Mudvayne brings their first headlining tour in 14 years to Tinley Park for an evening of nu-metal (Show Review)

For the first time since 2009 Mudvayne are back on the road and headlining a tour. On a rainy Saturday night the numetal fan favorites hit Tinley Park, IL for an evening of that felt straight out of 2003.

Kicking off the evening was metalcore group Butcher Babies. Featuring the duo vocal stylings of Heidi Shepherd and Carla Harvey the two brought their infectous energy to the crowd still coming into the venue. With the task of a 30 minute set as fans are still piling in the group worked well with what they had blasting through a set of favorites including their recent cover of “Best Friend” (originally by Saweetie).

Next up was Nonpoint. Now 25+ years in as a band, they came to blast through their half hour with fans clearly knowing all about them. From the opening song fans sung along to everything and it raised a great question. Why has Nonpoint never truly blown up? Vocalist Elias Soriano was energetic and sounded fantastic and the band was clearly having fun on stage. Ending the night with “Bullet With A Name”, a song that many fans know at least from its numerous video game soundtracks, was a great time for the crowd to scream along one last time with them.

The Scumdogs of the Universe known as GWAR were ready to paint the venue red next. Covered in plastic traps, the stage looked like a murder scene from Dexter. It was put to good use though as the band pulled their known schtick for 45 minutes drowning the crowd in fake blood and other liquids that I won’t mention. Their humor was on point and the band isn’t talked about enough for how solid they are musically. Fans left the pit soaked and I don’t think they’d have it any other way.

Another returning group in the form of Coal Chamber was next. Only their second reunion tour, the band came out with a full production as direct support. The entire band was happy to be here and fans seemed ecstatic for the group to be back. Dez Fafara was in full force on vocals parading around the stage happy to be back with his old bandmates. Everyone was in full smiles and hopefully this isn’t the last time fans get a chance to see them.

Closing out the night was the band fans came for, Mudvayne. Sadly though it wasn’t all fans might have hoped for. The crowd that was here was happy and energetic and while Mudvayne brought the energy it just wasn’t always all there at times. For being an amphitheater show the stage show was lackluster at best. With the same backdrop as last years co-headliner with Rob Zombie and nothing other than smoke cannons (which Coal Chamber also used) the show just didn’t fit the large stage or venue this was in. A little too much talking between songs as well took place with the bands just over an hour headline set as well as vocalist Chad Grey still not sounding the best.

As expected though bassist Ryan Martinie is still a madman playing fast and sprinting around the stage almost nonstop throughout the set. Grey as well got into and on top of the crowd as well as getting close to them often for fans to sing and scream along with him. Hopefully if they decide to stay together fans can get a tighter show with a little more production next time though.