Band(s): Adrenaline Mob

Date: 2011-06-24

Venue: The Hiro Ballroom

City, State: New York City, NY

Reviewer: Nick

Official Adrenaline Mob Website

    It’s not often that I will get excited for a show in which I know I’ll be hearing 11 songs live that I’ve never heard before, but Adrenaline Mob was certainly an exception. The new band formed around a core of drumming legend Mike Portnoy, Symphony X vocal great Russell Allen, and the lesser known Sonic Stomp guitarist Mike Orlando, and they decided to road test their new material by playing a special show in New York City. The show was to take place at the intimate and beautiful Hiro Ballroom, which is not exactly a prog or metal haven and as such was not a venue I had ever been to before. I can only hope that this show prompts them to book a few more bands I am interested in. The staff was friendly, informative (even telling you where you could find a bathroom in NYC), and they dealt with the large number of will call customers (nearly all off the attendees) in a fantastic fashion.

    Once inside the venue I was able to walk within 2 feet of the stage, and instead of a huge metal barricade I was up against a velvet rope, only increasing the intimacy of the show. When the band walked on stage around 8:15 the excitement of the evening was easily shown on their faces, and it didn’t take many songs to show why these guys were deserving of the name Adrenaline Mob. In a fitting tribute to Dio and a nod to the band’s name they kicked off the show with Sabbath classic “Mob Rules”, and from note #1 the venue was absolutely on fire. The size of the stage was barely able to contain the energy of the band as they started to play through their original material. As for the material itself, it was high-octane for sure, but at times swerved into nu-metal influences that I found tough to stomach. Lyrics were simple and to the point like you’d expect from AC/DC or a hair band, and while I might laugh at such things on a record, Russell Allen brought them to life live. The man is an amazing front man and I truly believe he could get me into a show if he were singing the lyrics to “twinkle twinkle little star”.

    One difference between this show and a show of Allen’s main band, Symphony X, is that the other 4 guys on stage were just as active as Russell was. Mike Portnoy especially seemed energetic and used the more simplistic drumming the music called for as a reason to truly just pound the shit out of the drums with a pure intensity I haven’t seen from him in quite awhile. Mike Orlando, rhythm guitarist Rich Ward, and bassist Paul DiLeo weren’t far behind Portnoy and Allen as they bounced around the stage. As the band continued through original material I was truly taken by some of it, and at very least entertained by the rest. That said I can’t see the debut album from Adrenaline Mob getting too many spins from me once it is released, but I can definitely see myself at one of their concerts again in the future.

    After the mob finished with their original material and a very metal and quite awesome Duran Duran cover they ended the night in a fashion that seemed to win over anyone in the crowd who wasn’t already on board. First came a cover of Dio’s “Stand Up and Shout”, and then the band finished the night with another Sabbath cover, “War Pigs”. Both songs had the audience going absolutely nuts, and the latter got quite a nice sing-along going. At the end of it all Portnoy tossed part of his Tama prototype kit off the drum riser, Keith Moon style, and hopped over what remained to come forward with the rest of the band to shake hands with some of the fans up front before bowing and heading off.

    The show was a great one, with a ton of energy in an intimate setting, making it tough not to get into the show. Portnoy and Allen gave the excellent performances I’ve come to expect from them having seen them perform over 20 times before, but the real treat of the night was discovering the abilities of the other three musicians. Mike Orlando was a beast all night. While I might not end up being a fan of a chunk of the music he has helped to write for the band I think I will always enjoy hearing it live. And make no mistake about it; he can play the guitar. If you have any interest in shreddy solos you will absolutely love Mike Orlando. The highlight of many songs were seeing him play 6 trillion notes a second right in front of me. Finally, while not as crucial as Portnoy, Allen or Orlando, DiLeo and Ward earned their keep by simply keeping up with and magnifying the energy being displayed by the rest of the band. To top it all off the band sounded fantastic. I don’t know if it was excellent work by the venue or simply the stripped back setup, but the sound on the night was better than any time I’ve seen Symphony X in other comparably sized venues.

    Adrenaline Mob have claimed they will be touring the world soon enough, and if you’re into any sort of metal and expect metal to come with an energetic show then this is one band you will not want to pass up.