Drowning Pool/Alien Ant Farm Australian Tour Review

Drowning Pool – Alien Ant Farm

February 9^th, 2025

Northcote Theatre, Melbourne

Photos: Nicole Noy

Review: Ned Tepper

It’s been an interesting lead up to the Alien Ant Farm Australian tour, for starters “CKY” were originally on the bill but after a “mishap” between band members, CKY were dropped and soon replaced by Drowning Pool.  This new line up had us beyond hype with that extra “Nu-Metal” feel to it, Drowning Pool making the ultimate replacement.

Melbourne was covered by a sea of cow boy hats, turns out mega country star “Luke Combs” was in town and to say his following is big, is an understatement. The Luke Combs movement included motel room price hikes, super hard to find parking and increases on Uber fairs. Combs is no joke!

Despite this we were in town for some old school “Nu Metal” fun, even though Alien Ant Farm vocalist Dryden Mitchell said he didn’t really fall under that category. Which to be fair is probably true but Alien Ant Farm made their rise to popularity during that glorious time of the late 90’s and early 2000’s, as did co headliner Drowning Pool!

How about this for some time in between gigs? Alien Ant Farm making their first appearance down under since 2002’s Big Day Out Festival (remember that?) and Drowning Pool making their first return in almost ten years, last performing in 2016 as part of their headlining “Hellelujah” tour. This time round would be a little different with former vocalist “Ryan McCombs” returning to the group for the first time since 2011.

McCombs is a born front man with enough charisma to sink a ship and you could tell he genuinely loved being back in the country, bashing out hits from Drowning Pool’s extensive back catalogue with the audience feeding off every word. Kicking off the set with “Sinner”, it was big time hit after big time hit with “Strep Up”, “One Finger and A Fist” and “37 Stitches” really hitting hard before slowing the tempo with the amazing “Tear Away” and wrapping things up with their mega smash hit “Bodies”, performed with a twist. Literally with McCombs in the pit. Like I said, he is a true stage man, fearlessly jumping into a sea of metal heads and not missing a beat!

We caught up with McCombs right before Christmas, to discuss the gig and much more:

The stage was set for Alien Ant Farm and the 23 year wait for Melbourne fans was officially over when they hit the stage, kicking things off with Courage! There was definitely a different vibe in the audience than previously with Drowning Pool but once again AAF vocalist Dryden Mitchell is a seasoned vet with a stage presence not quite like any other, bouncing back and forth throughout the set and engaging with the audience who were hungry to hear more! It was pure nostalgic bliss with the likes of “Movies” and “Attitude”, throwing back to the early days. I found myself more excited to hear the new ones though and really enjoyed “Last DAntz” and “What Am I Doing”. If you haven’t heard their 2024 release “Mantras” you really are doing yourself a disservice, it’s an extremely solid listen from start to finish and proves there are no signs of slowing down for the Ant Army!

Que the music for the big one… We all knew it was coming but it certainly didn’t take away from the epicenes of seeing it live for the first time, I am of course talking about their cover of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” which saw them explode onto the scene back in the early 2000’s. To this day it still gets a hammering on commercial radio and it’s easy to see why, it’s a great song and they do it best!

Missed our interview with Dryden Mitchell? It’s a fun one:

There are just two remaining dates left on this Australian tour, Adelaide and Perth you are up next!

Tuesday, February 11^th: Lions Art Factory, Adelaide

Wednesday, February 12^th: Magnet House, Perth

Grab your tickets: https://thephoenix.au/alien-ant-farm-drowning-pool/