The Rockzilla Tour Kicks Off in East Providence, RI – July 27, 2022

One of this summer‘s hottest package tours, the Rockzilla Tour, kicked off last night in East Providence, Rhode Island. The co-headlining combo of Papa Roach and Falling in Reverse, with special guests Hollywood Undead and Bad Wolves, made for one great night of music. The venue for tonight’s show, Bold Point Park, is one of Rhode Island‘s newest places to see shows. An outdoor stage, right on the water, this very much felt like an Warped Tour or Ozzfest second stage experience.

Bad Wolves

With a full night of music, the show had an early start time, with Bad Wolves taking the stage at 5 PM. They had some technical difficulties with a wireless unit that delayed them a couple minutes, but the band was up and running in no time. Fans who got here early were treated to a set that included songs like “Killing me Slowly” and “House of Cards.” As we got to the end of the show, frontman Daniel Laskiewicz said they had to cut one song due to the technical difficulties they had at the start. He left it up to the crowd to decide if they wanted a soft song, saying “I think you know which one it is,” or a heavy song. To the bands’ surprise, the audience picked the heavy song, leaving guitarist Doc Coyle scrambling to switch guitars. Surprisingly, this meant they cut their cover of “Zombie” by the Cranberries. I assumed they were going to cut a song due to their delays, but would not have expected “Zombie” to be the song they cut. Instead, they crushed the crowd with “I’ll Be There” as their finale.

Hollywood Undead

Up next was California party band Hollywood Undead. If you’ve never seen them, these guys are all about having a good time. Opening with “Chaos,” the band was full of energy, and the crowd really exploded during the second song, “Riot.” The members of the band, no longer wearing masks, seamlessly take turns rapping or singing lines, and you never know who is going to be playing the guitar at any point. Even Johnny 3 Tears picks up a bass during “War Child,” which was a highlight of the set for me. 

The band is releasing their new album, Hotel Kalifornia in a few weeks, and tonight saw the live debut of the songs “Wild in These Streets” and “City of the Dead,” which both got great reactions. Their nearly hour-long set came to a close with their quasi-self titled song, “Undead.”

Falling in Reverse

Falling in Reverse took the stage, and front man Ronnie Radke came running to his riser at the front of the stage. They opened with their recent hit, the title track to their last album, “Zombified,” and the crowd went wild. This energy kept up for their whole performance, with songs like “I’m Not a Vampire,” and “The Drug in me is You.”

During the set, Ronnie mentioned the band has never played in Rhode Island before, and that they all thought this was going to suck. They were delighted we had proven them wrong, and mentioned that they found a delicious restaurant (Plant City) that they have eaten at five times. He followed up with “This place ain’t bad. I’m not going to come visit here, but I would come play for you again.” Before introducing the song “Just Like You,” he asked who in the crowd was an asshole. He went on to say he always tells people not complain that he’s an asshole, because honestly, we all are. After that song, Ronnie started to say good night to the crowd, who cheered them on to find one more song, finishing off with “Popular Monster.”

Papa Roach

The sun is now down, the lights go out, and Papa Roach comes out playing “Kill the Noise.” Jacoby and the boys played a lot of their big songs, like “Scars,” “Getting Away With Murder,” and the Tony Hawk hit “Blood Brothers,” all the way up to the 1-2-punch finale of “Last Resort” and “Born for Greatness.” To my surprise, the band played a cover of “Firestarter” by The Prodigy… I did not see that coming. Sadly, with a co-headlining show, they only play for so long. I’d love to hear “She Loves Me Not” or “Face Everything and Rise” at a show.

This combination of four bands makes for the perfect touring package. I did not expect the average age of a crowd to be as young as it was, which just shows that there will always be kids who feel like they don’t belong, as this music continues to resonate through the generations. This Warped Tour-style stage was the perfect setting for the show, and we are glad we got to have this tour kick off in Rhode Island!