Review: Chevelle at Rabbit Rabbit
For a while, it looked like Chevelle might not get to rock out Rabbit Rabbit on July 30.
With lightning and thunder forcing opening act Tigercub from the stage after a mere one song and attendees evacuated from the outdoor venue at 7:40 p.m., only a few hours remained before noise ordinance curfew.
Thankfully, the hard rock/metal headliners got the “all clear” to take the stage and quickly got to work, making the most of every available moment.
From the jump, the on-stage chemistry between Pete Loeffler (guitar/vocals), Sam Loeffler (drums), and Kemble Walters (bass/vocals) was palpable and radiated through the crowd, many of whom kept arms lifted with devil horns ablaze throughout the career-spanning set.
Chevelle kept things consistently high-energy until an intriguing shift, in which Pete joked about not playing the band’s mega-hit “The Red” — then proceeded to perform a…not acoustic, but borderline intimate opening verse before being joined by his bandmates for a hard-hitting continuation.
The die-hard fans soaked it all up, but for newer listeners the similar tempos made it somewhat difficult to tell many songs apart. Different riffs emerged with each new number, but the true shining stars were the handful of distinct, melodic chorus, whose appearances were akin to the parting of the skies earlier in the evening.
The “Much like suffocating” chorus of “Send the Pain Below” ranks among Pete’s top creations, and he briefly turned it over for the crowd to handle. But it’s his passionate push-pull delivery on “I Get It” that stood out as the night’s highlight:
“You're right, I get it
It all makes sense, you're the perfect person
So bright, so wrong
Let's all live in your imaginary life”
Though most Rabbit Rabbit shows thin out as the hours wear on, Chevelle’s steadily grew — the beneficiary of rapidly improving weather and late notification checks at surrounding watering holes, waiting for that crucial “all clear.” That inverse result only enhanced the sense of community among the metal faithful and closed out the set in high-energy fashion.
(Photo by Heather Burditt)
