singer Aaron Bruno thanked the mellow crowd and asked who the first crowd surfer of the night was going to be. He pointed into the audience, picking certain people who he thought would be 1^st to crowd surf; but ultimately, it was he, who started it off for the night. Only a couple of songs into the set, Bruno hopped down from the stage and stood atop of the barricade, as fans reached out for him. He bent his legs and hopped into the sea of hands awaiting him. Though the crowd was mellow, they carried many other crowd surfers throughout the night. Security rushed over and pulled him out as fast as they could and put him back on stage.

The band continued their interesting genre of dance, electronic and rock with songs including, “Not Your Fault”, which the crowd waved their arms in the air to; “Kill Your Hero’s’, which Bruno jumped to while encouraging the crowd to do the same; and “Soul Wars”, which everyone on stage head banged to, and everyone in the crowd had their hands in the air while they jumped up and down. By then, the mellow crowd got more comfortable and more and more crowd surfers started coming. People in their thirties and in high heels crowd surfed, along with the young teens. Even during the slower song, “All I Need”, while people waved around their lighters, people crowd surfed.

Bruno continuously thanked the crowd and shared how he was glad the band was back home in California. They went into “Joke” a never released song, Bruno, once again telling everyone to jump, which they did. Bassist, David Amezcua and keyboard and rhythm guitarist, Kenny Carkeet, regularly encouraged the crowd to clap their hands and put their fists in the air. After “Joke” came to a close, the band, instantaneously went into their most known and one of their most popular songs, “Sail”. The crowd went crazy singing along to every word.

With the setlist winding down, “Burn it Down” started. Carkeet disappeared from his spot near the keyboards and jumped down from the stage and stood on the barricade. The crowd was filled with heaps of energy and were ready for anything as they all tried to touch him. “We’re not a fucking metal band, we’re not an alternative band, we’re not a rock band; we’re just fucking music that we like to play. So thank you for joining us.” Bruno said in the middle of the song. Moments later Carkeet leaped into the air and plopped on the pillow of hands waiting for him. He quickly “surfed” his way to the back of the venue, near the bar area. He was laughing as he pointed to be taken back to the stage. Eventually he made it back, in time a song to end.

“I went all the way over there”. Carkeet said as he pointed to the back of the venue.

“I even ordered a drink while I was at the bar” Carkeet joked.

Carkeet seemed to be a “joker” of the band, for after he crowd surfed and “ordered his drink at the bar”, in the midst of the next song, he jumped atop of a man who came out and helped sing a song with Bruno earlier in the show, and was carried across the stage, flailing his arms.

“This might sound cheesy, but put your arm around the person next to you.” Bruno said, and both the crowd and Carkeet and Amezcua obliged as the band went into their next song.

As the tune for “MF” started to play, Bruno asked everyone to get really low. He crouched over, while rapping the lyrics of the song and they all instantly jumped up together as focal point in the rap came in. Though it was a different type of song than the others, the crowd jumped up and down, through the entire thing. After “Burn It Down” Bruno told the crowd, “This is the time where I would have a Bon Jovi moment and go off stage and then come back to perform another song, but I’m not going to do that.”

The band’s last song was a great song to finish the night off with. It was ironically funny because the members who were doing backing vocals made it sound as if they were singing in a choir, with high pitched voices singing the lyrics, “Dance baby, dance, like the world in ending” Bruno and drummer Hayden Scott switched places, both showing their duality of skills. Scott switched over to Bruno’s guitar, while Bruno took over Scott’s drum set. As the song came to a close, the band was not yet finished. Bruno, for one last time, jumped into the crowd and “surfed” around until he got back on stage. When back on stage, the band played the intro for Rage Against the Machine’s “Bull’s on Parade”, headbanging away.