Since the tragic death of Dave Williams in 2002, the question that has been everyone's mind is "Are they
still Drowning Pool?" It was not long into their set when the answer was clear, hell yeah, they are. The band
has proven themselves once again. They started off strong with "Think" exploding with dark gusty bellows and massively heavy beats and continued with songs like "Step up" and "Killin' Me" an obvious fan favorite that drove bodies to flip and twitch like they were on speed, heads bobbed up and down so fast that at one point it looked as if I would have to take cover from someone's head flying off. People literally somersaulted over the audience. Performing like geniuses, guitarist,
CJ Pierce and Bassist, Stevie Benton produced
thickly stacked riffs and thunderous breakdowns
while drummer Mike Luce pounded away. Even as
I think back now, I could feel the excitement that was
in the club that night.

The band fully fed off the energy around the room, lead vocalist Jason Jones, taunted the crowd sticking his middle finger in the air yelling "fuck you, no really fuck you," having the crowd do the same in return. At one point he made everyone in the room turn around to face the exit with their middle fingers raised high above their heads and waited until all complied; ultimately ordering them all to turn back around to verbally assault them once more. The crowd loved it! The more Jones interacted with the audience the more they were drawn to his style. Fans flailed their limbs throughout the pit
and cameras flashed around the room.

Singer Jason Jones of Drowning Pool

At one point Jones stood there smiling, visibly appreciating the enthusiasm of the masses. Not only was the crowd drawn to his style, it was apparent that they were drawn to his monstrous vocals which had a trancelike quality that could easily be distinguished during the more melodic songs such as "This Life" and "Love and War" which imploded deep intense sounds.

It's obvious the band has much love for Dave Williams and Dime Bag Darrell {from Pantara and Damage Plan,} devoting songs to each of them. The band played a
song off of Pantara's album and later on dedicated
"Tear Away," to Williams during which Jones urged fans to shout the chorus "I don't care about anyone but me," very loud and powerful.

Guitarist C.J. Pierce of Drowning Pool

Drowning Pool, primed to recapture its momentum, finished with "Bodies" their smash hit off their first album. As soon as the crowd heard the first pluck of the bass and beat of the drums, all hell broke loose in the audience. It was clear that the crowd was going to get the thrashing of a lifetime. Just when you thought it couldn't get any more uncontrollable; Jones requested that ten people from the right, ten people from the left and ten people from the middle join him on stage, for this was everyone's song to sing or shall I say 'scream.' People eagerly scrambled to the stage; becoming instantly packed with crazed fans showing no mercy. The crowd bellowed along to every word at a deafening level. Jones, in a fearless frame of mind, jumped down into the crowd and continued the song without missing a beat. This by far was a grand finale for the evening.

Drowning Pool delivered a top notch adrenaline pumping performance. They gave us exactly what we needed, a reason to rock.

Drowning Pool is from Dallas, TX and tour on a regular basis. Online users may purchase Drowning Pool music at Amazon.com. Music may be sampled at the
Drowning Pool website or at myspace.con/drowningpool.

Read our Interview with Drowning Pool's drummer Mike Luce.

Concert Review by Domenica Acquarulo - Copyright © 2005 Florida Entertainment Scene - All Rights Reserved.