Filter – House Of Blues Cleveland, Ohio

The House of Blues in Cleveland, Ohio was filled quickly once the doors opened to not only escape the cold temperatures of a February night in the city, but get their spot on the floor to take in the sights and sounds of headbanging rock music. Coming off their headline show in Columbus, Ohio from the previous night, Local H gave the fans exactly what they came for. The two piece of guitar/vocalist and drummer, formed back in 1990 backed their reputation of bringing a high energy performance from start to finish. Known for their hits from the record “As Good As Dead” released in 1996, the support for their either as an opener or headliner has never gone away. Performing the songs “Eddie Vedder” and “Bound For The Floor”, both receiving cheers and cell phones coming out of pockets within the first few seconds of the song. The band finished their set off with a cover of “Wolf Like Me” by TV on the Radio.

During an intermission from opener to headliner, most people use the opportunity to grab a drink, use the restroom, or check out merchandise, but that was at the very minimum as people did not want to lose their spot on the floor. Craving the sounds of 90s rock from the hometown band, they were welcomed with roars/cheers the second the lights went dark. One by one each member of the four piece took the stage ending with original member and singer, Richard Patrick. The band quickly fired off with “You Walk Away” off of The Amalgamut album followed by two songs (“The Drowning” and “For The Beaten”)  from their most recent album The Algorithm. Crowd surfing was continuous throughout the start of the show, which caught the attention of the band. Patrick pointed out to the crowd how nice it was to see crowd surfing at a Filter show for the first time in a while. He also joked to the crowd that it was what they used to see in the 90s.

As the night went on with the hard riffs and spot on vocals from the band, they took time halfway through their set to slow it down. With the first strum of the guitar, fans instantly knew what was happening as the band began to perform their biggest hit, at least according to Spotify with over 115 million plays, “Take A Picture”. It was as if everyone in the crowd had their cell phone out to capture the moment. The song ends with Patrick singing the final verses of the song without instrumentals, really showing the power and perfection behind his vocals. They would go on to perform “Soldiers of Misfortune”, which is another more mellow style song compared to the hard rock leading up to the last two songs, but Patrick announced to the crowd that the mellow part of the show was over and back to the heavy stuff.

Patrick would take multiple times during their set to mention how thankful he was for everyone in attendance, giving him the true rockstar dream of returning to the band’s hometown in an almost sold out fashion. The only original member still in the band, he made sure to let the crowd know though there have been many different versions of Filter over the last 30 years, that the 4 men on stage are here to stay for a long time. Patrick also took the time to look up into the balcony to see his friends, family, and mother. Giving them all a wave and telling his mother he loves her. Though the feeling of all the fans coming out to a hometown show had to be nice, there had to be nothing more nice than having your mother there to show what you have accomplished over the last 30 years, seeing the words you wrote be sang back to you in front of her had to be a powerful moment for both of them.

Those fans screaming the lyrics back at the band would only increase more and more as the show would come to an end. Finishing their set with no encore and playing straight their, they would go on to perform “Welcome To The Fold” (If you couldn’t tell by the “a-okay” in the beginning line of review) and “Hey, Man Nice Shot”, followed by endless cheers. It won’t be long before the band makes their way back to the state of Ohio though, as they will be performing day 1 at Sonic Template Festival, May 8th in Columbus, Ohio.