I’ve covered a large number of shows over the close to six years of being a concert photographer and there were still artists I never had the opportunity to see live or photograph. So when the announcement came through about this one tour that would be close to home, I was excited. I was even more thrilled when I learned I was approved to photograph and review it. That artist was Limp Bizkit. I’ve been a fan ever since I heard “Nookie” on the radio and looked forward to the day I’d get to see them live. That day finally hit on April 28, 2022 when Limp Bizkit was kicking off their “Still Sucks Tour” at the Seminole Hard Rock and Casino in Tampa, FL in support of their sixth studio album Still Sucks.
I thought this was an interesting choice to open in Tampa instead of their city of origin, Jacksonville, FL. Even more interesting to play at this particular venue instead of a larger one. When I arrived at the Seminole Hard Rock and Casino I was in awe. The memorabilia dedicated to rock, the size of the casino, and the busy pace was unreal. And I found it so weird that the Hard Rock venue was built into the casino. When I picked up my credentials there was a huge line of people already waiting. A number of them were dressed up in white t-shirts, jeans, and wearing a red baseball cap backward, much like Fred Durst did when Limp Bizkit first hit the scene. When I finally made it inside, I really loved this venue. A large floor for standing room and rows of seats in the back on the left, middle, and right. Anywhere in the venue was a good place to see the show. I stored my gear and waited for the first band to come to the stage.
First, up to the stage, was the hardcore band Scowl. Fairly new to the music scene, the California band released their first demo in 2019. In 2021 they released their debut album How Flowers Grow. The album is ten tracks of pure in your face, push you to your limits hardcore. And they are looking to push harder and keep getting better. Scowl is Kat Moss (vocals), Malachi Greene (guitar), Bailey Lupo (bass), and Cole Gilbert (drums).
While I didn’t know their music, Scowl absolutely made an impression with the crowd that night. Kat came out pumped full of energy, stalking across the stage back and forth as she sang. Or should I say, bellowed, into the mic. Kat’s vocals are so powerful and she has plenty of range to back up her hardcore style of singing. And the rest of the band fits in line with her style as well. Malachi rips out the riffs as fast as he can, focused and intense in his playing. Cole was a monster masher on the drums, smashing away on the drums and cymbals in such fierce fashion. His aggressive playstyle is perfect for hardcore music. Bailey is a great bass player dropping those deep notes for their songs. He seemed cool and collected than the rest, but don’t be fooled, as he drives the bass hard.
Sadly, I didn’t catch which songs they performed that night, but I did enjoy them and the band’s energy. You can find their music and tour dates HERE.
Next was the electronic rock duo known as Wargasm UK. The duo formed in 2018 when Milkie Way was working as a concert photographer when she was photographing Sam Matlock‘s previous band Dead!. After completing that project Sam approached Milkie about forming a new one and Wargasm UK was born. The duo has eleven singles released but no studio albums. The live tour group includes Edison Hunter (guitar) and Adam Breeze (drums).
This was another band that was new to me, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. When Wargasm hit the stage, they came out with the same energy and intensity as Scowl. Milkie and Sam co-vocaled through songs and they both worked in tandem trading lyrics back and forth. They were a smooth working machine. Milkie has a wonderful screaming vocal with such a high range it’s chilling. It works so well for the hardcore style music they make. Sam has a powerful voice as well with such clarity. At one point, Sam brought out a guitar to sing and play and he’s great at both. Adam hammered away at the drums with such wonderful expressions on his face. He’s an excellent drummer without a doubt. Edison stayed off in the left corner of the stage as he performed, mostly keeping to himself, focused on his playing. But, all eyes were on Milkie and Sam for their vocals and motion all over the stage. Wargasm UK is going to be something big one day.
I didn’t catch the songs they performed that night, unfortunately, but really did enjoy their performance and music. You can find their music and merch HERE.
