Indianapolis shows out for sold out Wage War / Nothing More co-headliner

By Mya Tolliver

Indianapolis met Wage War and Nothing More with a sold out crowd to close out their North American co-headline tour with support from Sleep Theory and Veil of Maya. The line wrapped blocks around the historic Old National Center as fans raced their war in to the iconic Egyptian Room to await a night of music.

Sleep Theory kicked off the night opening with their hit single “Fallout” and brought the crowd to life. As the house music died down and the lights went black the band was met with an uproar of excited screams. Throughout their set the first crowd surfers made their way to the barricade. Sleep Theory is a pop/rock band from Tennessee that has quickly gained attention in the scene and were the perfect opener to mesh with Nothing More as a headliner.

Veil of Maya took the stage second, switching the mood much heavier as the first pits opened and the crowd surfers began to double. They came out swinging, quickly moving from hit to hit and giving the crowd no time to rest as the bar for crowd energy continued to rise. Though much heavier than Sleep Theory and Nothing More, Veil of Maya paired perfectly next to Wage War on the bill.

Completely catching the crowd off guard, Nothing More’s hype music suddenly stopped and switched to their intro track as the band came sprinting on stage as they opened with their number one song, “If It Doesn’t Hurt”. The band’s energy was infectious, inspiring even more crowd surfers and a choir of a crowd. Despite their monitor board blowing right before they began, Nothing More did not miss a beat. Their board later came back to life and the band announced the crowd’s energy could be the only reason. Their set featured all their top singles, their most recent release “Angel Song”, and a full drum solo by their lead singer. Their set came to a close with them taking drums to the crowd for the ending of “This is The Time (Ballast)”.

Every new crew member on stage during changeover brought more and more anticipation as a sea of fans awaited Wage War. Finally, the stage was set, and Wage War exploded onto the stage with “Stitch” to kick off their set, signifying that the finale of the night would have no time to rest. We saw at least two songs off every album, throwing it back to the first album Blueprints but witnessed the most songs off of Manic. The crowd was electric for their newest releases “Magnetic”, “NAIL5” and “Tombstone”, which was released just a day prior but didn’t stop fans from screaming along. The pit switched off and on from circling to mashing, and an array of lost shoes from the commotion could be seen flying in the air.

Along the left and right sides of the stage, crowd surfers gave security a run for their money as there was a never ending flow of them that earned a special commendation from the band themselves. Alas, the night had to come to a close but Wage War ensured that it would be no calm end. As the first notes of Manic boomed through the room, the crowd gave every last bit of energy they had left as there would be no encore that could follow. Wage War and the crowd combined to leave everything in the Egyptian Room, creating memories of a night that would last a lifetime.