Asking Alexandria at the Capitol Theatre -- May 10.
Saturday, May 10, 6:30 p.m.
Capitol Theatre, 330 West Third Street, Davenport IA
Touring in support of their 2023 album Where Do We Go from Here? that Blabbermouth called "one of the more dynamic records in their collection" and that Louder Sound said boasted "chart-worthy anthemic stadium rock songs," the popular metalcore musicians of Asking Alexandria headline a May 10 concert at Davenport's Capitol Theatre, the British band's top-10 Billboard smashes including 2011's Reckless & Relentless, 2013's From Death to Destiny, and 2016's The Black.
As stated at AllMusic.com, "The brainchild of guitarist and primary songwriter Ben Bruce, the band was originally formed in Dubai in 2003 under the name Amongst Us, which soon changed to End of Reason before they eventually settled on Asking Alexandria in 2006. They cemented the name change with their self-released EP Tomorrow.Hope.Goodbye. The following year, they issued their first full-length album, The Irony of Your Perfection, through Hangmans Joke.
"Shortly afterward, Bruce left Dubai and returned to England, resulting in the dissolution of the band. In 2008, he formed a new group around the name Asking Alexandria. Unlike its vaguely post-hardcore predecessor, this incarnation was a pretty standard screamo/metalcore act, with chugging guitars and alternating singing/screaming vocals. Finally settling on the lineup of Danny Worsnop (vocals), Camron Liddell (guitar), James Cassells (drums), and Sam Bettley (bass), the band set to work on a touring blitz of the United States with groups like Alesana, the Bled, and Evergreen Terrace. In 2009, Asking Alexandria signed with Sumerian Records and released their first album with the new lineup, Stand Up and Scream, in the fall of that year. They followed their debut with the Life Gone Wild EP, which included remixes of songs from Stand Up and Scream and a few Skid Row covers.
"Asking Alexandria would find mainstream success in 2011 with the release of the remix album Stepped Up and Scratched, which featured EDM remixes of songs from their debut as well as their sophomore album, Reckless & Relentless, which was released a few months later. Reckless peaked at number nine on the Billboard charts and the band continued with relentless touring into the next year. At the end of 2012, Worsnop tore a vocal cord, an injury that would prove consequential years later. The group returned in the summer of 2013 with a more mature hard rock sound, smoothing off some of the metalcore and electronicore influences, resulting in their more focused third album, From Death to Destiny.
"At the end of the tour cycle, in January 2015, Worsnop announced that he was parting ways with the band to focus on a more traditional rock & roll sound with his group We Are Harlot. Asking Alexandria recruited a new singer, Ukrainian metalcore vocalist Denis Stoff (Make Me Famous), and immediately released the new lineup's first single, 'I Won't Give In.' That song would appear on their album The Black, which was released a year later in March 2016. That October, Stoff split with the band.
"Worsnop – still in the midst of his own solo endeavors – rejoined Asking Alexandria just in time for the group's 10-year anniversary. The reunited band returned to the studio to record their fifth album, which featured the lead single 'Into the Fire.' The eponymous Asking Alexandria, which adopted a more stadium-rock-friendly style of metalcore, arrived in late 2017 and debuted in the Top 30 of the Billboard 200. After a quick promotional cycle, the reunited and newly sober band returned to the studio for album number six. The first offering from that effort, 'The Violence,' arrived in July 2019; the LP itself, Like a House on Fire, followed in 2020. Early 2021 saw the arrival of the single 'Alone Again' ahead of the release of the group's new studio effort, See What's on the Inside, which arrived later that October. They made a quick turnaround in the studio, issuing their eighth long-player Where Do We Go From Here? in 2023. In early 2024, Bruce amicably parted ways with the group that he had founded."
Asking Alexandria headline their Davenport engagement on May 10 with additional sets by From Ashes to New, Royale Lynn, and What Lies Below, admission to the 6:30 p.m. concert is $39.70, and more information and tickets are available by visiting FirstFleetConcerts.com./first-fleet-venues/capitol-theatre.
