DevilDriver @ Bottom Lounge, Chicago (US)

DEVILDRIVER / UPON A BURNING BODY / OV SULFUR / CULTUS BLACK

Date: 25th August, 2026
Venue: The Bottom Lounge
Ticket Price: $49 / €42
Promoter: n/a

There are nights when an early start means that getting through Chicago traffic becomes part of the challenge, especially when four bands have to fit into the schedule. This was definitely one of those occasions, with CULTUS BLACK hitting the Bottom Lounge stage first. Since this would be my second time seeing them, I knew I shouldn't miss a minute.

This performance was somewhat different, as the additional tom used by the masked percussionist / second vocalist (a.k.a. Ethan Blade) was nowhere to be seen. In fact, he made only a very brief appearance at the beginning of the set. He stood at the center of the stage and addressed the audience, who by that time looked overly relaxed. What nobody expected was seeing him jump off the stage and form his own moshpit, taunting everyone around him. This, especially for those seeing CULTUS BLACK for the first time, worked like a slap in the face, and instantly put everyone into concert mode. There's nothing better than getting caught off guard and realizing that this is the time to focus on the stage and forget whatever else dominates your brain. This lineup adjustment did not hold the band back, and with L wearing his trademark half-black facepaint and hood, CULTUS BLACK entered the stage ready to use every minute they had been given.

The hooded frontman greeted Chicago with “How you guys doing tonight? We are CULTUS BLACK,” letting the riff/drum groove of “Dissonance” do the rest. The band's energy, masked visuals, and hard-hitting grooves make for an impossible-to-resist combination. It really doesn't matter if this band's music is your cup of tea, because you will feel your heart rate increase. This is the beauty of live music, and with an open mind you can enjoy practically any genre.

The singer made a point of saying how honored they were to be on this “motherf'ing tour” and introduced the other bands on the bill, before moving into “Killing The Beautiful”, which felt like another push of energy. CULTUS BLACK seem to understand very well the challenge of being the opener on a show in the middle of the week, so they didn't hold back and gave it everything they had. “We are aware we are a bunch of fucking weirdos up here,” he announced a little later, adding that Chicago was known for its weirdos. That was a pretty appropriate introduction for “Burn”, as the taped screaming intro gave way to the loud statement “your world rejects me, so I'm rejecting you” and the repeated “burning... burning to the ground” lines. Even without the second percussion setup, this one still had enough rhythmic weight to work extremely well in the small Bottom Lounge room.

Before “Negative Creep”, the singer asked how many people had seen CULTUS BLACK before. There were apparently a few of us, which prompted the night's inevitable “once you get black, you can't get back” line. “Maybe you know this song,” he added before the red lights took over and the band launched into their double-bass-drumming version of NIRVANA’s “Negative Creep”. “You Make Me Sick”, which invited the audience to participate with raised middle fingers and a loud sing-along, was the perfect curtain-dropper for CULTUS BLACK, who proved once more how valuable an opening band can be, even with one member down.

CULTUS BLACK setlist:

01. "Dissonance"
02. "Killing The Beautiful"
03. "Burn (Sick Society)"
04. "Negative Creep"
05. "You Make Me Sick"

CULTUS BLACK

Things were about to lean toward the heavier side of Metal with OV SULFUR next. Minimal purple lighting accompanied “Endless//Godless”, while the first “Chicagoooo!” of their set made it clear that getting a reaction from the floor was going to be an important part of the next 35 minutes.

“How you feeling? We are OV SULFUR from Las Vegas, Nevada,” came from singer Ricky Hoover, with the pounding “Seed” hitting hard. Amber lights replaced the purple tones as the song progressed, with the recorded samples adding another dimension behind the heaviness and the “I am the seed of doubt in your veins” section standing out. Horns were requested and duly raised. If one really needed to attach a label to OV SULFUR, I would choose symphonic Deathcore. However, the symphonic part doesn't remove anything from the crushing heaviness this band delivered from the Bottom Lounge stage.

“You want us to play some old ones for you?” asked the singer, and this time the song that followed carried a different kind of heaviness. As Hoover explained, “Earthen” was written after he lost his nephew at only 16 years of age. “If you have lost someone, this one is for you,” he added, and gave me goosebumps when he delivered the lyric “What kind ov god would test a child?” with clean vocals. Guitarist Chase Wilson took over the talking duties to thank the Chicago audience and immediately ask for more activity. “How about a f'n circle?” There was no ambiguity there, and the floor responded accordingly.

