Review & Photos: Mushroomhead Hometown Halloween Show

Written By Neil Shumate, OOTB Publications

On Saturday night there was a Halloween Bash music event to remember in Cleveland, Ohio—the concert was headlined by Mushroomhead in their hometown at The Agora Theatre. Nearly every year around this time, the horror-masked hard rock metal band fill the stage to bring fans a memorable Halloween show.

Decked out in their signature jumpsuits and character masks, Mushroomhead brought an energetic performance rocking the crowd with a setlist that dated back to their foundation in the mid-90s with songs that included “43” and “Solitaire/Unraveling” as well as other mid-catalogue songs, including “Sun Doesn’t Rise,” “12 Hundred,” “Qwerty,” and some tracks from their most recent album releases A Wonderful Life (2020) and Call The Devil (2024).

The stage was deep and spread out giving ample space for the 8+ band members to move around.

The band’s trademark theatrics included dual drummers on each side of the stage which were frequented with synchronic thuds as water exploded upwards with each drumhead pound; they were also joined by two other drummers on risers far behind them with each being positioned beside the primary drummer—making five rotating drummers at once (including: Steve “Skinny” Felton, Aydin “Aylien” Kerr, Robbie "Roberto Diablo" Godsey, Jordan Gannon).

The active string section of guitars and bass were occupied by Dave “Gravy” Felton, Ryan “Dr. F” Farrell, Joe “Jenkins” Gaal.

Co-vocalists Steve Rauckhorst and Scott “Strike” Beck were joined by third vocalist Jackie “Ms. Jackie” LaPonza—all three of which periodically jumped into the crowd where many fans were in the spirit and wore costumes or masks, while some sported face paint.

The lineup was stacked with four supporting artists: There Is No Us (fluorescent tube lighting, industrial rock sound, cover of RATM “Killing In The Name), Mind Incision (costumed mask and hand gear during “Left Behind,” metal with heavy hard rock, cover of Korn’s “Blind”), Bittersweet Revenge (energetic vocalist and bassist, bluesy hard rock), Psycho Plantation (metal with sludge and active rock, vocalist stage dive).

MUSHROOMHEAD (click to enlarge)