Images: Parkway Drive, We Came As Romans, Counterparts, Survive This! October 20, 2016 at the House of Blues

For the second year in a row, Australian metalcore outfit Parkway Drive packed the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay. This time around they brought Counterparts and We Came As Romans along with them.

Canada’s Counterparts drew a good crowd of their own, with many up front to scream the words along with vocalist Brendan Murphy. They did a great job getting the energy up and setting the pace for the rest of the night, performing a set consisting mostly of songs from 2015’s Tragedy Will Find Us and 2013’s The Difference Between Hell and Home.

Up next was Detroit’s own We Came As Romans. Opening with “Tracing Back Roots” and back lit by the house’s red lights, WCAR incited the first few crowd surfers of the night. Second vocalist of the group, Kyle Pavone, joined his bandmates on stage in time for the second song to kick off. Interestingly enough, the group played a set mostly of older material. Of the 10 song set, only two songs, “Regenerate” and “Tear It Down,” were from 2015’s self-titled release. This seemed to be a crowd-pleasing choice, although, mid-set we were treated to their brand new single, “Wasted Age,” and it was great to finally hear the song live. Capping off the set was their big single “Hope,” which had all their fans singing along with Dave and Kyle.

Covering the IRE tour last December, I had never seen Parkway Drive before, and admittedly did not expect to be blown away, but after leaving the venue that night, I became an instant fan. It was definitely one of the best live performances I had seen during 2015. I listened to IRE on repeat weeks after that, so going into this night, saying I was excited is actually probably an understatement. As soon as the band took the stage and opened with “Crush,” the place erupted with cheers and I fired off as many photos as I could to keep up with frontman Winston McCall. Just like the last show, the sound and energy of the band’s performance was on point and mind blowing. They also happen to be a photographers dream to shoot because of the amazing lighting and bursts of CO2 smoke and confetti cannons. If you were a fan of the band’s older material, this was the set for you as they did a great job of mixing old material with new in the set, including “Carrion” from 2009’s Horizons, which was played early on.

McCall expressed gratitude for all the support over the years, as crowd surfers continued to come over the barricade and the moshpit swirled in constant motion. And to end the night, as an encore, the guys came out with “Bottom Feeder.” The song is easily one of their biggest hits to date and got the biggest crowd reaction of the night. Once again, I left the show mind blown by their performance, and I look forward to seeing the guys come back again. Hopefully my luck continues and it will be in another year.

-Tylor Thuirer | https://www.instagram.com/thuirer/