Co-Headliners Wage War & Nothing More Bring their High-Energy Performance to Astro

May 6, 2024 Robert Chadwick Concert Reviews Comments Off

REVIEW BY DAVID TAYLOR AND PHOTOS BY ROBERT A CHADWICK | Go Venue Magazine

La Vista, Nebraska was the place to be on Sunday, May 5 as Wage War and Nothing More made their Astro debut. It was a rowdy night for rock music and regardless of it being a Sunday, people showed the hell up.

Sleep Theory from Memphis opened the concert. This four-piece gave one of the best opening slot sets of a bill I’ve seen this year. Lead vocalist Cullen Moore had awesome energy and a great voice. I love a band that has three or more backing vocalists, and they happened to have that, so shout out to bassist Paolo Vergara and guitarist Daniel Pruitt for pulling double-duty flawlessly. They ended their set with their big rock radio hit, “Numb”, which got the crowd singing along and pulling out their phones to record them playing this awesome song. I sense a positive future for these guys. Go check out their EP, Paper Hearts.

Veil of Maya was right before the co-headline began. This was my second time covering them (the first time was with Avatar in April 2023). The last time they came to the area, their latest album, [m]other, wasn’t out yet, so they got to play some more tracks from that release. It took the mosh pit to get going, but when it did get going, it was hard to stop. It was a heavy and melodic set, and both balanced well. I must say, it was kinda hard to see the members of the band performing because of the way the stage was lit from above. But, other than that, it was another solid set from Veil of Maya. Check out [m]other if you have not.

The first of the co-headliners came from Nothing More, from Texas. One of Carrie Underwood’s (yes, THAT one) favorite artists, this was my third consecutive year covering these boys, and they know how to throw down. Lead vocalists in other bands should pay attention to how Jonny Hawkins performs because he is the blueprint for how to perform for a crowd of people. This time around, they got to play some new tracks off their upcoming album, CARNAL, coming out next month, including lead single, “If It Doesn’t Hurt”. What I love about this band is how musically progressive they are and rhythmically tight. Jonny Hawkins, who used to be a drummer, loves to play on his mini-kit towards the back and then, to wrap up their set, places two floor tom drums over the audience and just whales on them. I’m not sure how keeps that energy up every night, but it is incredible to see. Another incredible set from the fellas in Nothing More. Be sure to check out their upcoming album, CARNAL, when it drops next month.

Finally, it was Florida’s own Wage War’s turn for the Astro stage. I’ve been lucky to cover them while in supporting slots for legends like A Day to Remember and Slipknot. So, it was so cool to see these guys do their thing on their damn terms with their audience. They cut their teeth during these supporting slots and brought what they saw from these headliners into their show. It was high energy, nonstop. The audience was going berserk, moshing, crowd-surfing, I felt like I was in Mad Max. Like Nothing More, they, too, have a new album coming out in June, titled, STIGMA. Lead vocalist Briton Bond has improved tremendously as a screamer. Clean vocalist and guitarist Cody Quistad also sounded incredible vocally as well. I was impressed with the amount of CO2 they brought. It wasn’t a ton, but when they used it, it was for the right moments. I think the time is now to take Wage War as a serious band that is out there to steal audiences away. Make sure to support STIGMA when it comes out next month because this band continues to get more popular.