WDHA brought Rock the Park Friday night to a packed and highly-energized crowd at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ. The show was filled with all things rock, and featured Halestorm, I Prevail, Hollywood Undead, and Fit For A King.
Fit For A King
Fit For a King opened the night. The band is a metalcore band formed in 2007 from Texas. Their newest single “Keeping Secrets” was released just this year.
Members include:
Bobby Lynge - guitars, backing vocals
Ryan Kirby – lead vocals
Ryan "Tuck" O'Leary – bass, clean vocals
Daniel Gailey – guitars, backing vocals
Trey Celaya – drums
Hollywood Undead
Hollywood Undead was the second act of the night. The energetic crowd leapt to their feet as soon as Hollywood Undead took to the lighted palm tree adorned stage. The venue transformed into an instantaneous party with a sea of waving arms and jumping fans. They started the set with “California Dreaming”. The group was full of energy jumping around to their strong beats and strong lyrics.
Hollywood Undead is a rap rock band that was formed in 2005 in Los Angeles, CA. The band got their start with their MySpace release song, “The Kids”, on their MySpace Account. Each of their 8 studio albums is packed with high energy, high emotions, and incredibly addicting songs.
Their second song, “Chaos”, was the first song on their latest album Hotel Kalifornia was released in 2022. This album is filled all the amazingly rap-rock songs one would expect from this fun group, and this song was the perfect pick to continue into their set with.
In the middle of their show, they brought to the stage platform a boy from the audience, helping him lead the crowds arm waving. Being both adorable and awesome, it showed the groups commitment to their fans and their relevance across the generations. It is hard to attend a Hollywood Undead show and not instantly turn into a hardcore fan if you weren’t already one.
Members include:
Jorel "J-Dog" Decker – vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, programming
Dylan "Funny Man" Alvarez – vocals
George "Johnny 3 Tears" Ragan – vocals, bass
Jordon "Charlie Scene" Terrell – vocals, guitars
Danny Murillo – vocals (2009–present); keyboards, programming, guitars, bass
Hollywood Undead – HOTEL KALIFORNIA Out Now
I Prevail
The third act of the night was I Prevail. The crowd was hypnotized by the strong filling their eyes from the stage that started the set. The bold and sharp images flashed across the screen and perfectly set the tone for this attention-demanding rock group. As soon as the members stormed the stage, the crowd was roaring, and ready to rock and scream along throughout the night with them.
The group played their highly loved and popular cover of Taylor Swifts “Blank Space”. As soon as the first chords were played, everyone knew what was coming and cheered with anticipation. Their metalcore rendition of this already incredibly famous song was beyond fabulous. Everyone was screaming and jumping along to the pounding beats and well-known lyrics.
I Prevail is an American Rock band from Michigan that is often also categorized as metalcore. Their latest album True Power was released in 2022. Their show opened with “There’s Fear in Letting Go”, which was also featured on this album. Other songs from this album that were played included “Body Bag”, “Self-Destruction”, and “Bad Things”. All of the mesmerizing songs, soul-filling vocals, and heart-pounding beats that the group brought to the stage was everything the crowd hoped for, and more. This much-beloved group knew how to treat their fans and bombarded them with all their favorites.
The group recorded a beautiful and extremely powerful single with Halestorm called “can you see me in the dark”. This highly anticipated collaboration was just released in June of this year and performed later in the night during Halestorm's set.
Members include:
Brian Burkheiser – clean vocals
Eric Vanlerberghe – unclean vocals, clean vocals
Steve Menoian – lead guitar, bass guitar
Dylan Bowman – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Gabe Helguera – drums
I Prevail
Halestorm
Halestorm was the final act of the night. Lead singer Lzzy Hale came onto the stage and started with a beautiful a cappella “Raise Your Horns” intro to “I Miss the Misery”. The night was filled her with incredibly beautiful and gritty vocals.
Lzzy sat down at and sang to the crowd the deeply emotional and beautiful song “Familiar Taste of Poison”, during which she also passed out roses to crowd – this was to go along with the songs mention of roses during the line “...But the roses were only to drain my inspiration”
Highlights of the night included an absolutely fantastic and high energy drum circle. Other highlights include the group welcoming special guests onto the stage. Brought on to sing were Skid Row's Rachel Bolen (for “Slave to the Grind”) and I Prevails Eric Vanlerberghe (for “Can You See Me In The Dark”).
Halestorm is an American rock band that was formed in 1997 by siblings Lzzy Hale and Arejay Hale in Red Lion, PA. The duo began writing and performing songs when they were only 10 and 13 years old. Their latest single “Can You See Me In The Dark” was with I Prevail and released during June 2024. The group also released a live album, Live At Wembly, during 2024 that was recorded at their Wembley concert on December 9, 2023.
Arejay Hale, with his bright green hair, captivated the crowd with his drumming. He was both on the set top and center and was front and center next to his sister Lzzy for the fun and highly entertaining drum circle performance.
Members include:
Lzzy Hale – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards
Arejay Hale – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Joe Hottinger – lead guitar, backing vocals
Josh Smith – bass, keyboards, backing vocals
Remaining Tour Dates:
7/30 – Mansfield, OH – Inkcarceration
7/31 – Alpharetta, GA – Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
8/01 – Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
8/03 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion
8/04 – Franklin, TN – FirstBank Amphitheater
8/07 – St. Louis, MO – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
8/08 – Rogers, AR – Walmart AMP
8/10 – Woodlands, TX – The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion Presented by Huntsman
8/11 – Irving, TX – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
8/13 – Denver, CO – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre
8/14 – Albuquerque, NM – Isleta Amphitheater
8/16 – Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Financial Theater
8/17 – Las Vegas, NV – Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood Casino & Resort