Next up was the rapper known as $not. His real name is Edy Edouard and is originally from New York City and currently resides Florida. He started making music during high school and started releasing tracks via SoundCloud in 2016. He self-released his EP The Tissue Files in 2018 and then signed with record label 300. He’s released three studio albums with his most recent being Ethereal that came out in February 2022. Two of his singles have reached Gold certification and his single “Tell Em” reached Platinum certification.
$not stepped onto the stage with his face covered up with a hoodie pulled tight around his head and a towel. He had a DJ on stage with him as well. While not familiar with his music, he started to perform his rap music on stage with his DJ providing the mixes. He had an entourage that came out on stage with him during songs that were jumping around trying to get the crowd engaged. I could tell he was connecting with a small portion of the crowd that was bouncing around with him on stage. But, overall I noticed a lot of people seemed very disengaged and confused by his performance. While rap is probably one of my least favorite genres, I’ve heard plenty of rap in my time living in New York City to at least tell you $not has talent and absolutely has a stage presence. I felt like he would have a much better audience in other cities than Tampa, which is more known for rock and metal than rap. After the show, I went and listened to some of his tracks online and he absolutely has a talent for rapping. Some of the songs he performed that evening included “Human”, “Gosha” (one of his singles certified Gold), and “Tell Em” (his Platinum-certified single). If you are a fan of rap, go give $not’s music a listen, as I think you’ll enjoy his work.
And then we came to who everyone was waiting on that evening, Limp Bizkit. The band from Jacksonville, FL formed back in 1994 and released their first album Three Dollar Bill, Y’all in 1997. While getting mixed reviews they found commercial radio success with their cover of George Michael’s “Faith”. They followed up in 1999 with Signifcant Other whose singles “Nookie”, “Break Stuff”, and “Re-Arranged” drove the album to be certified Platinum seven times and hit #1 on the Billboard 200. Their next album in 2000 Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water would achieve similar success hitting #1 on the Billboard 200 and certified Platinum six times. The album contained singles “Rollin'”, “Take a Look Around”, “My Way”, and “My Generation”. The band would release two additional albums Resuls May Vary (2003) and Gold Cobra (2011) before going on a recording hiatus and return ten years later with their current album Still Sucks in 2021. Limp Bizkit is Fred Durst (vocals), DJ Lethal (turntables), Wes Borland (guitar), Sam Rivers (bass), and John Otto (drums).
The stage had a number of items covered up before they went on. The stage crew revealed a large inflatable maid with a vacuum who was smoking a cigarette (from the Still Sucks album cover), a recliner, and a massive platform with lights where it looked DJ Lethal would be spinning. There was a voice from the darkness of the stage calling “Hello? Where is everybody?” Slowly, Fred Durst garbed in a button-down shirt, dress slacks, red-tinted glasses, and pull-on shoes shuffled onto the stage. He looked around and asked, “Where is everybody?”. He slowly made his way to the recliner, sat down, and kicked it back like he was chilling out at home. This got a huge roar from the crowd. He pulled out a remote and kept clicking buttons on it, expecting it to do….something. He even shook it at some point trying to get it to work. Eventually, music started playing and lights turned on, and Fred said hi to DJ Lethal above him. Fred started singing the lyrics to “Dad Vibes” from the new album. He got up off the chair and started dancing while he performed, which was driving the crowd wild. He got close to the stage where we were taking photographs, glanced over my way, looked off, and threw up his middle finger. That alone made the crowd go crazy and I absolutely loved it. As a concert photographer, there is nothing better than getting an artist to notice you and give you a point or a middle finger.
