Nothing More Concert Review, Rialto Theater 6-28-2018

Nothing More Concert Review, Rialto Theater 6-28-2018-Review and Photos By Roc boyum

Nothing More Rialto Theater Concert Reviews Concert Photography
Jonny Hawkins

Nothing More continues to tour in 2018, in support of their latest LP “The Stories We Tell Ourselves”. On this latest trek of the tour, we find the band in direct support for 5 Finger Death Punch with some well placed Headline shows along the way. On July 28, 2018 Nothing More played their first Headline show of this trek at the Rialto Theater in Tucson, AZ to a capacity sold out crowd. This show had two great opening bands; Eyes Set To Kill and Bad Wolves.

Alexia Rodriguez Eyes Set To Kill Rialto Theater Concert Photography Concert Reviews
Alexia Rodriguez-Eyes Set to kill

Eyes Set to Kill is a band from Phoenix, AZ and are fronted by Alexia Rodriguez who fired up the audience as she stood front and center with guitar in hand. Rodriguez is the band’s founding member, lead singer and lead guitarist who led the band through a fiery set of high energy rock with minimal breaks.  Rodriguez introduced the last song of their set as a tribute to Chris Cornell before launching the band into an inspiring version of Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun.

Check out the Eyes Set To Kill Photo Gallery Here!

Bad Wolves Rialto Theater Concert Photography Concert Reviews
Tommy Vext-Bad Wolves

Next up, Bad Wolves who are a heavy metal band from Los Angeles and who are label mates with Nothing More. The band consists of lead vocalist Tommy Vext (ex-Divine Heresy), drummer John Boecklin (ex-DevilDriver), lead guitarist Doc Coyle (ex-God Forbid) rhythm guitarist Chris Cain (ex-Bury Your Dead) and bassist Kyle Konkiel (ex-In This Moment). The band presented 8 songs, each of which were a serious dose of heavy metal. For the song “Remember Why”, Vext stated that this is a song dedicated to Nothing More’s Jonny Hawkins which instantly fired up the crowd. For the song “Run For Your life” Vext said;

We’re going back to 1994 Pantera, and I want everyone to open up a huge circle pit.

The audience was more than happy to oblige, which instantly had bodies thrashing in a massive pit. The band’s last song “Zombie”, was an emotional dedication to Dolores O’Riorda of the Cranberries, who sadly, we lost in January of this year. O’Riorda was reportedly to perform the song with Bad Wolves but unfortunately passed before Bad Wolves recorded the song. Vext stated that all the proceeds from their recorded version would go the late singer’s estate and children.

Check Out the Bad Wolves Photo Gallery here!

Bad Wolves Set List
Nothing More Concert Reviews Concert Photography
Nothing More Rialto Theater Tucson AZ

Now it was now time for the band everyone was waiting for…Nothing More! The band has been making a meteoric rise since the release of their 2017 LP “The Stories We Tell Ourselves” and the anticipation surrounding this show was extremely HIGH!!.

Nothing More lJonny Hawkins Concert Rivews Concert Photography
Jonny Hawkins

This Rialto Theater show in Tucson, AZ was the first of the Headline shows on Nothing More’s their current Arena tour with 5 Finger Death Punch. 

Prior to the show, the day started out with a crowd of enthusiastic Meet and Greet guests who were able to get up close and personal with the band and ask them any question they had on their minds. The Q&A was followed by the (Meet & Greet) with fans getting their picture taken with the band.

Nothing More delivered a relentless 15 song set, primarily made up of their 2 LPs made with record label “E7M” Eleven Seven Music; the albums are titled; Nothing More and “The Stories We Tell Ourselves” respectively. They also included two songs from their Few Not Fleeting LP “Fat Kid” and Salem!.

