Papa Roach, Instruction & Dead Poetic

There was a buzz in the air of the Senator Theatre that was impossible to ignore on Friday, July 30th. NorCal rockers Papa Roach were back in town in an effort to get reacquainted with their fans and promote their new album, Getting Away With Murder, which hits stores August 31st. But to open the night, the anxious crowd was introduced to another group of heavy rockers by the name of Dead Poetic.
With direct and unrelenting musical progressions laying the foundation for forceful vocals, the quintet did a good job of getting the crowd on their feet and flailing around in true rock-concert style. Their set was well structured and timed just about perfectly to leave the crowd amped and ready for the next act, before becoming stale and uninteresting. It’s always tough to play to a crowd that didn’t necessarily pay to see you perform, but Dead Poetic did an unusually fine job of keeping everyone’s attention.
Next to take the stage was Instruction, who kept the energy up with their driving rhythms and direct, yet tasteful, approach to songwriting. As the night progressed, they played to a continually receptive crowd that thrashed around happily to show their appreciation for the band’s sonic, distorted assault. Though the entire set was strong, the crowd seemed to respond best to the band’s current single, “Breakdown.”
Once Instruction cleared the stage, the intermission between acts lasted much longer than it should have and it eventually became clear that there were some technical issues on stage. After a while, the crowd began getting restless and decided to chant, “Papa Roach! Papa Roach!” in an effort to fix the microphones. When that plan failed, they took to booing the guys up on stage who were trying to keep them pacified with their witty commentary (“I had your mom last night! Ha ha!”). Eventually, however, the problems did get fixed and the lights went down.
The crowd went insane as Papa Roach took the stage and pounded out the opening chord progression to “Dead Cell.” Swarms of people flooded the standing area up front and packed it from wall to wall. Barely a few minutes into the set, it was clear to everyone in the room that Papa Roach was definitely still on top of their game; their live show was energetic, engaging and calculated all at the same time. The group started with some of their old favorites like “Broken Home” and then introduced some new tracks off their upcoming album. The response to the new material was unbelievable; the audience was literally singing along by the end of each song. After that, Papa Roach closed their powerful set with a few more old favorites, ending the night with “Last Resort.” The energy in the room right then probably could have lit the city if it was harnessed correctly. Make no mistake about it kids: Papa Roach is back

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