Strung Out – Voodoo Glow Skulls – at House of Blues – Anaheim, CA

Last Sunday 4 different bands were scheduled to play at the House of Blues in Anaheim. Due to last minute delays, we made it there by 9:20 excited to go inside just in time to catch Voodoo Glow Skulls. The line was still relatively long for it being so late. By the time we made it in you could hear Voodoo doing a last minute sound check. Running down the venue stairs you could hear the crowd screaming in excitement and then a quick count off on the drums. Voodoo Glow Skulls opened with “Shoot the Moon”.

The crowd immediately started swaying back and forth for a few seconds until the pit broke out. The pit consisted of people from all different scenes. Some were trying to skank and others were just doing the normal circle pit business. They went on to play songs such as “Closet Monster”, “Brodie Johnson Weekend”, “Insubordination”, “Charlie Brown”, and of the course their famous “Voodoo Anthem”.

People were sweaty and out of breath but kept giving their best to keep the pit going. It seemed like time flew by because everyone was having fun but eventually the time came and they decided to say goodbye with an old song. After a brief into was played, the crowd knew which song it was and yelled out “Dog Pile!” They skanked it up one last time before their set was over.

Quite a bit of people had left after Voodoo Glow Skulls, so the floor wasn’t as full as it had been. About a half hour to 45 minutes later, the venue got darker and the curtains slowly opened. It was time for Strung Out to begin! They started their set with playing their latest album “Agents of the Underground” in its entirety.  The crowd got intense with the random outbursts of hardcore dancing and endless shoving. It wasn’t exactly a circle pit but still very brutal and it was rare if a girl stepped foot in there.

As they finished the last song from “Agents of the Underground” the members of Strung Out asked the crowd if they were ready to hear the old songs. They started off their “old songs” with “Population Control” and it was obvious that’s what people wanted to hear. People went insane, in a good way, and “Population Control” had the biggest pit of the night. They played more oldies like “Monster”, “Never Good Enough”, and Firecracker”. Those few songs made the set better than it already was. They said a brief goodbye but the curtains remained opened and lights till dimmed. Strung Out front man Jason Cruz came out all by himself with an acoustic guitar and played one song.

You could hear the crowd singing loud because the other instruments weren’t involved. Jason left the stage and came back with the rest of the band and played one more song to end the night. The drummer got up and stood at the end of the stage and threw out his drumsticks.

It’s hard to say whether people had more fun for Voodoo Glow Skulls or Strung Out. All I know is they both played an unforgettable set. People will be craving shows from the two bands for a while until they come back to play again!

-Corrina P.-
Big Wheel Staff Reporter

 

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