Grand Rapids was host to yet another alcohol hyped tour package geared toward the under aged youth of America. Cutty whiskey along with their entourage of cheesy bimbos and free shot glasses have added more to the ever popular assumption that rock is dead.

Starting out as a four band tour package quickly dropped to a 3 band bill with rumors of the band Cinder having to leave the bill due to drug related problems. I hope all the rumors of this topic are false but with a Whiskey company as a support for this tour any thing is possible.

Next up were new TVT artists Closure and were these guys ever on the wrong tour. Closure were very pop rock to say the least. Repeatedly reminding me of a Creed meets Bon Jovi stage presence this new group was way out of their realm. Even with the whiskey flowing the crowd were not very interested to say the least.

After a few more Cutty sales pitches Stereomud took the stage giving fans their first real taste of metal of the evening. Mixing grundge sounds of the mid 90's with a nu-metal taste Stereomud are quickly becoming a fine tuned machine that may possibly make a name for themselves in the year ahead.

Ending the evening were Atlanta's heavy rock headliners Sevendust. What seems like an endless life of touring for these road warriors has finally began to take its toll in my eyes. I have seen Sevendust at least 6 times and I can honestly say this was not one of their better shows. Not to say they weren't good just that they were not as energetic exciting as in the past. Lajon and the guys seemed to be just going thru the motions and visually working the crowd in all to the same way they have in the past few years. Musically Sevendust are tight and very professional as a live act and this has been were they have always excelled but I think they need some very much deserved time off.

Sevendust Gallery [click here]
Stereomud Gallery [click here]
Closure Gallery [click here]