Nothing More at The Van Buren In Phoenix Arizona

It was another blazing hot day in Phoenix, Arizona but that’s nothing new. What was new was tonight’s line up at the Van Buren. The line was wrapped around the block for another night, going past Ziggy’s Pizza and around the corner. Everyone in line was buzzing with excitement.

As the night began to commence the crowd was getting excited. The night was about to be epic. The first band to take to the stage was none other than female fronted band, Eva Under Fire. They opened up their set with “Comatose”. The crowd sang along and jumped up and down, ready to let themselves go into the music. Their sound is a mix of different genres from pop, rock, alternative to metal. The band is fronted by vocalist Amanda Lyberg. She is joined by Rob Lyber-guitar, Corey Newsome-drums, Chris Slapnix-guitar/vocals, and Ed Gawlik III-bass/vocals. They are from Detroit, Michigan.

They are a fun band to see! Amanda is constantly engaging with the audience. As their set ended they played a cover of “Separate Ways”, originally sung by Journey.

Eva Under Fire @ The Van Buren - photo by Megan Fontana

The next band to take the stage was every elder emo’s dream, Atreyu! This was one of the bands that brings every elder emo and former emo kid nostalgia. As they performed Brandon Saller-vocalist, would communicate and engage with the crowd. Saller’s is accompanied by Dan Jacobs-lead guitar, Travis Miguel-rhythm guitar, Marc “Porter” McKnight-bass/unclean vocals, and Kyle Rosa-drums. At one point in the show, he mentioned how his wife was a trooper! Their bus had caught fire and they were able to get the fire out before the fire department got there. From there the band continued to play an amazing set and Saller’s kept engaging the crowd.

He thanked the bar tender for pouring the perfect sized shot and a fan who he happened to steal their “fresh PBR”. He then made a call to the audience to go crazy, start crowd surfing. At the end of the nigh a little guest joined the stage. Saller turned around and said “Oh are you going to play the drums? Everyone this this Piper, my baby girl.” His daughter joined him on stage and banged on the drums a couple times and then left the stage.

Atreyu @ The Van Buren - photo by Megan Fontana

It was time for the headliner, Nothing More. This band from San Antonio, Texas, truly knows how to pack a punch. Nothing More is fronted by Jonny Hawkins and accompanied by Mark Vollelunga-guitar/backing vocals, Daniel Oliver-bass guitar/backing vocals, and Ben Anderson-drums. They opened up their show with “Turn It Up”. The minute they started playing the crowd went extremely crazy. Their energy made the whole room vibrate. What made this band so unique was their extra air lifted drum/percussion set up for Hawkins.

At one point he jumped up in it and it lifted into the air. As he was soaring above us, he was adding percussion and drum beats to the music. Hawkins also had a Gotye “Somebody I Used to Know” feel. He dawned white skinny jeans and painted his body black and red. The energy this band brought to the stage matched that of Slipknot and Rammstein. This is a band everyone should experience at least once in their life.