After he was done the rest of the band made their way onto the stage. Wes dressed in a full white suit, black half-face mask, with a painted white face was on the left. Sam stepped out from the back right dressed in a robe, plain shirt, and boxers looking comfy on stage, and John was on the far right with the drums facing the stage so he was sideways to the fans. They ripped into “Out of Style” also from the new album which got the crowd bouncing. That harder rock riff from Wes was killer and just what the crowd needed to get moving. The song slows down right away before jumping back upbeat during the chorus. Absolutely great song. But then Fred said, “Uh oh….Lethal fucked up the setlist” possibly joking about what was supposed to come next. They performed “Dirty Rotten Bizkit” once again showing off the rap-rock mix they do so well with Wes and Sam dropping great sounds, John going wild on the drums, Lethal spinning it out, and Fred rapping only the way he can. This song was the quintessential sound that made Limp Bizkit so successful. They also debuted the first live performance of “Pill Popper” from Still Sucks.
After that point, Limp Bizkit went old school for the rest of the evening. The moment the opening notes of “Rollin’ (Air Raid Vehicle)” started the crowd went crazy on their feet and that mosh pit was moving hard. By far, this is one of my favorite songs from them and I remember the WWE’s Undertaker used this as his ride-in song for a while as he would drive down to the ring on a motorcycle. And then the crowd did full sing-a-long when they performed “Hot Dog” from Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water wondering how many times could we sing “fucked” and “fuck” in a song. The crowd was all for it urging Limp Bizkit to keep bringing it on. It was awesome. They also performed “My Way” and “My Generation” from the album. They also performed their cover of “Faith” from Three Dollar Bill, Y’all which really got the crowd crazy. I think Limp Bizkit went extra hard on that for the crowd.
This was really a special night for those who attended the show in Tampa. Besides being the opening night of the tour, Limp Bizkit was really in tune with the crowd for what they wanted to hear. Fred even said “We’re taking requests. What do you want to hear?” And he interacted with the crowd so much. Early on he had a fan come on stage and hang out in the lounge chair during the performance. He threw out a skateboard into the crowd saying it was the one from the video of “Break Stuff” (later said he was joking as people were fighting over it). At one point Wes was only playing a few notes waiting to see who knew what song it was. One guy called it out correctly and he brought the fan on stage to perform it with Limp Bizkit. That song was “Full Nelson” from Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water. A woman yelled at Fred it was her birthday. He asked to see her ID, took it, walked to the back of the stage to look at it, brought it back to her and said, “Sorry Mam, this is a fake ID” and brought her up on stage anyway. They got a seat for her so she could watch from there for the rest of the show. One of the funniest parts is Wes started playing the chords to the Mission Impossible theme song, which made the crowd scream. Fred looked over at him saying, “Oh. I was gonna skip that one. But whatever, if you wanna play it we’ll play it.” That seem to get a laugh from Wes who started playing the chords again, which led to “Take a Look Around” also on Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water. The song also appeared on the Mission Impossible 2 movie soundtrack and Fred said “This song was written by Tom Cruise.” I really love this song for the rock style with the MI theme blended in.
After finishing “Take a Look Around”, Fred invited on the openers on stage so they could take a bow and say goodnight. Instead, Limp Bizkit broke into “Break Stuff” to close off the evening. If you ever want to get a Limp Bizkit crowd moving, this is the song to see it happen. Everyone was going crazy as the band played with some of the opening members joining Fred on screaming “Give me something to break!”. Afterward the bands thanked the crowd and called it an evening.
You can find Limp Bizkit music and merch HERE. Their setlist that evening was:
- Dad Vibes (Fred and DJ Lethal only)
- Out of Style
- Dirty Rotten Bizkit
- Pill Popper
- Rollin’ (Air Raid Vehicle)
- Hot Dog
- My Way
- My Generation
- Livin’ It Up
- Nookie
- Full Nelson
- Thieves (Ministry cover)
- Faith (George Michael cover)
- Take a Look Around
- Break Stuff
This was such a great opening night of the tour. The openers delivered for the crowd and Limp Bizkit closed it out in only the way they can. I would absolutely come back to see another Limp Bizkit performance. You still have an opportunity to see them on the “Still Sucks Tour” so catch them if you can!
Be the first to comment