After the huge success of The Blackout Tour Pt. 1, From Ashes to New joined forces with Point North, Ekoh, Phix, and elijah for The Blackout Tour Pt. 2. The band stopped at House of Blues Orlando in Lake Buena Vista, FL on May 9th and I felt very fortunate to be there. Sadly, Point North was not joining the rest of the bands for that tour stop. Excitement and anticipation buzzed as a large crowd gathered early to see the show. And this was a show with an earlier-than-normal start time. I could feel the excitement from the fans as we got closer and closer to the start of the show. The crowd screamed wildly when the lights went dark. They knew this was going to be a fun night ahead. And they were right.
First to the stage was the hip-hop and rock artist elijah. He has a presence on the stage you can’t deny and his vocals can rip through the venue with the best of the hardcore and metalcore scene today. Before that evening, I’ve never heard of him. But, the fans did and they cheered and screamed and sang along with every song he delivered. elijah does have the making to be a superstar with the talent I watched and listened to that night. Go check out his debut EP titled fighting myself and his new single “Hostage”. You can find his music and merch over at https://elijahband.co.
Next was the rapper known as Phix from Texas. He has a big social media presence and this was another artist I had not heard before. Phix’s immediately captures your attention and he truly has beautiful vocals. His single “Save Me” is an enchanting melody. But, don’t let those melodic vocals fool you into thinking he can’t throw down. His single “Doomed” featuring Ekoh (who came out to perform it with him) is heavy. Phix has a drummer who goes by Bronx. Did I mention he’s 11? And he is incredible. Bronx treated the crowd to a drum solo during Phix’s set and the crowd loved it. Phix did have some technical trouble that temporarily put a pause on his show. But, he didn’t allow that to deter him from entertaining the crowd. Check out his music at https://youtube.com/@officialphix.
Ekoh is a hip-hop artist who truly blurs the lines between hip-hop and any other style of music. It may seem strange to have an artist like that with From Ashes To New, and Ekoh himself even joked about it. But, he was a perfect fit with the other artists that night. I’ve heard great things about him so it was an opportunity to let my hard rock/metal soul experience something different. Honestly, I loved him. He’s an entertainer, he’s personable, and he can sing not just rap. Check out his single “HELLO LONELINESS” to get a feel for his vocals. Now, when you want to hear how good is he as a hip-hop artist, check out his song “Ted Talk” he performed that night. It has a great cadence and he delivers it well.
I’m not a hip-hop fan by any means and I liked this song. But, he really got my attention when he told the crowd he was going to perform a song dedicated to Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame. And he was at the perfect place to perform the song at Disney’s property. He didn’t have the backing track for this tour so he did it acapella and damn that was amazing. Running his mixes for Ekoh was DJ Kode Break and he was a lot of fun performing with Ekoh on songs. At the end of his set, Ekoh stood on the crowd, crowd surfed, and had those wearing Vans to throw one shoe onto the stage for him to autograph. Owners would get their shoe back up at the merch booth. I highly recommend checking out his music and merch over at https://ekohmusic.com/.
Finally, we got to our headliners in From Ashes To New from Lancaster, PA. The band currently has 4 studio albums released and this tour supported their most recent, Blackout, released on July 28, 2023. And with them getting to headline this tour, the band made the most of every moment. When the band hit the stage the crowd went absolutely nuts. All of them were dressed in black and painted their arms and necks in black, all looking very cohesive. They went high energy right away with singles “Armaggedon”, “Dead To Me”, and “Broken”. They lightened up a little with “Hate Me Too”, a song I love. “Barely Breathing”, the first single from Blackout, slowed the show’s pace. With their massive stage set, mega-lighting rig, and the energy they brought to every show prior to this one, From Ashes To New showed why they should be headlining shows.
Vocalists Danny Case and Matt Brandyberry had fun with the crowd that evening. They got the crowd to see which side could be louder. They then got the crowd to see if they could be louder than the crowd from the night before. The funniest part is when Matt wanted the crowd to show Danny love and on the count of 3 to get the crowd to say “I love you Danny!”. Except when Matt got to 3 he said “Fuck you Danny!”. I laughed hard when he did that. But, it’s these little things where you see the friendship they built since 2013. Also, they always speak from the heart. Matt told the crowd there was concern about having the Orlando show on May 9th opposite a festival occurring on the coast. But, with the crowd that showed up that night, Matt said he knew they made the right decision. Danny called Orlando their second home.
From Ashes To New had a phenomenal performance. At the end of their set, elijah joined them to perform “Panic”. Ekoh came out next to perform “Nightmare”. This is one of my all time favorite From Ashes To New song and they hit it note for note. They closed out their set with “Through It All”. Go check out music and merch for them over at https://fromashestonew.com.
Overall, this was an amazing show from open to close. All of the artists shined that night, but I was thrilled to see From Ashes To New finally being where they belong; as headliners.
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