Show Review: Scorching the Psychotherapy Sessions in Florida

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @AlanHasPicks

Ten days after attending, photographing, and reviewing Overkill, Exhorder, and Heathen at Great American Music Hall, Spinning Platters’ resident metalhead took a trip to the extremely sunny, hot, and occasionally rainy shores of Florida to ring in his 50 years of existence with a weekend of metal with The Pyschotherapy Sessions at MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre in Tampa and another Overkill show at House of Blues in Orlando! 

The weekend began as all typical weekends do, on a Friday afternoon just past 5pm, when the first band of the day Butcher Babies hit the stage.  The Pyschotherapy Sessions brings together two of the 90’s best nu-metal’s bands Mudvayne and Coal Chamber, and paired them with GWAR, Nonpoint, and Butcher Babies.

Having missed Butcher Babies though, Fort Lauderdale’s Nonpoint was up next and they came out swinging with two of their oldest and most popular songs Victim and What a Day.  Their set also included their brand-new single A Million Watts, as well as a couple from the last album and EP.

A choice was given to the fifteen photographers on-site: shoot the next band from the safety of the soundboard or photograph them from the bloody warzone of the barricade.  The greatest live band in the universe, Antarctica’s very own GWAR, was about to pulverize all of the puny humans in attendance.  Spinning Platters is never one to avoid a good ole bloody mess, and with the expensive camera equipment properly covered, GWAR lurched onto the stage and wasted no time in chopping off heads, hands, arms, and anything else available to spew their fluids onto all of those awaiting their bloody destiny.  As an excuse to continue their rampage all the way to the end of their glorious set, the final song was a well-placed cover of the AC/DC classic If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It). 

GWAR is absolutely the highlight of any show, so Coal Chamber and Mudvayne definitely had their work cut out for them, and they were absolutely ready.  Although Coal Chamber haven’t properly toured since 2015, and also split up for the second time shortly after, singer Dez Fafara recently brought the band back to life once again in part to perform at a 90’s nu-metal festival in Las Vegas.  After only one other pre-tour festival appearance, all of the members appeared in good spirits and the band seemed tight and firing on all cylinders.  The setlist kicked off with two of their biggest late-90’s songs Loco and Big Truck, and the remainder of the setlist was mostly evenly split between their pre-2002 albums.

Mudvayne was another late-90’s nu-metal band that also reunited, albeit in 2021, and they already had another tour last summer under their belts, which essentially cemented their status as headliner for The Psychotherapy Sessions.

After four hours in the intense Florida heat, the kabuki screen that was placed after Coal Chamber’s set finally dropped, and there they were… singer Chad Gray in his trademark overalls, face painted like he was starring in a horror slasher film about a sad clown, guitarist Greg Tribbett with red and black face paint, goggles, and multi-pointed hair, bassist Ryan Martinie also with red and black striped face paint who never stood in one place for longer than three seconds throughout the entire set, tour guitarist Marcus Rafferty in the back in all black with white face paint looking like an evil preacher, and drummer Matthew McDonough who could barely be seen behind his drums on the giant drum riser.  Half of Mudvayne’s 14-song setlist was taken from their year 2000 debut album L.D. 50, with most of the remainder from 2008’s The New Game.  

Two Days Later….

House of Blues in Orlando is on Walt Disney World property in a place called Downtown Disney (now called Disney Springs).  Back in the 90’s, Disney laid down the veto hammer on many a metal tour that would come through central-Florida.  Any band that was even mildly offensive, from their name to a song title to even a song lyric, would not be allowed to perform there.  How times have changed!  Upon arriving at Disney Springs to the hordes of normal people, tourists, families with children, and everything in between, there could be seen a small but growing gathering of black t-shirts, black eyeliner, spikes, chains, and even one guy in body armor all hovering near the House of Blues entrance for a band with the word KILL in their name.  For the second time in less than two weeks, Spinning Platters would be blown away by Overkill, Exhorder, and Heathen! 

Without rehashing everything that was written about Scorching the Earth in San Francisco, whatever limitations that may have hindered their performances at Great American Music Hall was definitely made right by the stage, lighting, and venue space provided by this House of Blues.  

Overkill’s huge backdrop did not block any of the venue’s permanent stage lighting fixtures, the band’s entire backline was in full effect with a half-dozen triple-stacked amplifiers surrounding a drum riser complete with its own lighting fixtures, stairs, and a steel plate of their bat skull mascot, and there was ample space for the opening bands to have their drums and be able to walk around it!

As seen by the photos, and compared to the ones from the San Francisco show, Heathen and Exhorder both definitely benefitted from having the full lighting arsenal at their disposal.  Their respective sets also improved from the much larger stage, and each took full command of the audience with more than several crowd surfers and much larger mosh pits. 

 

See more photos of all of your favorite Metal musicians at Alan Ralph‘s photo portfolio.