Date: Tuesday July 21st
Venue: Phantom Power
City / State: Millersville, PA
Subjects: Stabbing Westward, Priest, Acuman Nation

Tuesday night’s alright for rocking. One of my all-time favorite bands Stabbing Westward are celebrating their breakthrough album’s “Wither Blister Burn + Peel” 30th anniversary. If you’ll remember they were to play Lovedrafts 2 or 3 years ago, but the tour was cancelled when vocalist Christopher Hall was diagnosed with Throat Cancer. Luckily it was time to make that concert up. Let’s get right into it.
Opening the night was the legendary ACUMAN NATION. Led by brothers Jason and Ethan Novak. The band has been around since 1988 and spreading their industrial music throughout the land for well over 30 years. The band features a three-piece onslaught that sounds more like a five piece. They are a perfect fit to open this tour.
Serving as direct support for the tour is a band who have been through headlining their own tours. Hailing from Sweden the masked synth pop band somehow mixes dark vibes with happy energy. Also, a three piece with the vocalist moving from side to side using the entire stage throughout the set. The band uses black masks to hide their identities, yet it also defines their look. The band tore through a 40-minute set filling in a variety of tracks from numerous of the band’s records. They closed with the popular track “Vaudeville”. They are a perfect addition to this tour as they have a great following and get the crowd ready for the headliners.
The night of course belonged to the legends STABBING WESTWARD. The band is celebrating 30 years of “Wither Blister Burn + Peel”, the breakthrough record that brought them stardom and introduced the band to the mainstream with hits like “What do I have to Do” and “Shame”. Vocalist Christopher Hall, now 100% cancer free announced to the crowd that initially they intended to put out the new reworking of the record called “Wither ReWired” before the tour so we can hear it and then sing along w/ everything. However, due to the tariff situation the record is delayed until September so they would be playing it in full for us.

STABBING WESTWARD SETLIST:
WITHER REWIRED SET:
01. “I Don’t Believe”
02. “What Do I Have To Do”
03. “Falls Apart”
04. “Crushing Me”
05. “Why”
06. “Slipping Away”
07. “Shame”
08. “Inside You”
09. “So Wrong”
10. “Sleep”
CLASSICS SET:
11. “Burn” (Cure Cover)
12. “So Far Away”
13. “Violent Mood Swings”
14. “Dawn”
15. “Save Yourself”

The band opened with the first song on the record “I Don’t Believe” before his description then played through the next four tracks before stating “and there was side A. of the new record”. They then introduced us to the next five songs before “And that’s the new Album”. The songs are the same in skeleton and bones but it’s when they dress them that the differences come in. You can still recognize them however there are changes and updates to them. They also put the songs in a different order as well. Stabbing Westward sounded absolutely fantastic and has not lost a step in anyway shape or form. Consisting of original members Hall, and Keyboardist Walter Flakus and newer members Drummer Bobby Amaro on drums and Carlton Bost on Bass & Guitars. After the completion of the new record being performed the band would treat us to some Stabbing Westward Classics such as “So Far Away”, “Violent Mood Swings” and the cover of the Cure’s “Burn”. Hall spent much of the set smiling at fans, high fiving members as well as just trying to make the crowd as close to the band as possible. Before playing the closer “Save Yourself” he simply said, “well you know what this is, its no surprise”. This is a tour that I 100% suggest you go see. The band sounds better than ever before and are social as ever.