18 March 2025 – Brisbane Entertainment Centre – words by Lucas Bell – pictures by Luke Petty
Music’s most controversial bad boy Ronnie Radke is in town, and you know what that means. On their first tour of Australia in just over five years, Las Vegas post hardcore crew Falling in Reverse are in town. Off the back of the bands latest record, 2024s Popular Monster, The Popular MonsTour II: World Domination Tour ran through Brisbane last night, and we were lucky to be there to catch Falling in Reverse, as well as Ohio rockers Black Veil Brides, and California nu-metal act Hollywood Undead.
The Undead ones kicked off the night with a really great set of tunes that, if you were not aware of them before tonight, gave you an amazing foundation to let you know exactly who they are. The high energy set kicked off with California Dreaming, off their 2017 record V, which is my favorite record of the band’s discography. ‘CHAOS’ was the only track from the band’s latest offering, Hotel Kalifornia. Would love to have heard more from it. They also banged out some classics in the discography, like ‘Another Way Out’, ‘Comin’ in Hot’, and ‘Everywhere I Go’, and even ripped out a ‘Sweet Caroline’ cover by Neil Diamond, which drew a massive singalong. Shout out to Hunter too. They pulled a 9 year old on stage to party with them, and even pretended to give him a beer for a laugh. Great band, and great way to open the show.
Hollywood Undead – BEC – photos by Luke Petty
Black Veil Brides were out next, and seemed to do a bit of a shorter set. Where Undead rocked out about eleven or twelve songs, The Brides only clocked in with 8 tracks tonight, but those songs, again, gave you an amazing foundation to let you know exactly who they are. The only record they didn’t play a track from, was 2021’s The Phantom Tomorrow. But the songs they picked were an “Oops All Bangers” assortment of classic tracks. Opening with their first ever hit, ‘Knives and Pens’, you knew this was about to be a great set. We got ‘Bleeders’, ‘Faithless’, ‘Coffin’, ‘Devil’, and ‘The Legacy’, all back to back. While everything so far had been singles, ‘Faithless’ was a deep cut that I don’t think many people were expecting. Andy Biersack’s vocals have always been impressive on studio recordings. But his live performance gives everything a new dimension, and it’s so good. The band closed out on ‘Perfect Weapon’, and ‘In the End’, which drew another massive singalong and massive ovation as they left the stage.
Black Veil Brides – BEC – photos by Luke Petty
Something I’ve shouted out in past reviews, has been crowds singing between sets. It’s always been a thing at shows I’ve gone to, but it’s really picked up as a big meta for 2025. But the crowd last night was on fire. Whether it was ‘Break Stuff’, ‘I Write Sins Not Tragedies’, ‘Can You Feel My Heart’, ‘LeBron’, ‘Last Resort’, ‘Sugar We’re Going Down’, ‘Mr Brightside’, or ‘Duality’, every song popped the crowd huge, with monster singing along. This needs to be the norm, because before I realised it, The nights cut, as AC/DC’s ‘Highway to Hell’ started. Which only meant one thing.
The centre screen cut to Falling in Reverse backstage, hyping themselves up before walking out, and gave us a look at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre most fans have never seen before. We saw the walk out from the bands green room, to almost the stage, as they sung, air drummed, and pretended to play guitar to the track. The screen and audio then cut, as hype built through the air, as Radke took to the middle of the stage, as the band opened with ‘Prequel’. ‘Zombified’ was up next, and had some gnarly pyro, before ‘I’m Not a Vampire’ sent the Entertainment Centre real crazy. Ronnie took sips of water between songs, and acknowledged the sell out of the venue, and all the people in the building who bought the crazy seats just to see his band, before busting into ‘Fuck You and All Your Friends’.
Falling in Reverse – BEC – photos by Luke Petty
You could tell Ronnie was hyped. Whether it was every show on the tour like this, or tonight, Radke spoke about tonight having a really sick energy in the building that even he could feel, and he’s not a hippie. But he could feel what the crowd were putting out to them, and they appreciated it. ‘Bad Guy’ then played with more crazy pyro, before ‘Losing My Mind’ hit, and there was a big clapping section from the crowd before the final bridge that was cool to see so many hands in the sky. Ronnie did his first extended monologue of the night, where he flashed a nipple, before talking about the shit sound at Good Things 2019 (he mistakenly called Soundwave). The crowd chanted for a shoey, he told them to everyone to go fuck themselves, and told everyone they weren’t really fans of the band, that they were dragged in by their friends. ‘The Drug In Me Is You’ then played, which was another crazy awesome throwback.
Falling in Reverse – BEC – photos by Luke Petty
‘Just Like You’ was next, with an Asshole Cam on the screen that filmed Ronnie pretty much the whole time, as he sung to it, which was cool. The rest of the set from here was everything from ‘Popular Monster’. Ronnie said goodbye and left the stage, before re-appearing at the sound desk in the middle of the venue, to play ‘NO FEAR’ as he walked the crowd, which visually on the screens, looked so sick. After returning to the stage, someone brought out cowboy hats, which meant it was time for ‘All My Life’, as Jelly Roll appeared via backing track and music video on the screens. ‘Popular Monster’ and ‘Voices in My Head’ also went off like crazy, before the inevitable Ronnie chants broke out. Radke told us Ronnie left the building a while ago, because right now, it’s Ronald, as the track ‘Ronald’ played, with Tech N9ne and Alex Terrible again accompanying the song via backing track and videos on the screen, as the final song of the night played, ‘Watch The World Burn’. They ran back the breakdown too, which was sick.
Falling in Reverse – BEC – photos by Luke Petty
People hold a lot of opinions on Radke. But as a performer, he’s currently one of the best on the planet. He had the entire venue in the palm of his hands last night, and that’s exactly what he should be doing. Fingers crossed the band make it back sooner, and at a bigger venue, like Ronnie promised to find for the band when they eventually return.
