I Let It In And It Took Everything Tour
Loathe, with Static Dress, Omerta, and UnityTX
Thursday, November 17th, 2022
The Waiting Room Lounge
Omaha, Nebraska
Doors at 6pm
$18 ADV / $20 DOS
You never know what you’re going to get when you walk through the doors of the iconic Waiting Room Lounge in Omaha. The venue has hosted every style and genre of music since they opened their doors in 2007, but the styles most associated with the venue are rock and metal. That makes The Waiting Room Lounge the perfect venue for Loathe’s return to Omaha and they were bringing some friends. While it wouldn’t be Loathe or Omerta’s first time in Omaha, it would be the debut appearance of UnityTX, and Static Dress.
I never know what to expect from bands that I’ve never seen before, or even heard of, but that’s also the best part of going to concerts. While everyone is there to see the headliner, its the opening bands that really need to prove themselves to the crowd, and UnityTX did not disappoint. With the unexpected cancellation of Japan’s Paledusk from the tour, UnityTX were enlisted to open the tour. The band hit the stage and the crowd hit the floor. Strong vocals, a precise stage presence, and an exceptional control of the crowd. They will certainly be one of the bands that everyone needs to watch out for.
Omerta took the energy from UnityTX and pumped it up another level. This may not have been a “hardcore metal” genre of concert but the crowd’s reaction was nothing less than brutal. These guys worked together in perfect synergy to build the excitement in the room.
The energy level from Omerta, and UnityTX kinda hit a brick wall though when Static Dress took the stage. The band, relatively new, grew out of the hardcore scene in Leeds in 2018, and this would be their first tour of the U.S. The band won the Kerrang Readers’ Poll – New Band Of The Year in 2021 that helped shine a wider spotlight on them here in the U.S. The venue was buzzing about their upcoming performance. That excitement would be tempered though when vocalist Ollie Appleyard tossed his mic into the air and missed the catch, the mic crash thumping on the floor, breaking the mic and forcing him to use the bass players which clearly was not sound-checked for lead vocals. The band pushed through though and the crowd, familiar with their music, upped their screams to match what would have come from Ollie. Despite the technical issues, the show must go on. While Ollie was clearly frustrated with the technical issues, he used that emotion to his advantage for a chance to further engage and involve the crowd in the stage show. Even with the mic issues, the crowd’s reaction was reaching a breaking point and the band’s unique style created enough buzz that we all hope they return for another round of aggressive moshing.
The anticipation had reached a fever pitch by the time Loathe was ready. The band had first played Omaha in 2017 during their The Cold Sun tour, and most recently earlier this year with Code Orange and Vended. This tour however was a special occasion for not just the fans but the band also.
The band’s critically acclaimed sophomore album, I Let It In and It Took Everything, was released just a month prior to the world shutting down during the 2020 pandemic, meaning the band only got a few weeks of touring in before having the pack it up with the rest of the world. A year later, they’d release their 3rd album, The Things They Believe, but Loathe felt the need to better tour in support of their 2020 release. The solution was this headlining tour which featured the entire album being performed front to back. While the idea is not that unconventional, it was the way the performance went that gave an extra level intensity to tonight’s show.
While I was excited for the chance to finally see Loathe live, I was a bit hesitant of my first time being a full album performance, even if that album was one of my favorites from 2020. Any hesitation I had was thrown out the moment the opening chords of Aggressive Evolution were played. Since the band formed in 2014, the group’s line-up has remained relatively consistent with lead vocalist Kadeem France, guitarist and second vocalist Erik Bickerstaffe, and drummer Sean Radcliffe, with bassist Feisal El-Khazragi joining their ranks in 2018. It takes an exceptionally talented band to pull off such a cinematic performance while being “limited” by just one album’s worth of material for a setlist. With this tour Loathe proved themselves as more than just an English heavy metal band from Liverpool, though. Ask any of the hundreds of fans present at the bands nearly sold-out Omaha show, and they will tell you that Loathe are more than just a band, Loathe are a lifestyle. There are still a few weeks left for this tour, and I cannot stress enough how badly you all need to attend.
