Chiodos
May 5, 2014
House of Blues- Los Angeles, CA
Although Cinco De Mayo festivities were going on all around Los Angeles on Monday, May 5, 2014; the real celebration was at the House of Blues. No, fans didn’t gather to reminisce about the battle between Mexico and France many years ago, but instead, they came to celebrate Chiodos’ fourth studio album, Devil which released on April 1, 2014.
Almost a month into the tour, the Devil’s Dance Tour began on Cinco De Mayo the same all the other stops began, with openers 68, Our Last Night and Emarosa. Each band brought something new to the table and were getting the anxious crowd hyped up and ready for the main act.
Following the curtain dropping and Emarosa’s stage set up being taken down, chanting began, growing louder by the chant. “Chiodos! Chiodos!”, the fans hollered in anticipation. As the chants died out, it took only a couple minutes for them to pick up again, the excitement being felt with every syllable that was yelled. At promptly 10:00pm the lights dimmed, the curtain rose, and the hands and Iphones were in the air, ready.
One by one the band members entered from stage right, taking their rightful spots in front of the ecstatic audience. As lead singer, Craig Owens took the stage, the band went into Ole Fishlips Is Dead Now the first of what would be a 15 song set. It didn’t take long for Owens to feel the energy in the room, as moments into the first song, he was already in the crowd, holding onto the hands of his adoring fans; he did the same by the third song, There’s No Penguins in Alaska only that time, standing atop of the hands of the fans. The night would continue with his constant fan interaction and appreciation. Just a couple songs into the set, he gave the fans a oldie but a goodie from his former band D.R.U.G.S, playing The Only Thing You Talk About.
These post-hardcore rockers put their own twist on a hard rock show, giving fans a one of a kind, classical style keyboard solo (also known as U.G. Introduction) by Bradley Bell, which fans reacted to in the most positive way, cheering him on the whole way through. The solo 
was followed by We’re Talking About Practice but not without an introduction by a voice recording of former NBA player, Allen Iverson talking about, you guessed it- practice;
“We are talking about practice. Not the game. Not the game that I go out there and die for and play every game like it’s my last. It’s not the game, we talking about practice man.”
The night continued on, the band performing songs from Devil; Bone Palace Ballet and All’s Well That Ends Well, with two encores including Intensity in Ten Cities and If I Cut my Hair, Hawaii Will Sink. Chiodos is gaining more and more popularity with every album they release and it’s for a reason; not only do they put on a spectacle of a live show, but they truly appreciate all their fans support of them and are some of the most humble group of guys, any person can be a fan of.
The tour is still going on for a few more weeks so if it hits your town, be sure to buy tickets and check these guys out. And go buy their new album, Devil anywhere that sells CD’s, you won’t regret the decision.
Review by: Nicole Lemberg
