BAD WOLVES & THREE DAYS GRACE At Marble Factory In Bristol, UK [Review + Photo Gallery]

Bad Wolves

So here we are again, another gig, another press pit and another great night in the city of Bristol in the UK. This is the first event I have covered at the Marble Factory in Bristol and this venue is awesome. It is set in a big warehouse and has an arena type vibe to the place. On arrival the 2 tour buses for Bad Wolves and Three Days Grace parked and fans queued all down the street behind the barriers.

Prior to this show Bad Wolves front man Tommy Vext was hospitalized for two days in Nottingham, UK with a severe viral bronchial infection, knowing he was that sick and then came out to this gig and absolutely slayed the performance showed just how much heart and passion he puts into not only his music but entertaining the bands always growing fan base.

Bad Wolves

Bad Wolves came on to the stage one by one with the audience leaning over the barrier chanting and cheering. When the guitars rang out to the intro of  “Officer Down” and then the drums was a perfect start to a gig. With the sound pounding through the audience it got them instantly hyped. Finally Tommy Vext emerged on the stage with arms wide open as if he was embracing the entire crowd and belted out the lyrics “PULL THE TRIGGER LETS GO” and the fans went insane. Harmonic guitar squeals and drop guitar riffs put all that together with solid bass tones from Kyle Konkiel and the cheeky double bass drum action from hard hitting energetic drummer John Boecklin who I might add was on fire tonight.

Bad Wolves

Then going to the melodic chorus where Tommy’s singing is perfection just like the record and the fans sing along then, boom straight back into the heavy down tuned guitars, fans with their arms in the air moshing hard with a circle pit busting out on the first song WWWHHHHAATTT!!

There is so much going on you don’t know where to look from Tommy jumping around, Doc Coyle slaying his guitar and then the crowed being ever so brutal in the pit and their horns high in the air, amazing, what an opener. They then went straight into “Learn To Live”. This is another amazing intro with those riffs and drums that get even the most arthritic neck nodding with approval, you just can’t help yourself. The vocals in the intro with Tommy’s aggressive shouting type style mimicking the riffs of the guitar are SUPERB. If you don’t know the song, go watch the official video and you will know what I mean.

Bad Wolves

Bad Wolves played an intense set of 7 songs that just flew by. They nailed it! They even ended up slowing it down a bit with ‘Hear Me Now’ and to hear an audience singing along to this was truly a great moment. You could tell they have a great stamp on the music scene right now and yes they wrapped things up with their #1 rock charting hit “Zombie”. Originally by The Cranberries and now in honor of the late Cranberries singer Dolores O’Riordan’. Mobile phones in the air throughout the whole venue and every lyric sang by the audience, what a great end to a set.

Well if you are not already a fan go check out Bad Wolves content on all the normal web places. With Ex – Members of Divine Heresy, God Forbid, In This Moment and Devil Driver you just know its a super group. They are already a huge band but 2019 is going to explode and they won’t be an opening act much longer and will be headlining their own sold out headlining gigs. All in all, they were a class act as the support tonight but it was more like a co-headlining event.

Three Days Grace

The long established band Three Days Grace hailing from Canada came out to fans that were more than ready to party with them after being warmed up by Bad Wolves. Three Days Grace had a setlist of 18 songs in total to get through so you definitely get your money’s worth at a Three Days Grace show. They started with “Mountains” but the crowd participation really ramped up when they played the “The Good Life”. It just has that perfect tempo to mosh and jump along too, and then when they played “High Anymore” that was the turning point, from the moment that song kicked in the the crowd sang along to every track both old and new. The performance also was packed with fan favorites like the ever so catchy “Painkiller” and also “Break” then announcing that “Just Like You” was for the old school fans. The venue couldn’t get any louder and rowdier.

The stage was set up really nice with a really high drum riser way up above the band. The vocalist Matt Walst was striding around the stage with ease, tremendous confidence and tons of energy. I had never seen Three Days Grace before so I didn’t know what to expect. Each member was giving 100% up there and it showed, you could just tell that they really enjoy what they do.

Three Days Grace

The band disappeared briefly then came back out for an encore which included “Abyss”, “Never Too Late” and then finishing on the ever so popular ultra classic show stopper of a track “RIOT”. When the gig came too a close I’m not sure what the fans wanted. They just witnessed 18 tracks played solidly but after the band left the stage it took a while for the fans to disappear, hoping they were going to get just one more track.

Three Days Grace

To sum this evening up it was one of the best gigs I’ve witnessed. I’d like to say that I personally would love to see Bad Wolves headlining this tour for the fact that they were flawless and jaw droppingly entertaining and had loads of energy. The Marble Factory in Bristol is a totally amazing venue with super helpful and friendly staff, hopefully they will begin to regularly welcome heavier bands to the stage again.

As I always say in my reviews just get out there and support bands and have a great night. Until the next review, enjoy the pics and get out and mosh.