Unless I am mistaken, the band finished their intense set with “Evermore”, with the audience widening the mosh pit and, in a way, tipping its hat to the band from Las Vegas with the proper send-off and a well-deserved thank you. Soon, things were about to get even more intense...

OV SULFUR

The turnaround was fairly quick, and around 8pm UPON A BURNING BODY took over the stage. Well, not exactly, because only the guitarists showed up at first, wearing Día de los Muertos masks and holding acoustic-electric guitars as they played “Sangre Del Toro”. This was an excellent way to build anticipation before the excitement burst with “Killshot”. Oh my goodness, the energy of UPON A BURNING BODY hit the audience like a ten-ton hammer, with singer Danny Leal leading the charge, stepping on and off the platforms set onstage. “Get your f'n horns in the air. We didn't come here to f*ck around,” he announced, with the bouncing “All Pride No Pain” being a fitting follow-up.

The energy exchange between the band and the audience was immediate, and with each handoff it increased. Apparently UPON A BURNING BODY have a strong fanbase in Chicago, and that would soon grow because the band floored the gas pedal and didn't let go. “That's what the F I'm talking about,” was the assessment from the stage before the band briefly disappeared and a taped intro filled the transition into the aggressive “Extermination”. The groove in the music of UPON A BURNING BODY definitely shares some DNA with the headliners, as does the unyielding attitude carried by lyrics like “You can't break what you didn't build.” Some lyrics simply feel really good to sing out loud with fellow metalheads.

The circle pit was the next item on the agenda, and Chicago needed very simple instructions: “All you gotta do is grab your friend and make a circle. It's that f'n easy.” The riff- and groove-driven “King Of Diamonds”, with the line “Never forget what you're fighting for,” created the perfect soundtrack for all the moshing activities on the Bottom Lounge floor. Then the lights went out again. A taped intro started, green lighting came up, and the guitarists returned without the singer for “El Mariachi”. The Latin/mariachi element gives UPON A BURNING BODY something immediately identifiable among bands operating in this groovy corner of Metal, and in a live setting, the contrast works even better. There is a sense of camaraderie listening to these tunes at concert volume, but I cannot explain exactly why — it just is, and that's enough. When the full band resumed, the singer admitted, “Chicago, personally I'm having a f'n great time with you, man,” with “Hand Of God” fueling the moshpit.

I have to admit that hearing Leal say “This goes to the old-school fans” in reference to “Sin City”, which was released in 2012, made me feel extra old. You see, in my 50-year-old mind, "old-school" means the mid-’80s... Obviously, I need to recalibrate, but in the meantime I enjoyed the wave of metalheads moving from side to side as UPON A BURNING BODY were tearing it up. “You are on fire tonight, man,” the singer said before asking whether it would be OK to play two more songs for the “beautiful people” inside the venue. For “B.M.F.”, Leal offered some extra instructions: “Look left, look right and start pushing them. And if somebody falls, pick them up.” This was amazing to watch, and hearing everyone sing “hell yeah, hell yeah” was the cherry on top.

The audience’s participation spiked again during the set closer, “Texas Blood Money”. The flag of the State of Texas was brought onstage, and Leal said “we respect th ground we walk on, but now you are in Texas, motherf*ckers,” getting loud cheers in response, followed by an equally loud sing-along with “everything is bigger in Texas” and my favorite, “We respect the ground that we walk on, it's the place we call home.” To my mind, the PANTERA references, with the unmistakable “Respect, walk” / “walk on home, boy,” made the Texas-pride closer even more appropriate.

This was an excellent, energy-packed set that paved the way for DEVILDRIVER, who would not be taking their foot off the gas.

UPON A BURNING BODY setlist:

01. "Sangre Del Toro"
02. "Killshot"
03. "All Pride No Pain"
04. "Extermination"
05. "King Of Diamonds"
06. "El Mariachi"
07. "Hand Of God"
08. "Sin City"
09. "B.M.F."
10. "Texas Blood Money"

UPON A BURNING BODY

It had been a long time since I had seen the DEVILDRIVER logo as a backdrop, and a glance at the taped setlist gave me goosebumps. Everyone inside Bottom Lounge was about to get served a hearty dose of the band we had missed. Storm sounds rolled in, strobes started flashing, the lights went out, and the illuminated DEVILDRIVER logo became visible at the back of the stage. There was no long introduction. “Let me see those horns. Let's do it.” And with that, “Clouds Over California” opened the headlining set and made me think, “Oh my goodness, I’ve sooooo missed this.”

