I PREVAIL AT THE FILLMORE IN CHARLOTTE
People from all walks of life filtered into The Fillmore ready to get rowdy. I Prevail’s second leg of the “Trauma Tour” made its way to the Queen City; the room was packed and buzzing before anyone even hit the stage. Ohio native, Justin Stone accompanied by drummer, Noah Bouhadana kicked off the night.
Justin is truly a man of the people, his interaction with the audience was genuine, and even if people had not heard him before he won them over with his authentic lyricism and energy. Stone rapped tracks from his recently released album “Homecoming”. He enthusiastically made his way through the crowd and made a display of tipping the bartender while standing on top of the bar before he headed back to the stage and took to the fans to crowd surf. Following Stone, fellow support act, Issues, lit up the stage. Fans were ready to move as soon as their drummer stepped out. They had hard lighting changes to match the rock vibe they possessed. Frontman, Tyler Carter, had the crowd singing in sync with him as guitarists, AJ Robollo and Sky Accord, jammed and jumped across the stage. The charisma was undeniable, they had all eyes on them as they head banged through their set list.
As I made my way through the crowd it was cool to see how many different people from various walks of life had been drawn together for a single show. The filler music faded away and the crowd went wild for I Prevail. The vocalists, Brian Burkheiser and Eric Vanlerberghe were perfectly balanced between lyricism and vocals with a powerful punch. Utilizing the risers on stage the guitarists and frontmen spread their passion to the crowd while they leaned out towards them. Surfers started to pop up across the crowd; I Prevail started the night with heavy hitters, “Bow Down”, “Scars”, and “Gasoline”. As someone who has never seen this band or really listened to them, I was hooked midway through the set. As the night went on the atmosphere only got more electric as the crowd screamed back to “DOA”. The performance was truly so much fun to be there for. Everyone on stage fed off of the crowd and fed off of each other and they gave their all that night. I highly recommend checking them out before the Trauma Tour comes to a close.