Hinder falls 3 rings short of a circus
If Hinder wasn't the worst band in America right now, it might be unfair and maybe a little mean-spirited to point out the moment during "Heaven Lost You" when frontman Austin Winkler tripped and fell onstage at the
Headlining a bill so confused that the organizers weren't sure whether it was the WAAF Dirty Summer Circus or the Bad Boys of Rock Tour, Hinder played its big arena rock as though even the band members couldn't believe how lucky they were to get away with it. Winkler's go-to stage pose was to stand with his jaw dropped, eyes open wide, and one hand up with the other hand out to the audience, blank and desperate at the same time.
His hoarse, tuneless rasp turned downright painful on "Bliss (I Don't Wanna Know)" and "Thing for You." But Hinder thought its audience was just as stupid, as evidenced by the time Winkler introduced "Born to Be Wild" by announcing "We don't usually do this" right before the title started flashing on the screen behind the band. Later, he explained the concept of a one-night stand without a hint of irony or humor for those who might have been confused. The crowd ate it up, but so what? Warrant was pretty popular once, too.
Revelation Theory's nondescript, midtempo metal opened the show, followed by Buckcherry's amalgam of AC/DC riffage, Motley Crue decadence, and Guns N' Roses attitude. Joshua Todd made for a curiously awkward frontman, stiff when he was actually singing (as though lost in concentration) but animated in the brief spaces between the lyrics.
Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach offered a more responsible alternative to Todd's sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll by declaring the audience his favorite fix. Every word out of his mouth was a rock scream, from lyrics to thank-yous, but the single-guitar lineup generated a streamlined, effective roar on dark anthems like "Dead Cell" and "Between Angels and Insects." 