Avenged Sevenfold brought their “Life is But a Dream Tour” to Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut on March 21, 2024

March 24, 2024
International Concert Reviews, International Galleries
by Jody Wilk Photographer/Writer

Avenged Sevenfold brought their Life is But a Dream… North American Tour Pt. 3 to Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun Arena on March 21, 2024. This time they brought Sullivan King and Poppy along with them to get the night started. Mohegan Sun is one of Connecticut’s premier casinos and the 10,000-seat arena hosts some of the best music to come through the state. Avenged Sevenfold (A7X) is touring in support of their 2023 album, Life is But a Dream. The last time they played in Connecticut was 2016, and the last time at Mohegan Sun was 2012. With eight studio albums and has sold over eight million albums worldwide, this was a highly anticipated show to hit Connecticut.

The first to hit the stage was Sullivan King. I wasn’t sure what to expect from him as I hadn’t researched or heard of him before the show. I assumed he was just another solo musician. Boy, was I in for a surprise? As we (me, my daughter, and the rest of the photographers) were ushered into the pit, I saw an eight-foot-high platform set back about ten feet from the already six-foot-tall stage. It was flanked with video walls, yet still, I was unaware of the sensory overload that I was about to experience. The video walls lit up and flashed in time with the bass notes that were pulsing me to my core. There were lots of flames synchronized throughout this modern-age DJ/heavy metal musicians’ performance. Sullivan played a mix-up of heavy metal classics from his turntables perched high on his platform and put a rave spin on them. Throughout his performance, there were lots of lasers and strobe-like lights flashing from start to finish. Sullivan did come down off his platform periodically and run around the front of the stage ripping some leads on his guitar or belting out some screaming vocals. It was the first time I had ever witnessed a spectacle such as this, which my daughter informed me was like a Rave. However, with the music he was spinning being heavy metal, he was able to get the mosh pit going a few times. Now, taking a step back, from my perspective, it was an amazing performance to witness, I was just not expecting it to be what it was. We got to experience the first three songs from the pit looking up about fifteen feet to try to catch a glimpse of Sullivan. Once we were done photographing, it was much better to see the show from further back in the arena where our seats were.

Sullivan King

The next artist to take the stage was Poppy, a singer, YouTuber, and model originally from Boston, Massachusetts. She moved to Nashville, Tennessee with her family when she was 14 and ended up in Los Angeles by age 18. She started doing YouTube videos using satire, pop culture, and sometimes dark subject matter. She got her beginnings in music when she performed an Alanis Morissette cover at a small venue in Nashville called IndieCove. She has gone through many phases in her music from pop, and nu-metal, to heavy metal, metalcore, and industrial rock. Poppy doesn’t allow any photographers to cover her show, so I’ll only be writing a review for this one. Poppy takes the stage dressed all in white. The stage was very dark and smoky with lots of flashing white lights throughout her performance. Her vocals were very dramatic and innocent at times and often she belted out blood-curdling screams. Her musical style was all over the place, but I did feel like she had some influence from In This Moment. She put on a twelve-song-set of music spanning her career along with a guitarist and a drummer. Poppy did play the bass for a few songs as well. The drummer was a real showman and was exciting to watch. Poppy put on a passionate and dramatic performance for a huge crowd of fans.

Poppy

Setlist:

1. BLOODMONEY

2. Church Outfit

3. Bite Your Teeth

4. I Disagree

5. X

6. Hard

7. Sit/Stay

8.V.A.N. (Bad Omens cover)

9. Fill the Crown

10. Anything Like Me

11. Scary Mask

12. Concrete

Avenged Sevenfold hit the stage with “Game Over” off of the current album. M. Shadows started the show sitting in a very low beach chair wearing all black with a ski mask on. It was hard to even see him from where were taking photos in the pit with the stage being so high. About halfway into the song, he got up and came to the front of the stage, and by the end of the first song he removed his mask. The lighting was somewhat dark with a steady haze in the air, although not as bad as some of the venues have been recently. Next up was another song off of the same release, the second track on the album “Mattel”. This song has had some poor reviews on social media due to A7X’s evolving sound. “Nobody” seems to be a favorite off this album, and they played that 11th in the set. Moving into a few of their fan-favorite songs, A7X kept the fans on their feet with lots of searing guitar leads, killer drumbeats, and lots of flashy videos playing on the giant video walls. They ended their set with “Cosmic”, a song off of Life is But a Dream which they released a video for March 19, 2024, two days before the show. This song starts off slow but leads into some ripping guitar leads but then slows down with some piano and mellow ballad-like vocals. It was kind of a let-down that they didn’t end the night with a heavier rocking song.

Avenged Sevenfold really kept the packed Mohegan Sun Arena on their feet for their entire nearly two-hour set. Openers Sullivan King and Poppy surprised many unsuspecting fans with their unique performances. A7X has several more shows on their Life is But a Dream tour, ending at The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on March 31. Then they head overseas May 25 through the end of June.

Avenged Sevenfold is:

M. Shadows – Lead vocals, piano

Zacky Vengeance – Rhythm guitar, backing vocals

Synyster Gates – Lead guitar, piano, backing vocals, co-lead vocals

Johnny Christ – Bass, backing vocals

Brooks Wackerman – Drums