The first party of the summer was a blast as Pop Evil rocked the lot outdoors at the Intersection last Friday.

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Pop Evil Returns Home

Tommy Carroll/TSM
Tommy Carroll/TSM
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I've seen a lot of Pop Evil shows in my day but their performance outdoors at the Intersection on Friday, June 24, 2022, was one of the best I've seen.

Tommy Carroll/TSM
Tommy Carroll/TSM
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When I first moved to Grand Rapids I had heard of the "Rock the Lot" shows at the Intersection but I had not been to one. Then the pandemic hit and for two years there were no outdoor shows at the Intersection.

Tommy Carroll/TSM
Tommy Carroll/TSM
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Singer Leigh Kakaty said during the show that Pop Evil began at the Intersection back in 1998 and that it was good to be back where it all started for the band.

Rock The Lot With Pop Evil Set List

Pop Evil kicked off the set with their brand new single "Eye of the Storm" and it proved to be a great opening song with the band coming out firing on all cylinders. It was nice to hear the crowd singing along with Eye of the Storm.Carroll/TSM

Tommy Carroll/TSM
Tommy Carroll/TSM
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Pop Evil followed up with "Set Me Free" and then another fan-favorite "Deal With the Devil."

Tommy Carroll/TSM
Tommy Carroll/TSM
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It was almost a year since I saw Pop Evil at the Upheaval Festival when they got a new touring bass player by the name of Joey "Chicago" Walser.  The Upheaval show was really good since the band only had a few days to rehearse with Joey and fill-in drummer Jason Hartless who had to step in for Hayley who was having travel issues due to the pandemic.

Tommy Carroll/TSM
Tommy Carroll/TSM
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Pop Evil was very tight at the Rock the Lot show. The band has really found their groove with the updated rhythm section.

Tommy Carroll/TSM
Tommy Carroll/TSM
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Pop Evil continued with heavy hitter "Let the Chaos Reign." Before the band went into "Legendary" singer Lee commented on how the crowds are better on the West side of Michigan.

Tommy Carroll/TSM
Tommy Carroll/TSM
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The show continued with "Fire Inside", then "Work" from their last album "Versatile" from where they pulled a majority of the songs for their set.

Tommy Carroll/TSM
Tommy Carroll/TSM
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Next on the list was "Torn to Pieces" and the whole crowd sang along with this one.

Leigh and guitarist Nick did a couple of acoustic songs to give the rest of the band a break.

Tommy Carroll/TSM
Tommy Carroll/TSM
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The first of the acoustic songs was "Inferno" which morphed into Chris Isaaks "Wicked Game". The pair followed that up with the acoustic version of "Monster You Made" which the crowd joined in on all throughout the song.

Tommy Carroll/TSM
Tommy Carroll/TSM
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Not to jump to out of order here for a second but my son Evan had never experienced a show from side stage and popped out in the pit for a quick picture. I took him with me on stage to introduce the band and that is all he talked about all weekend. He and I will never forget this show.

Tommy Carroll/TSM
Tommy Carroll/TSM
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Pop Evil then ripped through "Footsteps" and "Survivor" before getting to the song that started it all for the band "100 in a 55" which was filled with lots of crowd participation.

Tommy Carroll/TSM
Tommy Carroll/TSM
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If you are not familiar with Pop Evil's "Breathe Again", make sure and give it a listen. That was the song they played next and in my book, it is one of the strongest songs from the band's career of 7 studio albums (number 7 is on the way if you were counting).

Tommy Carroll/TSM
Tommy Carroll/TSM
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Pop Evil singer Leigh was joined by their monitor mixer Blake Allison for "Trenches." You may remember Blake from the band Devour the Day. That is the same band touring bassist Joey is from.

Tommy Carroll/TSM
Tommy Carroll/TSM
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I have seen Pop Evil at least a dozen times and this was the first time I had ever witnessed the band having someone sit in.

Rather than do an encore Pop Evil elected to stay on stage and finish out the night with "Waking the Lions."

All in all, it was a fantastic night for Pop Evil and the fans new and old. Pop Evil members had a lot of family and friends at the show and I noticed in the crowd there were lots of parents with their kids passing rock down to the next generation and I was one of them.

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