PHOTOS: Bullet for My Valentine, Trivium, and Toothgrinder at Sherman Theater in Stroudsburg, 05/18/18
A little over a month before the release of their new album, Welsh metalcore band Bullet for My Valentine returned to the Sherman Theater on Friday, May 18 with fellow metal acts Trivium and Toothgrinder. They last performed at the Stroudsburg venue in 2013.
Fresh off a tour with Avenged Sevenfold and Wilkes-Barre’s Breaking Benjamin, BFMV will be on the road for much of the year supporting “Gravity,” their eighth studio record (and their first on Search and Destroy/Spinefarm Records) that dives into new musical territory two decades after they first formed as Jeff Killed John in 1998.
“Over the last 12 months, I’ve been thinking about the word ‘contemporary’ a lot,” vocalist/guitarist Matt Tuck said in a press release. “And I feel this is a contemporary record. It’s not an old school, heart-on-your-sleeve influences thing. We’ve done that so let’s move forward and make the band more interesting. We don’t want to alienate anyone… but we don’t want to write the same shit anymore. Metalheads will enjoy this, I actually feel the softer electronic parts make the heavy moments even more crushing. It’s about engaging the listener and taking them on a journey, messing with their heads a bit.”
As one of the biggest British metal acts ever, the platinum-selling group will be back in the United Kingdom once this leg of the tour wraps up to play their first festival back home in five years, the Download Festival, which they hope to headline someday.
“We are more than ready for the U.K.; we’re the best band we’ve ever been,” Tuck emphasized.
“When you get those shots, you make them count. We can hold our own with the best of them, and ‘Gravity’ feels like our best opportunity to headline Download. Bring it on. Other bands might be heavier, but we have the songs – we will always win on that front. I don’t want us to be another boring band that just does OK. Until I’m headlining those festivals, I’m not satisfied. Nothing else matters.”
Until then, they can still pack shows in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Bullet for My Valentine setlist, May 18, 2018, Sherman Theater, Stroudsburg:
Don’t Need You
Over It
Your Betrayal
4 Words (To Choke Upon)
You Want a Battle? (Here’s a War)
The Last Fight
Worthless
Piece of Me
Drum solo/Army of Noise
Scream Aim Fire
Venom
The Poison
No Way Out
Tears Don’t Fall
Waking the Demon
