One weeknight, I was driving around town after my day job. I had to drop off something to my mom. Thinking I was going to go home after that, my phone rang. It was my cousin. She had a free ticket to the Papa Roach, Hollywood Undead, and Bad Wolves concert in my town.

I, of course, said yes. Free concert? Hell yeah!

I knew Papa Roach from our local rock radio station. “Scars” in particular is, admittedly, a not-so-guilty pleasure of mine. Before this show, they were not a band I would normally buy a concert ticket for. This was true with Hollywood Undead and Bad Wolves as well.

I had friends into Hollywood Undead. One friend group I was a part of played them regularly at their sleepovers. I remember them being fun, but I never really got into them.

Walking into the Venue

When it comes to concerts, it’s always interesting to me to see who shows up for certain bands. The crowd at the show was expectedly millennials and xillenials with their children. My cousin and I fit right in. However, there was a shocking number of children under the age of 10 there.

We missed Bad Wolves, which was okay. That gave my cousin and I time to catch up, grab a drink, grab some nachos, and sit in our cozy seats. We had some pretty solid seats, too.

Hollywood Undead

They came out for their set, and there were instantly murmurs about their lack of masks.

Musically, I thought they played quite well. I also had no expectations going in. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy them in that aspect. They’ve just never seriously been my cup of tea.

It all went downhill when they brought a five-year-old with a mohawk onto the stage… and then proceeded to ask the kid if they were drunk.

Now – of COURSE he wasn’t drunk, and I’m sure they knew that. I thought that was still an odd and even bold question to ask a five-year-old. One wrong answer and CPS would have been called.

The child also didn’t want to scream “Let’s Go Motherfuckers!!!” to the crowd when asked to.

After this whole ordeal, the child threw up his little rock horns and bopped to the musical soundings of “Comin’ in Hot.” Eventually, they had to play “Everywhere I Go” and as if the lyrics weren’t colorful enough, they pretty much had jiggling bikini boobs on their display the entire time. Everyone is waving their hands to the beat.

If you made it this far, this is it.

This is the moment.

The thought crossed my noggin.

Why Would Anybody Bring Their Young Child to a Hollywood Undead Show?!?

I thought “Oh my God, Zoe. Who is this person and what did you do with the Zoe who wouldn’t have even been phased by this because she was religiously listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers as a middle schooler before she knew who Dave Grohl was?”

I had a crisis there for a moment.

Mind you, this was my first concert since December 2019. I was at that same venue, on the floor, seeing Chevelle before Dean Bernardini left the band. I’ve come to realize I have changed as a person since that concert.

Being in a seat, eating nachos, and listening to rock music was ideal. I didn’t have to be down on the floor, let alone pay attention to what was being sung. My main goal was to cut loose and enjoy being with people who liked the same music as me.

Now, I am sitting here, actually listening to the lyrics, and thinking to myself, “Oh my” as if I didn’t know the lyrics to “Sir Psycho Sexy” by Red Hot Chili Peppers by heart.

Bullet by Hollywood Undead

“Bullet” towards the end of their set, which I had recognized and forgot I knew. It is absolutely unfair how catchy that song is. It shares a similar attribute to “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People, where the music is happy, yet the lyrics are dark.

The line “when you can’t sleep, you can’t dream. When you can’t dream, what’s life mean?” stuck out to me during that set. There’s also something haunting about “if I survive, then I’ll see you tomorrow.” It’s a very well-placed pre-chorus.

Despite this, is it a corny song? Sure. However, “Stacy’s Mom” is also corny for completely different reasons. Corny works if it is done right.

Closing Thoughts on Hollywood Undead

This may be depressing or wonderful depending on how you look at this.

This night was in my top five nights of 2022.

While Hollywood Undead is still not a band I am religiously into or overall identify with, I do like a handful of their songs.

Click here to continue reading about what I thought about Papa Roach.