Avenged Sevenfold
Gainbridge Fieldhouse
Indianapolis Indiana
March 19, 2024
By Shrithik Karthik
Avenged Sevenfold came to Gainbridge Fieldhouse on March 19th as a part of their Life Is But A Dream North American Tour and this show was definitely one for the books. To say Indiana showed out would be an understatement, on a Tuesday night Indiana came with the energy.
After 2+ hours of opening sets by Sullivan King, and Poppy the time was finally here and the fans were about to be given what they wanted. The lights went dark, and the pre-show videos began to play. The music began to get louder, and the band came out. Out of nowhere M. Shadows comes out with this crazy mask to the song Game Over. Immediately I felt just how huge the stage was. The screens with the visuals were ginormous, quite possibly some of the biggest that I have ever seen. Another thing to note was just how huge the stage was, it was quite literally 7 feet tall, and the photo pit was massive as well. This definitely affected the fan pit as their view was a bit obstructed, but honestly, it didn’t matter because they made sure to keep up the energy. The beginning was such a good preview of the show to come because Avenged Sevenfold knew how to start a show. Playing some songs that everyone in the audience knew was really cool to hear and see and seeing them this close was a crazy experience for sure.
Though a lot of Avenged Sevenfold’s music varies between rock and metal they made sure to play a good mix of their more hype songs and their slower songs. So much of the crowd knew their songs and he let the crowd sing some of the most popular songs which made us feel like he really cared about his fans, and he definitely did as he even said that “Indiana as a whole has gone above and beyond.” A fun little part was when he joked with the crowd giving a speech about how they played at Ozzfest, and they were playing the song Blinded in Chains and how the crowd literally booed them off the stage because they were excited about seeing other bands perform. He talked about how the album they created seemed like it couldn’t be translated to the stage but that simply was not the case as the crowd went crazy after hearing them eventually play Blinded in Chains. He played a few songs from that same album, the energy, the lights, the visuals, and the overall ambiance from these songs were insane. The visual strobes were so intense, and it was just something else.
This was an Avenged Sevenfold concert so what would it be without mosh pits? There was a huge frenzy of moshing going on at the back of the pit, but they made sure to keep it a little separate to not knock into the people who were not too keen on moshing. I loved the fact that they were so respectful about this, oftentimes I’ve been in the pit and when I don’t want to mosh, I get knocked into. They looked like they were just having so much fun and M. Shadows even brought attention to the circle they were creating which must have felt good for the moshers. Every single one of the band members was ridiculously talented, the drummer was genuinely unreal. This might have been the greatest drumming I have literally ever seen, and Brooks Wackerman is truly such a talented individual. The guitarists were also fantastic as well and so talented, some of the riffs they played were insanely cool and the crowd definitely appreciated seeing them shred.
The vocals from M. Shadows were beautiful, his ability to inflect his voice from high too low to coarse and more was so crazy to hear live. Singing everything with barely any backtrack was also so nice to watch and hear and is something that should always be appreciated by any artist. To end the show, they bowed it out with a long song “Cosmic” that was rightfully fitting as a final song. A mix of a slower pace but such a beautiful song was the perfect finale for this show. The visuals, with the band’s talent and M. Shadow’s incredible singing, make this a must-see show for any Avenged Sevenfold lover. They still have a few more shows for their North America dates on tour so be on the lookout if they are coming to a city near you!
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