Page 58 - Black Velvet Rock Magazine - Issue 100

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POP EVIL / THE FALLEN STATE – BIRMINGHAM O2 INSTITUTE 3, 28.02.19
The last time Pop Evil toured the UK was as support to 3 Doors Down in November 2016. Since then, they’ve released a new album, their self-
titled, in 2018 – and now we get to witness a headline tour.
UK’s The Fallen State are the main support band for the tour and a lot of the audience seems to be a fan of them as well as Pop Evil – as they
sing along loudly to singles such as ‘Nova’ and ‘Sinner’. This isn’t surprising as the band have supported everyone from Halestorm to Black Stone
Cherry, plus they opened the 3 Doors Down tour that Pop Evil were a part of in 2016. The Fallen State are great hopefuls for the UK’s rock scene and
are slowly but surely climbing up the ladder. With their debut album due imminently, it won’t be long before they really take off. As their set ends with
‘You Want It’, which sees the crowd being asked to crouch down and then jump up, there’s a big cheer. The Fallen State definitely get what they want
tonight.
Pop Evil’s frontman Leigh Kakaty informs the audience that he’s suffering with the flu. You can hear it a little in his voice early on, but he does not
let it bother him. He tells the audience that they didn’t want to cancel any shows – and we’re grateful for that. Kicking off with ‘Boss’s Daughter’, it’s
a non-stop, hard-rocking
evening. It’s a small, inti-
mate sold out show and
it gets hot quickly. You
feel on occasion that the
stage is almost too small
for the five-piece band,
who are used to playing
bigger venues in the
States.
The heavier ‘Colors
Bleed’, from their latest
album, turns up the vol-
ume. A more political-in-
spired song, it brings to
mind Rage Against The
Machine, with almost a
rap tone to some of
Leigh’s vocals.
The heartfelt ‘Torn To
Pieces’ slows things
down, while the crowd
show their solidarity,
backing them up with
chants and screams in
‘Last Man Standing’.
They insert a fun cover
of ‘Eye Of The Tiger’,
which the crowd all know
and sing along to before
the most chilled alt. rock
tones of ‘A Crime To Re-
member’. As the set con-
tinues, the fve-piece
reach the high point of
the set – ‘Footsteps’ and
‘Take It All’ – before an
encore that sees the
band take a few ques-
tions. Leigh tells the
crowd he had Fruity Peb-
bles for breakfast. He
brings bassist Matt
DiRito out to tell the story
of how they met, and
then drummer Hayley
Cramer, to talk about
being the female, British
drummer in the band –
before they play the old-
est song in the Pop Evil
catalogue, ‘100 In A 55’,
and bring out Ben of The
Fallen State to join them.
‘Waking Lions’ and
‘Trenches’ end the set on
a high with the whole
room singing in unison.
The lions are definitely
awake tonight and the
roar of approval is im-
mense.
YYYYY
Shari Black Velvet

Leigh Kakaty (Pop Evil) Photo
By Shari Black Velvet

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