Review and Photos by Megan Juarez-Fontana
Promoter: Live Nation
Venue: Arizona Financial Theater
Date: Saturday August 24, 2024
Tour: The Unity Tour
There was a spark in the air; as if there was a buzz of excitement in the air. Fans were lines up down the street to get into the Arizona Financial Theater. The crowd was a fun mix of new age want to be grunge and preppy emo. Everyone was so excited to be there; many people grew up listening to 311, so there was a lot of nostalgia behind these songs. The fans flocked in large groups to the theater, ready for an evening filled with great music and vives.
311 was the final act of the night and the most anticipated. 311 is a rock band from Omaha, Nebraska but their sound is very fluid and genre bending. They combine notes of heavy rock with reggae, funk and metal. The bands line up is formed by Nick Hexum – lead vocals/guitar/keyboards, Aaron “P-Nut” Wills – bass, Chad Sexton – drums, Tim Mahoney – lead guitar and Doug “SA” Martinez – lead vocals/turntables.
The audience screamed as the lights dimmed and the band came onto the stage. Everyone had been waiting for this moment all night long, ready to watch this amazing mesh of different genres rolled up into one band. The band opened up with their song “Beautiful Disaster”, which was an excellent choice. The song is the perfect heavy rock and metal vibe to really get the crowd going. The audience began to headbang and jump up and down the minute the beat dropped.
The second song of the night was “Freeze Time” followed by “Sunset in July”. Everyone was extremely happy with how the setlist was going and the energy was going to keep picking up. They played a ton of great songs throughput the night such as “Down”, “Come Original” and “Champagne”. One song everyone wanted to hear but didn’t was “Love Song”, this was due to some technical difficulties with Hexum’s guitar.
311
The second band of the night was Awolnation! They are a rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California in 2009. The bands current line up if formed by Aaron Bruno (AWOL) – vocals/rhythm guitar, Isaac Carpenter – drums/backing vocals, Zach Irons – lead guitar/backing vocals, Daniel Saslow – programming,/keyboards and Josh Moreau – bass.
This band was an incredible hit with the audience! They opened their set with ” Soul wars”. The audience danced along as they performed but the audience really went nuts for their Tik Tok skit song “Run”. This song has been used for thousands of small skit videos all over Tik Tok and Instagram. The minute the sing started the audience jumped up and down, and moved their bodies in all different ways. Bruno jumped on top of a platform and performed this song above everyone else.
Awolnation
Neon Trees was the opening band of the night. Neon Trees came into the scene in 2008 when they opened for The Killers. The band hails from Provo, Utah! The bands current line up is made up by Chris Allen – guitar/backing vocals, Tyler Glenn – lead vocals/ keyboards/piano/synthesizer, Elaine Bradley – drums/percussion/backing vocals and Branden Campbell – bass guitar/backing vocals.
Neon Trees came out with a ton of energy, ready to slay the night. they opened up their set with “Losing My Head”. The audience screamed in happiness; this band was full of energy and eagerness. As they performed Glenn moved all over the stage. His energy was off the charts. As he performed his third song of the night “Animal”, he threw his sunglasses into the crowd. The fans fought in the air to catch them, then all of a sudden Glenn threw out his studded jean jacket. One lucky fan left with the best souvenir of the night. Over all their performance was a lot of fun and full energy.
Neon Trees
