Tag: machinegunkellyconcertreview

June 26, 2022 – Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Camden NJ

Review by Chris Yates // Photography by Estelle Massry

The tattooed, pink died hair, punk, pop rocker played to a sold out crowd of over 20,000 adoring fans Sunday night at the indoor/outdoor Freedom Mortgage Pavilion. It was a beautiful summer night and the screaming fans came out in droves for the Mainstream Sellout Tour.

Prior to MGK coming out on stage the show opened with My Chemical Romance (MCR) song, “Welcome to the Black Parade”. We know MGK respectfully doesn’t hide his musical influences and MCR is a favorite. The fans sang loud to the song and it seemed to energize everyone as this set the mood for the show.

The show was packed with messages about the internet and MGK’s take on how the digital universe treats him. The concert started with the noise of a helicopter and on two big screens a helicopter pilot was on a mission to save MGK who seemed to be in distress, lost, and not knowing where he was. The message could not be more clear as he was trapped in a box and claiming the internet put him there. A helicopter then dropped from the ceiling and with a long ladder, MGK was rescued or broke free from the box. Simple symbolism, but message heard loud and clear. Yes, sometimes the internet isn’t fair.

The fans erupted, with their own out of the box experience and the show began with MGK singing “Born With Horns” from the ladder, hanging from the helicopter.

It’s not a secret that MGK has a dislike for the internet, mostly due to some backlash over his pop punk migration . As the show progressed, another symbolic three-story-tall, gray inflatable giant, with a television or computer monitor for a head, with an LED screen depicting the grim-reaper came on stage and claimed “I am the internet, I thought I put you in a box”!

MGK was wearing a shiny, silver, sequins jacket over a black mesh shirt showing off his tattoos, and pink, baggy, almost parachute type pants. His mic stand was a long white arm with a hand as a mic holder and another hand which held something where I couldn’t tell what it was. I thought it was cool though as the entire mic stand looked like a piece of art straight from MOMA.

I found the show to be entertaining as MGK puts on a good performance and engages well with he crowd. MGK’s band consists of guitarist Justin Lyons & Sophie Lloyd, bassist Steve “Base” Basil and drummer JP “Rook” Cappelletty.