With the new year in full swing, the Central Florida area was blessed to have a fun show coming to House of Blues Orlando on Monday, January 19th. Rockers Nothing More , along with Catch Your Breath and Archers were getting ready to rock HOB as part of the Carnal Nature World Tour. Nothing More is continuing their tour in support of their latest album, Carnal, which was released on June 28, 2024, via Better Noise Music. And now they would be sharing music from their album and re-visiting the past with the attendees.
When I arrived at House of Blues Orlando, it was already a massively packed venue. So many people decked out in one of the three bands merch and other rocked bands filled out the venue. I was nervous covering the show as it was the first one I’ve done in over a year. But once I got back into the venue, it all felt familiar, and the photo pit felt like home. And the crowd was energized, fun, and I felt right at home again. I knew this was going to be a super fun evening.
Archers opened up the show that evening. I had heard a little of their music and liked them. And I was pleasantly surprised to hear how well they could rock and had that crowd completely engaged. The Wisconsin native band may have brought the cold to Florida that night, but they definitely kept it hot inside. The group consists of Nathanael Pulley (vocals), Ben Koehler (guitar), Oscar Porter (bass), and Grayson Mesaroh (drums) and they got the crowd amped.
“Made For Love” poured energy through the crowd and the fans ate it up. “Say This Sober” held the energy and Nathanel’s vocals are haunting through it. Grayson drove the tempo and kept the energy high. I really enjoyed the music they performed. Nathanael’s vocals are so beautiful and I see this band really going far. While they had a short set, they made every note count and made sure attendees remembered Archers.
Catch Your Breath was up next and they were amazing. The band from Austin TX had the crowd fully engaged before they even played a single note. The band, consisting of Josh Mowery (vocals), Teddy Herrera (guitar), Cianan Madigan (bass), and Onell Hernandez (drums), has been together since 2017 and fans have loved them all along the way. They kicked it off with “Savages” and the crowd was bouncing hard. They followed with “Deadly” which has a nice mixture of edgy and soulful. The band even treated the fan to an unreleased song “Lost” that had a nice hard background that blends well with Josh’s vocals.
But, they had the whole crowd singing along to “21 Gun Salute” and “Dial Tone” (my personal favorite from them). I do need to call out that this band is so talented on all fronts. Teddy is a great guitar player, Cianan is great on the bass, Onell kills it on the drums, and Josh is such a fantastic vocalist. Another highly recommended band to listen to and see live.
And then came the headliner, Nothing More. The Grammy-nominated band from San Antonio, TX has been rocking the stages since 2003. They have clearly become fan favorites over the years, especially at festivals when they would drag out their crazy musical platform known as the Scorpion. Over time, they’ve released one hit after another, evolving their music with each song. One of the things I love about Nothing More is that they allow their creativity to take center stage over rinse and repeat, same-sounding songs. When Jonny Hawkins (vocals), Mark Vollelunga (guitar), Daniel Oliver (bass), and Ben Anderson (drums) stepped out on stage, the crowd roared in applause.
From the moment they started playing, it was all gas and no brakes through their set. They kicked it off with one of my favorites from Carnal with “House of Sand”. It is such a catchy song that had the crowd singing every word. They also played from the album “If It Doesn’t Hurt”, “Angel Song”, and “Freefall”. All great selections from the album that shows their skills as songwriters and musicians. That night they also performed some of their well-known songs including “Don’t Stop” and “Jenny”. Nothing More pulled on the attendees’ hearts with “Fadein/Fadeout” as you could hear and feel the emotion in Jonny’s singing. And they really had the crowd singing loud when they performed “Go To War”. The band included really cool moments when Mark, Daniel, and Ben all performed solos around the middle of the set. Solos during concerts is a lost art and Nothing More reminded the fans why they are so needed. They performed a cover of Nine Inch Nails “We’re In This Together”. That was absolutely an amazing cover of a kick-ass song. And Jonny and Ben did a super cool dueling drums set. If you didn’t know, Jonny used to be the band’s drummer. All in all, fantastic and phenomenal performance from Nothing More that night.
If you have the opportunity to catch this tour in a city near you, don’t miss out on this fun show. You can see the remaining tour list and buy tickets over at nothingmore.net.
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