Avenged Sevenfold’s Life is But a Dream Tour
Avenged Sevenfold is a band I’ve followed and listened to for a long time. From their early years until now, they have evolved collectively as a band, overcoming many hurdles over the years, and also evolved their music simultaneously.
Being a member of their NFT token club, the Deathbats Club, or the DBC, I knew I had no choice but to jump at the opportunity to photograph them during their stop on the Life Is But A Dream tour. For those of you who have no clue about the DBC, I’ll drop some helpful information at the end of this article.
Their opening act was Kim Dracula. There’s no better way to explain Kim’s music than saying this is just the beginning for him. While still very fresh on the scene, his potential is limitless. You could describe him as similar to a fine wine, one could say. He will only get better and better with time. If you think he’s a sleeper, you’re wrong. This Australian act will be a top contender in a few years!
Kim Dracula is an Australian alternative/indie music artist whose songs have achieved popularity on TikTok.
Following behind was another artist I’ve listened to for a long time and this would be Ronnie Radke’s Falling in Reverse. Ronnie has a truly unique perspective when it comes to music and it’s brilliant. Falling in Reverse continues to bend genres and isn’t defined to any type of music. His vision is his vision and the passion spills into the crowd with every note. Love him or hate him, as most people do one of those, you can’t deny that he has an extreme amount of talent and passion. The music scene and the world needs more of Ronnie, a genuine person who speaks their mind and continues to break the norms. The highlight of the show wasn’t him playing “Popular Monster” or “The Drug In Me Is You,” rather than when he split the pit wide open, hyped everyone up to go hard, and then sang Smash Mouth’s “All-Star!” Ronnie has a vision that is beautiful and insane.
The chair emerges and a spotlight beams down as M Shadows, draped in his “Nobody” ski mask, is sitting observing the crowd work into a small frenzy. “Game Over” and “Mattel” began and blended into each other. The best part of Game Over is the old-school hardcore punk feel it gives off, no doubt a tribute to Brooks Wackerman’s, Avenged Sevenfold’s drummer, legendary past bands within the punk scene. Most people disliked the new album from Avenged Sevenfold, but those people failed to see their vision. It’s about really pushing the envelope on music and their capabilities as artists. It’s about writing meaningful lyrics, it’s about topics they’re passionate about, and it’s about them producing an album that they love. Any band can regurgitate the same sound over and over, failing to evolve or change direction, and some do. While this album wasn’t for everyone, you can tell it was for them and the fans who just love all kinds of music. My favorite part of it all is that you can see how much they love to play this album. M Shadows looks like he’s constantly having a blast on stage. When an artist truly loves what they’re playing and it translates to live concerts, there’s no doubt that the audience feels it too.
While many old-school fans teared up during “So Far Away,” especially with a silhouette of their late drummer, The Rev, it was evident that there were a lot of new fans within the crowd. The largest burst of excitement from the entire night rang out when the iconic warbling sound, for a lack of better words, bellowed to mark the beginning of “Nobody.”
For those of you who aren’t familiar with NFTs or anything involving web3, that makes two of us. I’m not a cryptobro or an expert on the subject, but I do know about the DBC. While some NFTs are just JPEGs as some may say, the DBC is much more. They have perks or utilities attached to each one of them. What that means is that every Deathbat within the club has basic perks of skipping the line at every headlining show, exclusive DBC merch, and giveaways for members only and that’s every Deathbat. There are Deathbats that are rarer and more expensive and come with even more perks like meet and greet access for life, free tickets for life, limited merch drops, or even coffee with Brooks or golfing with M. Shadows. You can purchase DBC tokens on Coinbase NFT here!
The best part of the DBC is how active the band is within the Avenged Sevenfold Discord, especially M Shadows. He’s always in the Discord channel interacting with fans and he’s always lurking. Within the Discord channel, you can find the “Token Hub,” which is where you can ask anyone about how to purchase a DBC token if you’re on the fence or don’t know how to. Their Discord channel is really a one-stop shop for everything associated with the band, whether it is their march, tour dates, Drinks with Johnny, or anything else. The DBC acts like a family, queue “Welcome to the Family,” and it operates as such as well. Whether you want to purchase a Deathbat, that’s up to you, but giving the exclusive merch and skip-the-line perks alone is enough for me, hence why I own several DBC tokens, but being a fan is more than enough for the band and their 3rd leg of the Life Is But A Dream tour is rolling out next year, so make sure you check them out near you!
AVENGED SEVENFOLD "Life Is But A Dream…" 2024 North American tour dates:
March 06 - Buffalo, NY - KeyBank Center
March 07 - Toronto, ON - Scotiabank Arena
March 09 - Cleveland, OH - Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
March 11 - Grand Rapids, MI - Van Andel Arena
March 13 - Cincinnati, OH - Heritage Bank Center
March 15 - Des Moines, IA - Wells Fargo Arena
March 16 - Lincoln, NE - Pinnacle Bank Arena*
March 18 - Moline, IL - Vibrant Arena at The Mark
March 19 - Indianapolis, IN - Gainbridge Fieldhouse
March 21 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena
March 23 - Manchester, NH - SNHU Arena
March 25 - Pittsburgh, PA - PPG Paints Arena
March 26 - Columbus, OH - Nationwide Arena
March 28 - Knoxville, TN - Thompson- Boling Arena
March 29 - Raleigh, NC - PNC Arena
March 31 - Newark, NJ - Prudential Center
* Without SULLIVAN KING; featuring support from VENDED