The Moshville Times - Gig Review: Fever 333 – Electric Ballroom, London (18th June 2019)

To prove the importance of live music photography (ahem), I first discovered Fever 333 when I saw incredible photos of the band’s live show at the Heavy Music Awards last year and decided to check them out. Their music is a hard-hitting and uncompromising mix of hip-hop, punk and rock and their songs confront issues of immigration, race, class warfare, inequality, and misogyny and are a call for change. “We’re trying to write the soundtrack to the revolution that we know is about to happen,” says vocalist Jason Aalon Butler. The band refer to their live shows as “demonstrations” and the theme of activism flows throughout every aspect of the band’s music and ethos. Alongside Jason (ex-letlive), the Los Angeles trio are comprised of drummer Aric Improta (Night Verses) and guitarist Stephen Harrison (The Chariot).

Tonight’s show was part of 16-date run in the UK and Europe comprising mainly of festivals with a few intimate headline dates thrown in for good measure. Doors opened at 8:00pm and with no support, Fever 333 took to the stage around 9:30pm – by which time the 1,500-capacity room was rammed with eager fans. A fabric sheet was strung up across the stage as the intro to the band’s latest album STRENGTH IN NUMB333RS (released January 2019) played out. The sheet then fell to the floor to reveal Jason standing with a black sack over his head, wearing a black boiler suit and Fever 333 branded riot vest. His band-mates entered the stage and he flung off the bag as they launched straight into “Burn It”.

There were crowd-surfers right from the very start, and everyone in the room was engrossed in the band’s performance – with many singing / shouting along to their empowering songs. Fever 333’s sound is more of a hip-hop vibe than I usually listen to, but live they sounded much more rock / metal than on the record. Their hard-hitting lyrics and guttural beats sounded amazing and there was an incredible atmosphere in the room. They played a brilliant set featuring tracks from STRENGTH IN NUMB333RS as well as their debut EP Made In America EP (released March 2018).

Stephen and Jason barely kept still for the duration of the performance, and Aric regularly stood on and jumped off his drum kit throughout the band’s set. All three guys looked like they were having a great time, and it clearly meant a lot to them that the show was sold out. In my opinion, Fever 333 are a brilliant live band and I will definitely be heading along to their next London show. The band recently announced a UK / European headline tour for the end of this year which includes dates in Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds & London. Tickets are on sale now. Head to their website for full details.

Fever 333 Set List: