Five Finger Death Punch
Madison, Wisconsin
December 2, 2022
Friday December 2nd, the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin played host to the loudest and most bizarre tour of the year: Metal band Five Finger Death Punch and Country Star Brantly Gilbert on the same stage.
The night was frontloaded with Country artists Cory Marks and Brantley Gilbert, both of who have been known to dabble in the Rock ecosphere and even record with veterans of the genre. Marks, who opened up the show, even got the crowd banging their heads to his song Blame It On The Double, which originally featured 5FDP veteran Jason Hook on guitar. While Marks’ discography does have the occasional soulful softer track or two, opening for a Metal band he brought out slammers like Devil’s Grin and In Me I Trust. The same applied evenly well for Brantley Gilbert who armed himself with his hardest-hitting hits like Small Town Throwdown and the hip-hop-laced Son Of The Dirty South. Between songs, Gilbert commented on the craziness of the tour and the differences he noticed while performing to a “Metal Crowd.” After his performance of Blue On Black where Ivan Moody joined him onstage and One Hell Of An Amen, Gilbert addressed one young Metal fan in the front row saying “I better cut out the slow stuff or this girl is going to die of boredom.”
At the end of the night, the houselights dimmed one last time and the anticipation swelled as Five Finger Death Punch dropped a curtain and kicked it into high gear with Lift Me Up. While Gilbert and Marks were top-notch performers, 5FDP never let up and brought the energy the crowd had been waiting all night for. Songs like Jekyll And Hyde, Wash It All Away, Trouble, and Welcome To The Circus threw the crowd into a furious mosh pit and patrons in the seats standing with devil horn salutes. In many ways this band has solidified itself as the people’s Hard Rock band and there is such a wonderful juxtoposition of seeing kids with painted faces lose their minds alongside working guys with flannel shirts. The key is the unquestionable charisma of frontman Ivan Moody who strikes a genuine report with the crowd in the moments between songs. Somewhere at the halfway of the set, Moody came to the center of the stage to talk about part of his childhood spent in Wisconsin and sing an acapella rendition of Turn The Page. Another truly unique moment on this tour, 5 Finger Death Punch welcomed back to the stage Cory Marks to help them sing the cover of Bad Company, receiving thunderous applause. In the final stretch, it was time to bring the night to a close with the two titanic hits of Under It Over It and The Bleeding, sending the cheering crowd home from an unforgettable show.
