Mudvayne Makes Pennsylvania “Happy?” With Performance at The Hollywood Casino
Photography By Mia Palazzo
May 11, 2024 - On a very gloomy, cold Saturday at The Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course in Grantville, Pennsylvania, fans lined up hours early to be in the front for the iconic progressive metal band, and openers A Killer’s Confession, Hyro Da Hero, and Zero 9:36.
The first band on the lineup, A Killer’s Confession is an alternative metal band from Cleveland, Ohio, formed by ex-Mushroomhead vocalist Waylon Reavis. After a bit of “divine intervention”, Waylon found himself rejuvenated, and ready to return to his passion with a new message, which is what drives A Killer's Confession. The band recently announced they will soon be releasing a new full-length album, Victim 1.
Though the band only played a short set, it was packed with lots of energy. From the bands, the band's set featured some of the band’s most well-known songs, “Angel on the Outside”, a 2017 single, and “Numb” which the band played about mid-set. This song is my favorite by the band and seemed to be one that a good amount of the crowd knew. In addition to these songs, the band also played their latest single, “Martyr” which had the crowd headbanging to the melodic hooks and punchy drum lines. Overall, this is a band I would highly recommend seeing, not only do they bring a strong energy, Waylon has exceptional vocals, especially live.
A Killer’s Confession: Website | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Spotify | YouTube
The next band-up, Hyro the Hero, brought ample energy to the show. The artist is something of a rap-rock fusion and is known to deliver a relentless onslaught of intense beats alongside powerful lyrics. Though this set was the beginning of a long, heavy rain, Hyro the Hero still gave their all to this performance, even jumping off of the six-foot tall stage to mosh with the crowd during the set in the rain. During his set, he brought on stage a good friend, Zillion, to help perform some of their songs. Throughout the entire set, they had fans jumping, moshing, singing, and rapping along, influenced by the infectious energy of Hyro The Hero.
Hyro The Hero: Website | Facebook | Instagram | X | TikTok | Spotify | YouTube
Next up on the bill, Zero 9:36, a Pennsylvania artist known for combining alternative rock and rap to create a unique, electrifying sound. Zero 9:36 is a breakout artist known for becoming popular through SXM’s radio channel, Octane, and since releasing his biggest hit “Adrenaline”, has been featured on the channel with many other hits, including “The End”, and his most recent singles, “I Felt It All”, and “Kill Me”, to be featured on his upcoming album, None Of Us Are Getting Out.
Throughout his performance, Zero 9:36 showed he knew how to keep the crowd engaged, between allowing the crowd to participate in some of the choruses of the songs, as well as telling them that it was his birthday, and allowing only 2 people in the crowd to wish him a happy birthday, which gave the entire crowd a chuckle when of course, way more than 2 people decided to speak out. His performance overall was filled with a great mix of high-energy songs, and some of his slower more emotional songs. As he closed out the set with his biggest hit “Adrenaline”, the whole crowd sang along to every word of the song, creating the perfect end to his set and the perfect introduction to Mudvayne’s set.
Zero 9:36: Website | Facebook | Instagram | X | TikTok | Spotify | YouTube
Finally, it was time for the band we had all been waiting for. Though the rain was on and off, fans were still anxiously waiting on the barricade, a full pit was waiting for Mudvayne to come on stage, cheering at any appearance of a person on stage. After a long 45-minute set change, finally, the band began to appear on stage, walking in one by one before vocalist Chad Gray came on, whispering “All work and no play, makes me a dull boy”, the intro to “Dull Boy” off of their 2008 album The New Game. Immediately, the pit opened and the anxious fans began screaming back the words to the song. Between the band's elaborate makeup, outfits, and engaging appearance, they immediately had the entire crowd erupting with excitement.
The next song on the set, “Not Falling” off of their 2002 album The End of All Things To Come, is my favorite. With the intro into the song displaying Chad’s iconic scream, and moving into his melodic grungy singing, the song is a perfect display of the vocal abilities of the band, and the punchy riffs of the chorus, along with the melodic repetition always has the entire crowd headbanging and singing along. The band played some of their older hits, including “Death Blooms'' off of their biggest album L.D. 50 which came out in 2000, in addition to some newer hits, including “A New Game” and “Fish Out Of Water'', both off of their 2008 album The New Game.
Another fun addition to the set was “Do What You Do”, this was the first time since the band's reunion this song was played live. The set concluded with everyone's favorite songs, “Happy?” from their 2005 album Lost and Found, and “Dig”, another song off of L.D. 50, leaving fans with a satisfying array of old and new music, and a perfect performance.
