Soulfly Arrives in Oxnard, California
Soulfly was born in 1997 after frontman and legendary musician Max Cavalera left Brazilian metal band Sepultura. Since then, Soulfly has released 11 albums with a new one set to be released in July. The current lineup of the band consists of Max Cavalera on guitar/vocals, Max's son Zyon Cavalera on drums, Dino Cazares of Fear Factory on guitar and Mike Leon on bass. Soulfly announced a tour including some cities that bands don't normally visit. The third stop on tour was a city on the west coast called Oxnard in Southern California. This was on odd choice for a city because bands never come here and there's really no venues for bands to play at. The Oxnard Performing Arts Center is one of the very few places with a spacious venue just big enough for a metal band to play. The venue had a nice turnout of people who lived here locally and possibly others who traveled from out of town given that there was surprisingly no Hollywood stop on the tour. After 3 local acts and the touring opening band, it was time for Soulfly to take the stage.
The crowd cheered as Soulfly made their way to the stage and started their show with Back to the Primitive. With a song as heavy as that, the crowd got wild with a small mosh pit forming in the middle of the floor and fans head banging. Soulfly was off to a strong start and they continued that energy as they next played more classics like No Hope = No Fear and Rise of the Fallen. Given that Soulfly comes out with a new album in July, it only made sense to give the audience a taste of what's to come. With that, they played two new songs which were Filth Upon Filth and Superstition. Both tracks ruled and the fans all over surely can't wait to hear the rest of the album. One of the more fun songs played live was Boom as bassist Mike Leon laid down the funky bass intro before the rest of the band followed and kept the crowd going wild. Soulfly played many of their hits including Bleed, Dead Behind the Eyes and Prophecy. The special guest on guitar for this tour was none other than Dino Cazares who is most famous for being the guitarist for industrial metal legends Fear Factory. He has also been the guitarist for his other projects like Asesino and Brujeria. Being that he was on tour, it was only fitting that he treated the fans to some Fear Factory. Soulfly played the intro to Body Hammer and when the intro ended, they jumped into a Fear Factory classic, Replica. Sadly, they only partially played the song as if they were just teasing the audience. Everyone would have preferred to hear the full song. it was time for the show to come to an end and the choice of song to finish the night is Soulfly's most popular song, Jumpdafuckup. As the song suggests it, Cavalera had the audience jump the fuck up and so they did. Fans were jumping, moshing and head banging for one final song. Soulfly finished up the song, thanked the audience and left the stage. Fans looked happy all around and were surely hoping that they come around again in the near future. The tour is just starting so if you see them coming near you, go check them out!
Photos and review by Misael Ruiz