The band came out of the gate with a blistering double punch from their Stories LP with “Do You Really Want It” and “Let’em Burn”. They continued with “MTV, Don’t Stop and First Punch” that ignited the crowd before bringing out the Bassinator. For those unfamiliar with the term Bassinator; it’s a contraption invented and created by bassist Danial Oliver. This is a mounting system for a bass guitar that allows the guitar to be attached to a mounting bracket and locking the guitar in place with the guitar strings facing upward. This contraption is the center piece of the band’s bass solo with it’s mechanism that has an on board/on demand quick release, enabling the guys to give the guitar a 360 degree spin upon request. The bass solo begins with Daniel Oliver playing the bass in a finger tapping style with drummer Anderson punctuating his accents while delivering a bad ass grove. Guitarist Mark Vollelunga joins Oliver for an on-slot of dual finger tapping madness. Singer Hawkins then joins in the fun, attacking the Bassinator with drum sticks in a rhythmic syncopation while Oliver and Vollelunga taking care of the fretboard work.  All three members work in rhythmic concert with drummer Anderson to deliver a staccato rhythm while giving the Bassinator a 360 degree flip between their riffs, just to add a bit of over the top craziness…..it’s really a bit of controlled Chaos! From there, drummer Anderson becomes the groove foundation machine during the bass solo that gives the other three members the freedom to get crazy, which makes for a truly incredible show.

Nothinbg More Daniel Oliver Concert Reviews Concert Photography
Daniel Oliver

Before the band ripped through the next song “Fat Kid”  Hawkins introduced the song with these words;

We practiced this song maybe about 3 times, and we said, you know what, “Fuck it” let’s just throw it in! Who has The Few Not Fleeting? A large section of the crowd roared and Hawkins responded; There’s my old school people right there!

The band continued with brilliant versions of Ripping Me Apart, Go To War,Just say When” and “Fadein/Fadeout”.

When Hawkins introduced “Just Say When” he stated;

This song was written at the end of an eight year relationship, I’m sure some of you have been there, in some form or another, where you’re in that Purgatory, in between, suffering place, it’s called “Just say When”!.

On this night the band performed “Just Say When” like the recorded “Full Band” version as heard in the recent release of the video for the song. This gave the song an interesting dynamic vs the all acoustic version as recorded on the “Stories” LP.

Following an emotional version of “Fadein/Fadeout” from the “Stories” LP, the lights dimmed, and a recorded narration began echoing over the PA system, preparing the crowd for the next song. As the crowd remained transfixed on the stage, Hawkins introduced the next song by simply saying;

“This is a song about my sister in denial”!

From those words, the Rialto was transformed into a unified choir to the beginning of “Jenny”! Throughout the song, Hawkins would hold out his microphone to the audience for the lines in the song;

“Life is short my dear”! and in the breakdown before the song’s end; “Jenny”! “Jenny”!

Next was a shredding version of “This is the Time” (Ballast) from the band’s self titled LPNothing More”, a song that is always well received. Ballast is know to stir up an audience interaction and tonight the crowd went into a raging and swirling Circle Pit that was driven by the song’s heavy pounding syncopation. 

Before the last song, Hawkins gave a monologue about the band’s humble beginnings and graciously thanked the audience for their support. In no uncertain terms and to let everyone know that this was indeed their last song, Hawkins said; in a somewhat serious manner;

“Most of you know, we’re a band that does not do encores”

(simultaneously, Hawkins held up a single thumb as if that was one reason) and states;

“Cause they’re Fake”

Then he asks the audience… WHY?   Hawkins then responds to his own question;

“They’re Fake”

 Hawkinsthen said;

We’re going to play our last song with everything left in our bones; you got some more left in your bones!!!???  The audience gave a resounding roar before Hawkins gave these parting words,

We’ll see you next time Tucson!!!

Nothing More Jonny Hawkins Concert Reviews Concert Photography
Jonny Hawkins

For an explosive finale, the band hit the ground hard with a heavy pounding version of Salem (Burn the Witch) which included the song’s seriously entertaining drum breakdown and an animated audience participation. This drum breakdown is not a drum solo by the band’s drummer Anderson, burning up some riffs, of which Anderson is famous for but rather, it incorporates the entire band playing on some type of percussion instrument with each member playing a synchronized and syncopated solo…..simply Brilliant!!!

This is definitely a great show by a great band! Be sure to check these guys out and try to catch them with 5 Finger Death Punch or on one of their select Headline shows on this tour; you will definitely have an Awesome time.

Be sure to check out the Rialto Photo Gallery Here!

Check out our exclusive interview with Daniel Oliver from on the Road below!

The set list was:

Nothing More Rialto Theater Concert Photography Concert Reviews
Nothing More Set list Tucson