The Devil Wears Prada came to slay in St. Louis on September 3rd on the Zombie Tour. They performed their Zombie I and Zombie II EP’s in their entirety.
Dying Wish had a very rowdy opening set that started the night off with a bang. Frontwoman Emma Boster brought so much energy that there were already 2 circle pits by the second song. Their sound consisted of deep heavy chugs and high pitch screams, it reminded me a lot of metal from 2005. Despite their menacing sound, Emma Boster gave so much positive energy and had a smile on her face the entire time. There were back to back crowd surfers and circle pits, this opening set delivered.
Stray from the Path followed up with a much more mature metal sound. Stray from the path has been around for over 10 years bringing hardcore/punk heat with each album. Like a lot of hardcore punk bands, they are very socially-conscious about oppressive organizations that put down others. They took a moment to call out the tragic events that happened at Uvalde, TX before getting right down to businesses. The band was filming a new music video and challenge the crowd to do 25 crowd surfs. It turned into a literal tidal wave of back to back crowd surfers!
It’s been almost 10 years since I’ve last seen The Devil Wears Prada perform and I was eager to see how much they have changed. Typically, bands tend to slow down a bit with less energy as they get older. That is not the case with TDWP. Frontman Mike Hranica still had the same energy as he did the last time I saw them perform. He covered every square inch of that stage and did not stop moving for the duration of the set. They started their set with “Sacrifice” a one-off single and then followed by Danger: Wildman from With Roots Above and Branches Below. Once they got those out of they way, they dove straight into their Zombie bag with “Nightfall” from Zombie II. They sprinkled a few more of their hits before ending their night with Zombie I tracks. They were near the end of the tour when they came through St. Louis, but you would’ve thought it was night 1 with the amount of energy they gave. I was happy to see the band is still thriving from their 17 years of existence. There are still a handful of shows left and I highly recommend you attend one before it’s over. If you don’t, I’m sure they’ll be touring on their new upcoming album “Color Decay” that drops on September 16th 2022.
