THE RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS AT S.O.B.'S IN NEW YORK CITY
Talk about a true Throwback Thursday for me! The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus are out and touring on The Awakening Tour and in addition to bringing us new music they’ve also brought new friends! This past Thursday I was able to attend the tour and I was impressed. Los Angeles rock band RIVALS is opening on this tour and brought along massive amounts of energy to the show. It was a true pleasure to see RIVALS take the stage and pump up the crowd. Vocalist Kalie Wolfe commanded the stage with incredible passion as her signature raspy vocals mesmerized audience members. If anybody were to win an award for the most headbanging in one night it would be this band for sure. Each member moved non-stop as they played through hits off their album Damned Soul including “Damned Soul” and “Moonlit”. When the band performed “To: Leila”, Wolfe introduced the audience to the personal story behind the track. Her sister was told she would never be able to have kids. Wolfe received a call from her sister one day to tell her she was going to be having a baby and Wolfe ended up writing the song for her niece as a message to her that anything could be possible in life. The story brought tears to my eyes as I’ve experienced a similar situation in my life, and it really helped me to feel connected to the band on the stage. This was something that really stuck out to me about this band: the human connection they were able to create while performing. All in all, it was an incredibly entertaining performance that got everyone ready for the main act.
When The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus took the stage it was like I was thrown into a time machine and transported back to a time where I was just started wearing tight skinny jeans and straightening my hair. The band recently released a new album The Awakening back in March and incorporated a mix of these new songs as well as their old hits. With their new songs, the band has brought about a special maturity that has made it feel like their music has grown up just as their fans have. They played new tracks such as “Fighting Everything”, “The Awakening”, and “On Becoming Willing”. The band gave the audience a very well put together performance, and vocalist Ronnie Winter delivered spot on, spine-chilling vocals. In addition to these newer tracks, the band also played songs from their older catalog which included “False Pretense”, “Misery Loves Company”, “Your Guardian Angel”, and of course, “Face Down”. Before performing “Face Down”, Winter took the time to hype up the crowd and explain that when telling people about the band, he doesn’t give the band name and instead tells them, “You’ve probably heard this song.” The crowd immediately exploded into a burst of energy and a pit actually opened up on the floor. When the band came back onstage for the encore they had realized they had extra time and took a request from the audience. This resulted in the band playing “Atrophy”, which hasn’t been performed live since Soundwave in 2009. I was so impressed throughout their performance with how great the band sounded live and it was such an incredible experience to have finally seen them. I would highly recommend checking this tour out if it swings by you!
Nicole DiBenedetto is a photographer based out of New Jersey. She likes making new friends and meeting new people so catch her out in the pit and say hi!