GALLERY + REVIEW: The Devil Wears Prada - Albuquerque, NM (10/17/23)

Oct 22

The Devil Wears Prada (w/ Fit For A King, Counterparts & LANDMVRKS)
El Rey Theater - Albuquerque, NM - October 17th, 2023
Photos & words by Greg Kozlowski (@gregkoz_photo)

The Metalcore Dropouts Tour made its way through the U.S. consisting of metalcore veterans Fit For A King and The Devil Wears Prada with support from Counterparts & LANDMVRKS. A killer lineup to behold that would make any metalcore listener, new or old, shed tears of pure joy.

Landmvrks came out with a bang immediately getting the crowd to two-step & mosh their hearts out— a perfect way to start the show. They hyped everyone up with chest-pounding drums and heavy chugging guitars paired perfectly with some punchy vocals. The set included heavy hitters such as “Death” and an epic conclusion with “Self-Made Black Hole.” Counterparts carried the show forward showing us that sometimes a 4-man band can still bring down the house and open up a mosh pit just as well as any other; with more melodic yet gut-punching songs like “Love Me” & “What Mirrors Might Reflect.”

This Tuesday night was also graced with the royal presence of Fit For A King & these kings don’t mess around. The entire crowd was instantaneously jumping up & down to their set. Lead vocalist, Ryan Kirby’s bellows paired with the pulsing guitar chugs were so captivating that everyone in the audience started to display that metal-fan-approving grimace. Not to mention, the bands’ impressive overall stage performance. Bassist, Ryan O’Leary, loved to show-off his bass swinging skills like no one’s ever seen before. And the scissor kicks never cease to impress me. The stacked setlist consisted of bangers like “Slave To Nothing” & “The Price of Agony,” where hoards of show-goers surfed their way over the crowd. They ended their set without a traditional encore & went straight into their last song “God of Fire” which shook the house to the core.

Then the moment we had all been waiting for… after four years of not coming to Albuquerque, The Devil Wears Prada made their epic & triumphant return. With a setlist spanning the last two decades, they kicked off the night with a track from their most recent LP, Color Decay, “Exhibition” & panned through a ton of fan-favorites such as “Danger: Wildman.” You could feel the bass guitar rumbling through the floorboards of The Historic El Rey Theater. Guitarist & vocalist Jeremy DePoyster perfectly complemented frontman Mike Hranica’s vocals, smacking you dead in the face as if you were stuck in the eye of the moshpit. They carried that fiery energy over to my own personal favorite song “Outnumbered” from the first Zombie EP. And what kind of TDWP show would it be without a classic hit from Plagues, “Hey John, What’s Your Name Again?”?! Crowd surfers made their way to the stage one after the other making sure to let the band know they couldn’t get close enough to enjoy the party. If you haven’t done so yet… get yourself to the next The Devil Wears Prada show. You will not regret it.