Tommy Vext walked onto the XL Live stage dressed as Shrek. It was an appropriate introduction to a Halloween show where the music had plenty of weight and the conversation could go just about anywhere.
With A Vengeance’s October 31 appearance in Harrisburg came one day after the release of their debut EP, ‘Born To Survive’. That timing gave the night a sense of occasion, with new material joining a set built largely around the Bad Wolves catalog.
The rest of the band embraced Halloween, too. Guitarist Xander Raymond Charles dressed as Michael Myers, Chris Cain donned a Scream mask, and bassist Kevin Creekman wore Viking horns. At one point, drummer Austin D’Amond was behind the kit in a SpongeBob costume. With Shrek out front, it was quite a collection of characters to assemble for a heavy show.
“I’ll Be There,” “No Masters” and “Remember When” opened the set, establishing the connection to Vext and Cain’s Bad Wolves history immediately. It was a strong way to introduce this lineup: three familiar songs before the new band began putting its own material into the conversation. Vext’s singing was a highlight, giving that opening stretch a solid musical foundation beneath the Halloween absurdity.
“Shared Light” and “Demons” followed, placing two songs from ‘Born To Survive’ early in the running order. The sequence made sense. With A Vengeance could acknowledge the music that helped establish its members while giving the debut EP a meaningful place in the show. Hearing the new songs alongside those earlier recordings put the transition between the two bands into practical terms.
Tommy Vext has been “canceled” so many times that it feels like the filter got canceled somewhere along the way, too. Between songs, he wandered through conspiracies, vaccines, sexuality, The Lord of the Rings and the problems with Marvel’s comics-to-movies translation. Newly single, he also talked about dating apps, turning an encounter with someone identifying as pansexual into a story about ChatGPT interpreting that as an attraction to Peter Pan. It was a refreshingly loose exchange with the room.
He also gave a shout-out to police officers in the crowd whom he said he had met at the mall earlier that day.
The set continued through “Killing Me Slowly” and “Better the Devil,” with “Oblivion” later completing the evening’s three-song selection from ‘Born To Survive’. Spreading the new material through the set gave each appearance its own place among the established songs. “Oblivion” led into “Officer Down” and “Hear Me Now,” keeping that exchange between the current project and the Bad Wolves catalog central to the show.
The Cranberries’ “Zombie” arrived near the end, followed by “Lifeline” to close the 12-song set.
Vext’s voice was the night’s strongest asset, and the set gave the new material room to establish itself alongside the songs that made him familiar. Coming just a day after ‘Born To Survive’, the Harrisburg show offered an encouraging first look at how those two parts of With A Vengeance’s identity fit together onstage.
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Photos by T. Cody Strubel / Rock Documented
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