Drowning Pool & Saliva Rock the Bay in Corpus Christi, TX

Drowning Pool
October 17, 2014
Concrete Street Amphitheater- Corpus Christi, TX

The crowd was insane from the 4 precious bands, Anti-Motrem, Crobot, Butcher Babies & Devil You Know did a damn good job pumping the crowd up. It was a night of many genres of music. Chickasha Oklahoma based Anti-Mortem, rocked the stage with their phenomenal set of Southern Hard Rock. Crobot hit the stage & wowed the crowd with their brand of Groove Rock. Sounding as if someone opened a wormhole to 1969, and Crobot stepped through to please the Corpus Christi crowd with what can only be described as an unparalleled performance, no other band that night could have been classified in the same category as these highly energetic individuates.
The night moved on smoothly as Butcher Babies started their set. Men & women alike were struck in awe at both their beauty & the amazing music the band put fourth giving the crowd their all as they played a brain rattling set… Devil You Know took over where Butcher Babies left off. Devil You Know, is comprised of members a few other bands. Lead Vocals Howard Jones- Killswitch Engage, Guitarist Francesco Artusato- A Shall Parish. Drummer John Sankey- Fear Factory, Bassist Ryan Wombacher- Bleeding Through… And the last member, but most definitely not the least Roy Lev-Ari. Howard Jones only described Roy as: “Roy is not his real name, it’s an acronym, for “Relitave of Yetti”… We found him in the woods, shaved him, taught him Guitar & here he is” The crowd erupted in laughter as Roy took a bow.
Saliva hit the stage and all hell breaks loose as the crowd loses it… Saliva, rocked Corpus Christi with an 11 song set. Opening their set with Black Sheep & moved right into Ladies and Gentlemen both off their 5^th studio album Blood Stained Love Story released on January 2007. Blood Stained Love Story is also the first album to feature guitarist Jonathan Montoya after Chris D’abaldo departed the band… Off their 8^th studio album In it to Win it, Saliva performed Army. Army is listed on the album In it to Win it as 1 of 2 Bonus tracks, but quickly became a fan favorite as lead vocalist- Bobby Amaru, dedicated the song to all the men & women who have served & still are serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. In rapid succession the band continued their night with Superstar; She Can Sure Hide Crazy; Survival of the Sickest & Always before doing a clear-cut cover of AC/DC’s hit TNT. Throughout the night prior to the cover a little girl (about 5 years old) could be seen in the photo pit atop one of the large concert stacks dancing her tiny heart out. It was at this time front-man Bobby Amaru, told the parents to put the aforementioned child on the stage with the band for the cover of AC/DC’s TNT.
The song began and the crowd started jumping in the air pumping their fists while chanting the Aussie greeting “Oi, Oi, Oi, Oi, Oi” as it goes in the original song. The little girl standing to Bobby Amaru’s left start bobbing her head as she jumps with the crowd. From every band member including the forever straining drummer you could see smiles ear to ear as this little sweetheart rocked & rolled this evening. Directly after the child quickly lived her parents dream, she was gently lead off the stage where she was greeted Heidi Shepherd & Henry Flury of Butcher Babies for a quick photo. Saliva then continued their night with 3 more ass kicking mind assaulting favorites. Click Click Boom started playing and the crowd again went wild. Singing the lyrics along with Amaru verbatim as they jumped up and down losing their selves momentarily in the amazing hit. Click Click Boom is the bands leading single of their second album Every Six Seconds released in 2001; it is also their first album under Island Records. Click Click Boom peaked at #15 on Billboard’s Top Mainstream Rock Tracks & 25 on Billboard’s Top Modern Rock Tracks. Before the Corpus Christi crowd knew it Saliva was playing a sensational cover of Alice in Chains’ Nutshell blowing them completely away. The end of Saliva’s set had come upon us & they ended their night with their biggest hit Your Disease, also off the album Every Six Seconds…
Headlining act Drowning Pool took the stage by the balls and opened up with Sinner, the title track to their 2001 debut album. The album Sinner peaked at 14 on the US Billboard Top 200. The album reaped 3 singles Including Bodies, Tear Away & the title track Sinner… The album itself; hit platinum status within a 6 week period partly due to the hit single Bodies. The hit single Sinner peaked at #28 on the US Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks & #36 on the US Hot Modern Rock Tracks in 2002… The night continued right along with & the band continued their musical onslaught with All Over Me; Follow; Pity; Reminded; Mute; I Am; Told You & knocking the crowd dead with Tear Away, yet another hit single for the band’s debut album. Tear Away being the bands second single off the album Sinner. The song peaked at #18 & #37 on both US Hot Mainstream & Rock tracks for the year 2002 & is still being played in rotation today…
Again off the band’s debut album, Drowning Pool continued with Sermon, the 11^th track on the platinum selling album. Sermon blew a lot of people away as the majority there have no heard the track live before. The mosh pit opened up wide, like a sinkhole ready to swallow anything that that got into its path. As the moshers were spinning the band was jamming; ages 12-30 could be seen in the circle pit knocking each other about like old school mosh pitters from the days of Punk Yore. Drowning Pool seamlessly bled the song Sermon into their biggest selling hit single to date. Few members of the crowd recognized it happening as the bass continued playing Sermon and the lead guitar began to bleed Bodies into the phenomenal mix. All of the sudden the song Bodies was in full swing. Fans were yelling in each other’s faces as hey gripped each other’s t-shirts tight in their balled-fist-grip. Bodies began jumping to the drum beat as the guitars played their lead parts. “1 NOTHINGS WRONG WITH ME, 2 NOTHINGS WRONG WITH ME 3 NOTHINGS WRONG WITH ME 4 NOTHINGS WRONG WITH ME” the crowd sung along with frontman Jasen Moreno feeling every bit of emotion that was placed into the song when it was originally written… It is in my opinion that Drowning Pool & Saliva put on one of the best shows to date, and the lineup of performers was extreme-genius! Be sure to hit this show when the tour makes tracks to the closest city near you!
Review by: Jared Wingate