Photos/Review: Powerman 5000 ROCK SoCal

It was a Nu-Metal revolution Friday night, August 1, in Santa Ana, CA, as late 1990s industrial rockers Powerman 5000 headlined The Observatory OC along with opening acts Ill Nino, Hed PE, and Priest. The night was sure to be a party with a pulse as these bands are the perfect combination of nostalgic and current, and a Friday night in sunny Orange County, CA, was the perfect place to celebrate.

Priest is said to be an industrial trio of masked music makers formerly from the band Ghost. Well, unfortunately, the show started 30 minutes earlier than advertised, so Priest was missed, but the buzz in the venue was electric after their set.

G-Punk rockers Hed PE were right at home at The Observatory, as this Huntington Beach-based band is deep-rooted in Orange County. These guys have been rocking the world since the mid-90s, and even though vocalist Jared Gomes remains the only original member, the band still brings the chaos onstage every night. Opening the show with the groove-laden “No Way Out” and playing other “must hear” songs, “Raise Hell” and “Bartenders”, the band ended their time onstage with “Renegade”. Hed PE in Orange County is always a super fun time, and they gave their “hometown fans” another night of killer memories.

Hed PE

Photo Credit: Chris Loomis

The next act, Ill Nino, was highly anticipated as they are touring for the first time with their brand-new vocalist Tommy Roulette, who only played his first live show with the band back in early July. Another group that has gone through many lineup changes but is still anchored by original drummer Dave Chavarri opened the show with the pummeling bang of 2001’s “If You Still Hate Me,” and WOW, it was immediate that Roulette was the right choice to front this version of Ill Nino. His powerful and angst-driven delivery was the perfect match for every song, and he had fantastic stage presence to boot.

Midway through the set, Stephen Arango, the drummer for Hed PE, came onstage and Roulette grabbed some drumsticks, and the band played a killer drum-off led by Chavarri that shook the walls of The Observatory. The band blasted out some killer songs, “I Am Loco” and “What Comes Around,” that had the circle pit in full rotation throughout the entire set. The night ended in EPIC fashion as none other than Tommy Vext came out to sing on “How Can I Live” alongside Roulette. Vext played some live shows recently, filling in as vocalist for Ill Nino; this was a GREAT way to end an outstanding set of raging nu-metal.

Ill Nino

Photo Credit: Chris Loomis

Now, Powerman 5000 has to be one of the most underrated bands in existence. Why are these guys not HUGE like Static-X? The band kicked off the night with “Supernova Goes Pop”, delivering that industrial energy with a punk rock edge, like only they can do. These guys never stay still onstage; led by Spider One, the band is constantly jumping and bouncing around with never-ending energy.

Guitarists Taylor Haycraft and Dan Schiz delivered that chunky bite, anchored by drummer DJ Rattan, and then the bellowing thump of the bass by Murv Douglas rounded out the sound. Spider One’s in-between song hype kept the crowd alive and rowdy as the band banged out hit after hit. The mid-tempo “Black Lipstick” is always a fun one, and things got heavy with “Invade, Destroy, Repeat”. The lights were dark on this night inside the Observatory, and it truly felt like an old-school underground club show as the fans moshed, crowd surfed, and kept that circle pit going all night.

Of course, we all knew what the last song was going to be, and the venue erupted as the beginning of “When Worlds Collide” rang out. The band was bouncing, the crowd was jumping, it felt like a good ole SoCal earthquake. Powerman 5000 was raw, fun, and blatantly weird, which is exactly what we all wanted to see and hear.

This tour is now over, but we are all hoping for some new Powerman 5000 music in the near future.