Otherwise starts Christmas early at Electric Christmas

With a big 2014 coming to a close for Otherwise, they’ve been playing a few headline gigs to wrap the year up and what better place to play a Christmas season show before heading home to Las Vegas than Fort Wayne’s Piere’s Entertainment Center as part of 98.9 The Bear’s Electric Christmas. Originally set to take the stage second on the night after Rev Theory and Buckcherry, Otherwise ended up kicking the night off and they did so with such intense energy they could have easily headlined the show. They quietly took the stage while Peace At All Cost’s intro, “IV” played. It didn’t stay quiet for long, though, as they ferociously ripped into “Love and War.” They blazed through a short opening set that included a few new tracks- “Coming For the Throne,” “Darker Side of the Moon,” “All The Pretty Things” and others as well as a good portion of songs from their debut True Love Never Dies. The show was a special one as it was recently announced bassist Vassilios “V” Metropoulos would be soon leaving the band to pursue other interests. His final show would be the next night in Michigan. V has always been one of the most energetic and entertaining bassists onstage and with the announcement coming in the midst of a tour, it gave the fans who’ve been on the journey with Otherwise since their inception all the way through the debut record to now a chance to celebrate V’s tenure with the band. Otherwise knows exactly how to get fans engaged from the very start, with frontman Adrian Patrick getting up close and personal with them throughout the set, letting them sing along to every song. They’ve always been a band with a message- whether it be love, hate, pain or hope- and this show was no different with Patrick taking time to talk to the crowd between songs. It’s impressive how quick Otherwise can transform from one of the most inspirational and peaceful bands to one of the most intense and furious bands and back in no time. You can tell that even though they’ve had their taste of early success they still have the hunger and drive to get to the top and they won’t stop until they get there. What sets them apart from other bands with the same tenacity? They take their fans with them through every high and every low. To end their set they brought members of the military and other fans on stage with them for the closer “Soldiers,” which saw the show morph from a rock show to an all-out party on the stage that carried out into the crowd with everyone singing at the top of their lungs, screaming, yelling and getting involved. They carried on the song longer than they have in the past as Patrick left the stage, entered the security barricade area and ran from one side of the crowd to the other, letting everyone in every inch of the front row sing into the microphone. Their night didn’t end there, though as guitarist Ryan Patrick acted as a stand-in guitarist for Rev Theory, who took the stage next. They wrapped up their high-octane set with “Hell Yeah,” from their previous record- Light It Up- and were joined by Adrian Patrick at the end of the song, which made the crowd even more ravenous. Capping off the night was Buckcherry, who always bring a party with them and that’s exactly what they did in Fort Wayne, playing a set that was loaded with hits and songs from their latest EP, Fuck. It didn’t take long for the crowd to spend all their remaining energy and Buckcherry made sure they did. By the end of the night the crowd was exhausted but screaming for more as the house lights went up. They weren’t as wiped out as Santa was, who spent most of the night (when he wasn’t on stage with the Bear radio staff introducing the bands) doing shots with everyone in the crowd who wanted to as well as getting shots for all the women in the crowd who wanted one. But you know what they say- it’s not a rock show until Santa Clause is too hammered to drive the sleigh back to the North Pole. -photos and review by Reggie Edwards [lg_slideshow folder=\”2014/Otherwise at 98.9 The Bear Electric Christmas/\”] Pre-show interview with Corky and Adrian of Otherwise: