The stacked lineup of 90’s/2000’s bands Our Lady Peace, Live and Collective Soul pack Toyota Music Factory with support from Greylin James Rue.
Braving the Texas summer heat, fans of four talented bands gather for the reunion of Live and Collective Soul.
First to take the stage is Greylin James Rue and her band. Her group is best described as a blend of rock, indie and folk with some self-reflective poetry. She only has one song released on streaming platforms but she made sure she had a stacked setlist with plenty of new unreleased songs such as “Howl of The Wolf”, “It Gets Bad”, and more. Her vocal range is quite memorable, while she has moments with a deeper tone, she can also perfectly hit her high notes, grabbing the attention of the crowd.
As the sun begins to tame, more people flood the pavilion for the next band, Our Lady Peace. The Canadian-alternative group struts on stage while guitarist Steve Mazor takes a moment to wave to the crowd, locking eyes with every face he can see. The four piece opened up with “Sound The Alarm” and the crowd got their night started. The barricade had drinks lining the railing hanging over the edge, spilling from fans dancing.
After a long time of hiding, Our Lady Peace brings their song “Whatever” back to life. After the passing of WWE wrestler Chris Benoit, the band retired the song they had written for him. But July of this year, the band re-recoreded and re-released the song now titled, “Whatever (Redux)” and donated all the proceeds to suicide prevention initiatives.
The first of the two headliners huddle on the right side of the stage getting hyped up while their intro plays on the big screens. Alt-rock group Live (also typesetted as +Live+) takes the stage with their amped up energy. Their fourteen song set didn’t tire the crowd one bit. Guitarist Zak Loy didn’t interact much with the audience but when he did, he would stand right at the edge of the stage hovering over the photo pit causing a row of hands reaching towards him. Lead singer Ed Kowalcayk centered in the middle of the stage plays fan favorites such as “I Alone”, “The Dolphins Cry” and last but not least on the setlist, “Lighting Crashes”.
Up next after Live, Collective Soul takes the stage co-headlinging for the first time since 2008. The audience had a long hot day of waiting for all these talented bands but you could hardly see any signs of exhaustion based on their energy and high spirits. Lead singer Ed Roland appears on the stage wearing a red patterned suite, shades and a white cowboy hat.
After the first song, “Mother’s Love”, he throws a stylish cane across the stage and poses occasionally in his dapper attire. His stage presence is confident and it is evident this is not his first rodeo. Of course they had to play one of their hit songs “Shine” and even the bartenders in the concourse couldn’t help but sing along.
The pavilion full of grungy alt-rock fans had a memorable night with back to back bands and hits. It felt very nostalgic and reminiscent hearing the same songs in person that they would hear on the radio in the late 90’s, early 2000’s.
I am a Touring Concert Photographer based in Dallas. I have a love for physical media such as collaging and mixed media. I personally work with Laredo Two as their photographer and Your Neighbors as their touring photographer! My top three artists are easily The Backseat Lovers, Radiohead and Inhaler! When I'm not shooting, I’am playing animal crossing or playing guitar.