Dez Fafara was clearly enjoying what he was seeing almost immediately. “I f'n knew it it was gonna be a great time tonight,” he said before checking how many people had seen DEVILDRIVER before and, equally important, how many were experiencing the band for the first time. “Welcome, welcome, welcome,” he said before another favorite of mine, “Not All Who Wander Are Lost”, followed. This took my mind back eighteen years to when I first saw DEVILDRIVER live and was spinning “The Last Kind Words” as if it were the only album I owned. The trip down memory lane didn’t stop there, as “I Could Care Less” and the killer groove of “Head On To Heartache (Let Them Rot)” left me smiling and happy as a clam.

At Dez’s side was bassist Jon Miller, and together they formed the bridge connecting the old with the new guard. As an outsider, I have no idea what prompted the lineup changes or what happened behind closed doors, but based on what I was seeing and hearing, the band was on fire.

There were two screens flanking the drum kit, and for the next segment the cyan-painted, battle-scarred hyena introduced the present with “Strike And Kill”, which was welcomed with open arms and, naturally, another moshpit. Different images appeared on those screens throughout the set, but a couple of things I particularly enjoyed made me smile, namely excerpts from the Conan and Dredd movies. In fact, I am sure I heard Dez say that Conan is his favorite movie before the excerpt “To crush your enemies, see them driven before you” was heard.

Then came the old-school warning. “Get the f*ck in the pit. Let's take you around,” he said, and under blue lights “Meet The Wretched” and “Swinging The Dead” from the 2003 debut sounded the charge for headbanging. By this point, Dez was having enough fun to declare, “Now it feels like a Friday - that's what I wanted.” Yeah, it was Tuesday, but nobody seemed particularly interested in correcting him because the feeling was mutual. It was interesting going back and forth between the early albums and the latest one, with “Dig Your Own Grave” coming next. I would love to hear more songs from “Strike And Kill”, like “Shut The Silence On”, “Never Coming Home” or “In The Moonlight”. On the other hand, I wouldn't know which songs to remove, especially when the DEVILDRIVER debut got a five-song representation. Yep, cannot complain.

“Dead In The Water” sounded great and matched the energy of the older songs that followed. Fafara checked whether everyone was still having a good time and asked for some noise for the other bands that had played earlier. Red lighting then accompanied the catchy, riff-driven “Hold Back The Day”, and after seeing the audience's nonstop participation, he admitted, “I got a big motherf'ing smile on my face.”

Dez said that he loves walking outside when it is raining. “It clears your head,” he explained, and then added, “Let's dance,” with “Cry For Me Sky (Eulogy Of The Scorned)” being the most fitting follow-up. The band never left the stage, and the amount of time Dez spent talking was minimal, but whenever he did, he had something to say. Before “The Mountain”, he said “you have to climb the mountain,” adding the simple and effective message, “stand your f'n ground.”

“I don't believe in encores. One and done,” the singer stated, explaining that there would be no encore. Some bands like them and some don’t; I can definitely appreciate that philosophy, especially when encores should be earned and not be "part of the program."

This meant that “End Of The Line” was also the end of the set, which ran for just under an hour. From the storm sounds and strobes that introduced “Clouds Over California” to the final song, the pace rarely dropped, and the entire band seemed genuinely energized by the response coming back from the Bottom Lounge floor.

Would I have loved to hear one or maybe a couple more songs from DEVILDRIVER? Hell yeah, but at the same time I was not sweating my arse off throughout the entire set like some of the metalheads were, so I shouldn't be complaining. As long as we see DEVILDRIVER again in Chicago sooner rather than later.

DEVILDRIVER setlist:

01. "Clouds Over California"
02. "Not All Who Wander Are Lost"
03. "I Could Care Less"
04. "Head On To Heartache (Let Them Rot)"
05. "Strike And Kill"
06. "Meet The Wretched"
07. "Swinging The Dead"
08. "Dig Your Own Grave"
09. "Dead In The Water"
10. "Hold Back The Day"
11. "Cry For Me Sky (Eulogy Of The Scorned)"
12. "The Mountain"
13. "End Of The Line"

DEVILDRIVER