The Big Night Out Tour
By Seth M
On July 11th, The Big Night Out Tour rolled into Huntington, NY. True, Lit was no longer on the tour, but there was still plenty of great music to come from Alien Ant Farm, Hoobastank, and Fuel.
Alien Ant Farm
Alien Ant Farm kicked it off with a quick 30 minute set to warm up the crowd. Singer Dryden Mitchell and bassist Tye Zamora were full of energy, antics and some whacko facial expressions and got everyone ready to rock, closing out their set with Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal.”
Hoobastank
Next up, Hoobastank, who mixed it up between older hits and some new songs from their recent Flight or Fight album. It was obvious that the crowd ~ myself included ~ had missed these guys. I hadn’t seen Hoobastank in years and they sounded terrific, finishing up their set with back to back hits ~ “The Reason” and “Out of Control.”
As the band took the stage to “Bag of Weed,” the crowd was more than ready to be fully FUEL’d. I always enjoy seeing this band as they’ve got a damn good stage presence, a great catalog of material to pull from, and always seem to enjoy themselves. They had the crowd in the palm of their hand as they played hit after hit from “Shimmer” to “Bittersweet” and everything in between.
Fuel
Although singer Brett Scallions told me at dinner that this tour was focusing on the older songs, that didn’t keep him from busting out one new song; he prefaced it by saying it would piss the band off given that they’d never played it live, but we wouldn’t have known because it rocked as hard as the rest of the set. Never leaving the stage and going right into an encore, Fuel ended their set with “Hemorrhage (In My Hands)” and, along with AAF and Hoobastank, made sure it was indeed The Big Night Out for concert fans.
If you’re ready for a fun night with some great music, check out the dates for The Big Night Tour at fuelrocks.com.
All photos by & courtesy of Seth M