Photos and Review by Emmy Susani
Machine Gun Kelly, the center of a lot of media controversy. Usually, websites like mine here would write about some twist negative nonsense to get click bait views, because well the internet likes to promote the bad instead of good from a artist.
That all being said, it was a huge honor to be able to capture some moments on this sold-out tour that has been speaking for itself. Whether you hate MgK or you're a fan like I am you cannot argue the fact that this man has taken over the music world.
Now I know every dad out there with his 90's heavy metal shirt is screaming reading this, but this article isn't for you Sir. I'll be covering Lamb Of God next week.
The first night was in Camden, NJ with Trippie Redd who joined him for a few songs. Let me just say the stage production of this tour is out of the world, from the hot pink helicopter to the giant "internet" bot, the pyro, etc. This is some of the best stage production I've seen in any genre of music. The setlist was a good mix from the previous few records, and a whopping 32 song set no fan went home upset that they didn't get their moneys worth.
To switch gears to the New York City show, I arrived to the venue right before he was set to go on due to time restraints. This set was a little different than Camden, Avril Lavigne was on this date and joined him for a live version of "Bois Lie". Landon Barker also joined for "Die In California" which he helped write from the last record.
There was something addicting to the energy of being in a sold out Madison Square Garden. It took me a few days to mentally process being in that energy and how insane the bands performance was every single night. Sophie Lloyd is one of the best guitar players of our generation, this girl shreds and has a bit of a fanbase of her own from posting metal covers on her YouTube channel. Jus Lyons, aka Guitar Slayer is indeed just that, these dueling guitar players compliment each other insanely well and fill out the live sound.
Obviously this wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention Rook, who is one of the most badass drummers of this generation. Through all my years of covering shows and working with bands from heavy metal to pop Rook is one of the best consistent drummers I've ever seen live.
Whether you dudes that carve "Slayer" into your arm and drink pigs blood so you can be "metal enough" want to admit it or not Machine Gun Kelly has broken the mold and is one of the best rock stars of this era.
If you get the chance go see the Mainstream Sellout tour, it'll be one of the best nights of your life.
Don't forget to check out "Life in Pink" on Hulu now.
Machine Gun Kelly’s ‘mainstream sellout (life in pink deluxe)’ available now: https://mgk.lnk.to/MSDeluxe Stream Machine Gun Kelly’s “more than life ft. glaive”: http://MGK.lnk.to/morethanlife Follow Machine Gun Kelly : https://tiktok.com/@machinegunkelly