October at The Rave in Milwaukee, Wisconsin always finds the venue filled with Halloween decorations, creepy animatronics, and masked creatures. The decorations weren’t the only things marking the holiday spirit, though, as masked metallers Mushroomhead made yet another stop at the iconic venue, in the most fitting season of all.
Denver-based metal act Mind Incision got the crowd moving and tore through a short set to light up the evening. They had a great stage presence and a seemingly new look compared to their previous tour opening for Mushroomhead. They fit the bill and passed the overall vibe check, getting the crowd hyped up with the heavy breakdowns, as well as their cover of Korn’s “Blind.”
Black Satellite hit the stage next. Vocalist Larissa Vale cited a leg injury preventing her from being as high energy as usual, but the rest of the group made up for it plenty, despite the limited space on the Rave’s basement stage. The crowd was still ready to get wild after the previous set, and they let loose for the newest single, “Kill For You.” They closed out their set with a cover of “Sonne,” by Rammstein, which also coincided with a fistfight breaking out in the crowd.
Keeping with the heavy theme, but adding humor, self-dubbed “humorcore” Psychostick took the last opening slot of the night with their comedic, yet heavy, tracks. From beards, to cheese, to beloved cult horror actor Bruce Campbell, nothing was out of the ordinary for this group.
The circle pit turned into a NASCAR track for “Ultra Mega Fast,” the theme to “Ghostbusters” was transformed into a Sepultura song, and Drowning Pool’s “Bodies” had its lyrics completely changed for “Numbers (I Can Only Count to Four).”
Despite initially seeming out of place on the lineup, especially with less dark themes and visuals, the crowd had an absolute blast, singing along to the well-known and parody tracks that mimicked their favorite songs by other artists. Wisconsin was also the perfect state for one of Psychostick’s best songs: “BEER!!,” to which they gave a shout out to Wisconsin’s exclusive Spotted Cow beer.
Mushroomhead filled the stage, as they often do with their 8 members and multiple drummers, and the intimate venue required members to rotate how many were actually on stage at any time. It was almost a year to the date exactly that they last performed at The Rave, and it was truly perfect timing for their aesthetic.
With the opening track “Eye to Eye,” they spared no time and immediately sprayed water into the eager crowd from their signature water drums. Before long, vocalists Scott Beck and Steve Rauckhorst had already jumped off of the stage, with Beck launching himself into the crowd to surf and sing.
The third, and final, vocalist Jackie LaPonza joined the group for “Fall in Line,” also following suit and jumping the barricade to walk on top of the crowd while still performing. This type of close interaction has become a staple of Mushroomhead performances, and the crowd is always ready to carry someone to and from the stage.
With a year since the latest album, 2024’s “Call the Devil,” the set featured a good mix of songs from it, as well as 2020’s “A Wonderful Life” and classic tracks that the fans knew and loved from the very beginning. A few covers filled out the set: “When Doves Cry” by Prince and “Empty Space” by Pink Floyd, but the crowd wasn’t left wanting anything more, especially with “Born of Desire” and “Solitaire/Unraveling” from “M3” in the mix, which are absolute necessities.
Mushroomhead never fails to offer up an incredibly intense, entertaining, and visually exciting show.
