Review: Falling In Reverse “Popular MonsTOUR” ft. Hollywood Undead and Black Veil Brides

Show: Falling In Reverse “Popular MonsTOUR” ft. Hollywood Undead and Black Veil Brides

Venue: Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne

Date: Friday, March 14th, 2025

Photos: Nicole Noy

Review: Ned Tepper

March has been absolutely insane for live music in Australia. Remember the Covid pandemic? We don’t either! With Knotfest in the bag and an amazing quick fire trip to Adelaide for Silent Planet and ERRA, it was finally time for a stadium show that at one stage I wouldn’t have thought was possible! This wasn’t Taylor Swift or Kendrick Lamar but a band that I LOVE, Ronnie Radke’s Falling In Reverse!

On top of that we had Black Veil Brides and a band that has features on The Underground multiple times in the amazing “Hollywood Undead” get things going. My mind was literally blown at even the idea of it!

So did it work? You know it did, but read on!

Hollywood Undead

First up, living rurally is stale for live music and maybe I have done so for too long, surely leaving at 1pm for a 6.30pm start I’ll be right to make it? It’s only a three and a half hour drive after all!
Oh how wrong I was, turns out peak hour traffic, an AFL game, the F1 and Ronnie Radke make for a very, very busy city…

The line up to get in was almost winding back around “John Cain Arena”, and by the time I finally found a park and made it to the front of that line, the Undead Crew from Hollywood had already started.

It’s been fourteen long years since Hollywood Undead last graced our shores, last performing at the now defunct Sound Wave festival. So I was extra devastated to miss the first few songs, however the disappointment was short lived as they soon had my full attention. Looking around Rod Laver Arena and trying to take it all in was something else. Seeing it packed to the rafters had me smiling, as did the crowd who genuinely seemed to love Hollywood Undead as much as I did.

J Dog of the group has featured on the show a couple of times now and it was amazing to see the talent he brought live on both bass and vocals. It really seemed Hollywood Undead was the perfect opening act for Falling In Reverse, their crowd engagement was great, song selection fantastic and at one stage Charlie Scene even threw the microphone into the crowd. Surprisingly enough he got it back!

Bumping through an array of hits including Hollywood Forever, Day Of the Dead, Bullet and even at one stage performing a cover of Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline. My only complaint was the set wasn’t longer. Selfish, I know. They wrapped things up with the awesome “Everywhere I Go” which had me pondering, “what would the cancelled culture think about some of the lyrics these days?”, haha. All in all, a super solid set and well worth the wait. Let’s just hope we don’t have another fourteen years until we see them return. Bring on new music, their latest offering “Hollywood Forever” is so good:

Check out their upcoming sideshows (You will NOT regret this):

Wednesday, March 19^th – The Tivoli, Brisbane

Thursday, March 20th – Liberty Hall, Sydney

Details/Tickets: https://www.destroyalllines.com/tours/hollywood-undead

Don’t forget you can peep our interview with J Dog right here:

Set List:

1. California Dreaming
2. CHAOS
3. Riot
4. Comin’ In Hot
5. Another Way Out
6. Hollywood Forever
7. Day of The Dead
8. Hear Me Now
9. Sweet Caroline (Yesss, you read right!!!)
10. Bullet
11. Everywhere I Go
12. Undead

Black Veil Brides

Up next was another Hollywood, California based group in Black Veil Brides, a band that originated in Cincinnati, Ohio and is closing in on its 20 Year anniversary (originated in 2006). Being not overly familiar with Black Veil Brides, they won me over with their eight song set list. Very similar to Hollywood Undead, they were genuinely grateful to have the experience to open for Falling In Reverse in front of a sell-out crowd. Highlights included Bleeders, Coffin and Perfect Weapon. Homework from this tour? I definitely need to check more of these guys out, I’ve already started while writing this!

Set List:

1. Knives and Pens
2. Bleeders
3. Faithless
4. Coffin
5. Devil
6. The Legacy
7. Perfect Weapon
8. In The End

Falling In Reverse

The anticipation was at a fever pitch for the arrival of Ronnie Radke and the mighty Falling In Reverse. Being a true stadium show cameras, went backstage and followed the group as they entered the arena to AC/DC’s “Highway To Hell”. Phenomenal!

It was at this point of the set I was hooked. Yep, it hadn’t even properly started yet. It actually had me throwing back to a Foo Fighters show I had seen in the same venue many years ago where Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl were mucking around backstage. Yes, that is where we are at. Hard work pays off and Falling In Reverse have done the hard yards and last night found themselves in front of a packed out international stadium crowd. Radke is a true showman and isn’t drinking a shoey (respect) anytime soon. He made that clear, haha! The lights dropped, Prequel kicked in and the hairs on the back of my neck where actually sticking up. Absolutely epic.

Their latest album “Popular Monster” is a masterpiece and one of my favourites in “Zombified” was up next with Radke marching back and forth the stage mimicking a zombie, fun. That’s the thing with Ronnie (Radke). It’s not just play a song and then move onto the next one, he manages to tie them in and segue into the next song effortlessly and, in some cases, very cleverly. Case and point “Just Like You”, he asks the crowd if they are assholes too? They all cheer, he storms off stage and calls the night then and there (8 songs in). He’s an asshole remember? The audience encouraged it, brilliant! “That’s what an asshole would do right?”

Cowboy hats were out for the MOST American thing you’ll see “Radke” performing “All My Life” which of course features Country sensation Jelly Roll on the album. Once again, brilliant! How many artists can go from screaming their lungs out or rapping to performing a Country music style song and have their fans loving it? It must be a VERY short list! On the topic of Jelly Roll, it has to be about time he makes his debut Australian tour?

Speaking of Screaming your lungs out? “Ronald” was an absolute highlight of the night as Radke once again effortlessly switched things up and it was amazing to see Tech N9ne’s verse still in the live performance. If you’re a fan of Tech, don’t forget he is heading our way later this month. We said March was insane right?

Falling In Reverse closed out the set with “Watch the World Burn” where they absolutely obliterated the stage and despite wanting more, how do you follow that up? Wow!

The pyro was on point, the accompanying visuals amazing, the setlist was spot on, crowd engagement second to none and Ronnie at the end stated it was the best night of his life. I loved this performance and despite living in a world where everyone is too scared to say anything in case they offend anyone, it was refreshing to see Ronnie not having an issue with this, haha. He is the bad guy after all!

There are just two more chances to catch this amazing performance, or really just one with Brisbane being a sell out:

Sunday 16th March – Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney

Tuesday 18th March – Entertainment Centre, Brisbane (SOLD OUT)

Details/Tickets: https://www.destroyalllines.com/

Set List:

1. Prequel
2. Zombified
3. I’m Not A Vampire
4. F You and All Your Friends
5. Bad Guy
6. Losing My Mind
7. The Drug In Me Is You
8. Just Like You
9. No Fear
10. All My Life
11. Popular Monster
12. Voices In My Head
13. Ronald
14. Watch the World Burn