Machine Gun Kelly plays Syracuse show at St. Joe's Amp
Syracuse, N.Y. — While some may have seen the day of rain as a wet blanket to last night’s concert, almost 15,000 fans were undeterred, pouring into the St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview to see Machine Gun Kelly featuring Avril Lavigne and up-and-comer Iann Dior on July 5.
The mainly college-aged crowd was clad in all black, lots of pink, fishnets and shredded jeans.
Following opener Dior, “Pop Punk Princess” Lavigne took the stage. Twenty years after she released her debut album, her vocals still rang strong through the more than half-hour set filled with new music and nostalgic hits.
She was dressed in tall combat boots, fishnets, a plaid skirt and a top that made my early 2000s former Hot Topic employee heart happy.
Fans were treated to hits like “Girlfriend,” “Complicated,” and “Sk8er Boi.” Lavigne then picked up her guitar for “My Happy Ending” in between newer tracks coming from her 2022 album “Love Sux.”
Cell phone flashlights came out for her closing number, 2002 ballad “I’m With You,” and fans sang along with fervor.
The crowd cheered and pulled out cell phones to record the venue’s video screens when a trailer for “Life in Pink,” Machine Gun Kelly’s Hulu documentary played. Released on June 27, the video led right into the opening of the show.
The set started with a video of a FaceTime call with MGK saying “The internet put me in a box.” This would be the start of his war with the internet during the evening.
Being raised up out of the stage by a pink and black helicopter, a pink-haired Kelly appeared, dressed in bedazzled pink pants, and a sparkly pink and black hockey jersey with the name “Lost Boy.”
The evening was a wall of sound, light, and pyrotechnics as the singer, rapper, and actor swiftly took the enthusiastic audience through his music catalog, singing into a hand-shaped mic stand.
Armed with three powerful guitar players, Justin Lyons, Sophie Lloyd, Steve “Baze” Basil, and a hard hitting drummer named Rook (in the absence of Travis Barker), fans were all too happy to follow Kelly with deafening cheers and endless energy.
Upstate New Yorkers may have recognized bassist Baze, the Spencerport native, whose family hosted the band on the Fourth of July with a cookout, but missing one key item.
“They didn’t cook any hot dogs,” Kelly joked.
There were plenty of shout-outs to Syracuse throughout the almost two-hour show. Kelly is no stranger to the area — he spent time in here in 2018 while filming American High’s “Big Time Adolescence” with Pete Davidson. He retold an abridged story to the audience of how he bought a yellow Chevrolet Camaro while in Central New York and drove around while he ate mushrooms before being caught by the koi pond in his hotel lobby.
Kelly introduced his band, each one taking a solo and playing classic riffs like the piano from Dr. Dre’s “Still D.R.E.,” drums from Marilyn Manson, guitar tabs from Black Sabbath’s, and bass from “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes.
Highlights of the night were also reappearances by Dior and Lavigne to perform their songs which feature MGK.
Kelly kept security on their toes by dashing out into the edges of the audience during songs to sing to his fans.
Though the Cleveland-born artist transitioned his career from rap to rock in recent years, Kelly demonstrated his lyrical skills with fast-paced “Floor 13,” backed by powerful, heavy-metal inspired guitars standing united at the front of the stage.
At one point, Kelly pulled a recently engaged couple onto the stage as he played “Emo Girl.”
Emotions were riding high during the night as Kelly memorialized his father, whom he lost two years ago on July 5. In an Instagram video posted before the show and at the concert, Kelly called the day’s rain a blessing.
“I feel like it’s just him letting us know he’s watching the show,” he said. “Pops, I love you.”
The venue turned into a sea of cell phone flashlights as Kelly sang “lonely,” a tribute to his late father. In the dark silent moment he took for himself when the song ended, fans cheered “MGK” in support.
Coursing through the night was the theme of the internet ruining everything. A 30-foot personified internet with a human body and computer screen head dominated the stage for the majority of the show. As it hurled insults at Kelly, he shot back with both his words and his onstage helicopter.
“The message of this show is to show our generation confidence,” he said. “What I say matters, the people around me matter.”
He called the audience to yell at the creature, “F–k the internet!” and “the internet” finally met its demise and deflated.
At the end of the night, Kelly sang “twin flame,” the song he recorded on Megan Fox’s birthday (the first one he spent with her). As the ballad built to an explosion of sound, so did the stage, raining fireworks, raging flames, and billowing with clouds of smoke.
If luck is on Syracuse’s side, Machine Gun Kelly will bring his energy and entertainment back to Central New York. And next time, we’ll make sure to bring the hot dogs.
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