Static X ‘Rise Of The Machine’ tour at The Rave Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee WI.
Static X plays an amazing set at The Rave in Milwaukee on April 1st. The Rave is a multi level venue with multiple stages. Originally Static X was slated to be on one of the smaller stages of the venue with a capacity of around 1800. With fast ticket sales and the popularity of this show, it was moved up to the Eagles Ballroom. The Eagles Ballroom is the largest stage and room of the venue holding over 4000 fans and the show is nearly sold out.
Very limited tickets remained and as I was Walking up to the venue it was a strange mix of metalheads and country fans streaming our way into the venue. Another stage in the venue had a country show going on at the same time. But it was easy to tell who was heading their way to the ‘Rise of the Machine’ concert.
Once inside the almost 4000 fans waited eagerly after packing in the venue for the start of the show. Lineup for the night was Cultus Black kicking things off. Then Dope and Fear Factory before the Headliners Static X.
At 7pm the lights went down and everyone started to cheer as Cultus Black came out on stage for their brutal set. Everyone in the band with the exception of lead singer L were wearing tight fitted fabric pulled over their heads with just cutouts for the eyes. L shirtless and wearing body and face paint looked like a native from the jungles. Some of the paint on him glowed green on the dark stage. Cultus Black started the night off playing ‘Witch Hunt’. Other songs included ‘Killing the Beautiful’, ‘Burn’, ‘Nevermine’, as L described it a totally messed up heavy version of ‘Negative Creep’ a Nirvana cover and finished up their set with ‘You Make Me Sick’
At 7:45 ‘Dope’ arrived on stage, cheering grew really loud when lead singer Edsel Dope walked out. The stage was lined with large LED displays. A large one in the back stage center behind the drums and smaller displays lining the sides of the stage angled out on both sides. These displays got full use the rest of the night helping to light the stage and flash imagery.
Dope’s set included some hard hitting favorites like ‘Debonaire’, ‘Burn’, ‘Blood Money’ and ‘Violence’. Before playing ‘Die MF Die’ Edsel Dope said it would be the heaviest song we’d hear all night. Edsel also talked at one point that if it wasn’t for Dope and Static X coming together years ago with Fear Factory who helped pioneer the new metal sound with electronic sounds added in. That we wouldn’t be there that night all together. Fear Factory helped bring both Dope and Static X to where they are today in their careers.
At 8:30 Fear Factory took the stage with their new singer Milo Silvestro who looked and sounded very comfortable with the band. Milo Silvestro has only been with Fear Factory now for a couple of months. Along with Milo, The Band’s lineup is founding member Dino Cazeres on guitar. Tony Campos on bass guitar and Mike Heller on drums. Tony Campos was doing double duty on this tour as he is also the bassist for Static X.
Fear Factory’s set included fan favorites ‘Shock’, ‘Edgecrusher’, ‘Archetype’, and ‘Zero Signal’ which was on the Mortal Kombat soundtrack. One song I really wished they would have played was ‘Linchpin’. But Fear Factory still had a great set.
Once 9:45 came around with the crowd waiting eagerly for the headliner Static X. We watched stagehands wheel out a large black cloth wall to the five foot or so platform. Then they wheeled it right back off stage. Their way of bringing lead singer and guitarist Xer0 out unseen. Shortly after the rest of the band guitarist Koichi Fukuda, bassist Tony Campos who just finished his set with Fear Factory and drummer Ken Jay came out on stage playing ‘Permanence’.
Soon Xer0 would climb the stairs of the temporary raised platform. Decked out in his new look that looks like a robotic/cyborg kind of style. Which I must say looks absolutely amazing. To me it looks like a mechanical robotic version of the Static X original lead singer Wayne Static, who died November 1st of 2014. After the first song they wheeled the platform off stage, it would make another appearance later in the set.
Xer0 then took his place front stage center. The set consisted was about an hour and 15 minutes long. They played a lot of my favorites including ‘This Is Not’, ‘Black and White’, ‘Wisconsin Death Trip’ which really got an extra response from the audience being in Wisconsin. Other favorites were ‘Bled For Days’, ‘I’m With Stupid’ and ‘Push It’ But perhaps the best part of the set was with Xer0 back up on his platform. Static X then went into a tribute to late band member Wayne Static.
They played ‘Cold’ with what looked like fake snow floating around the stage and parts from the music video from the song playing and showing Wayne Static on screen. After the finish of ‘Cold’ up on the large screen showed a photo of Wayne and 1965-2014 after it just said Rest In Peace. Was definitely a touching highlight of the night. I would definitely recommend anyone to go and see the ‘Rise Of The Machine’ tour four great bands filling the night with music. Any chance you have of seeing Static X it’s a definite must go. The sound and whole production was so stunning and well done. Xer0’s vocals are very reminiscent of Wayne Static and the new mechanical look is so cool.
Remaining Tour Dates
Thu, APR 13
House of Blues Las Vegas
Las Vegas, NV
Fri, APR 14
House of Blues San Diego
San Diego, CA
Sat, APR 15
The Belasco Theater
Los Angeles, CA
Fri, MAY 19
Northcote Theatre
Northcote, Australia
Sat, MAY 20
Metro Theatre
Sydney, Australia
Sun, MAY 21
EATONS HILL HOTEL
Brendale, Australia