![\"\"](\"http:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Sonny-kill-shot-1-237x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
P.O.D. | Gen-X Tour
\nCedar Park, TX
\nAugust 22, 2018<\/p>\n
The Gen-X Summer Tour rolled into the Austin, Texas, area last week and it was a blast from the past. It wasn\u2019t that long ago, it seems, when bands like Alien Ant Farm, Lit, P.O.D. and Buckcherry dominated the airwaves on alternative radio, making it seem like the youth of our nation would stay forever young and energetic. Fast-forward 17 years or so and you\u2019ve got an arena half-full of thirty-somethings rocking at maybe 75% of that energy level. You can\u2019t blame the bands, though, they were bringing the tunes like it was their job or something.<\/p>\n
Alien Ant Farm ended their ball-rollin\u2019 opening set with their big radio hit, \u201cSmooth Criminal,\u201d while Lit started theirs with a cover of Tom Petty\u2019s \u201cAmerican Girl.\u201d They closed their set with a bookend mix of \u201cMy Own Worst Enemy\u201d that segued out to a cover of The Cars\u2019 \u201cJust What I Needed\u201d and back in again.<\/p>\n
After a short set change, P.O.D. came out and upped the energy and sonic levels several notches by launching into \u201cBoom,\u201d giving the air a metallic bite with tougher riffs. They continued their triple shot of The Fundamental Elements of Southtown<\/em> without skipping a beat and going into \u201cRock the Party\u201d (Off the Hook) and then \u201cSouthtown.\u201d It wasn\u2019t time to sit back and relive the hits, it was time to move around, which the band demonstrated with vigor. Especially off the hook was frontman Sonny Sandoval, who whipped his microphone wire around like he was killing bugs or something.<\/p>\n They continued feeding the audience energy and threw in last summer\u2019s tongue-in-cheek single, \u201cSoundboy Killa,\u201d with playful lyrics sometimes pointing at themselves. The band finished up with more familiar tunes, \u201cYouth of a Nation\u201d and \u201cAlive.\u201d During \u201cYouth of a Nation,\u201d Sonny\u2019s son accompanied Noah \u201cWuv\u201d Bernardo Jr. on the big drums. Sonny told the audience that they believed in a God of love and encouraged the audience to love one another. Like always, the band\u2019s music was powerful enough to build a stage and a pulpit to deliver a positive message like that and be heard. As \u201cAlive\u201d winded down, with big audience sing-alongs, Sonny\u2019s son came back out and danced and swirled around the stage, shaking his long dreads just like his dad used to do.<\/p>\n It was a fast and furious 50-minute set that seemed to fly by, but fun travels quickly with a good soundtrack and these men brought it.<\/p>\n I would\u2019ve stayed for the frenetic raw rock of Buckcherry, but this old man had some tweeners who had school the next day, so we outta there. P.O.D. | Gen-X Tour Cedar Park, TX August 22, 2018 The Gen-X Summer Tour rolled into the Austin, Texas, area last week and it was a blast from the past. It wasn\u2019t that long ago, it seems, when bands like Alien Ant Farm, Lit, P.O.D. and Buckcherry dominated the airwaves on alternative radio, making it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":25253,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[152,499,4096,4100,2284,4098,4099,4097],"class_list":["post-25241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-alien-ant-farm","tag-buckcherry","tag-lit","tag-marcos","tag-p-o-d","tag-sonny","tag-traa","tag-wuv","cat-17-id"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n\u2014Photos and review by Doug Van Pelt<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Sonny-leaning-into-it-260x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Sonny-ceiling-shot-219x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Sonny-bliss-300x199.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Marcos-closeup-300x199.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Wuv-300x199.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Traa-248x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Marcos-on-mic-199x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Sonny-singing-199x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"