GALLERY & REVIEW: Pop Evil brings their "What Remains" tour to a sold out Mickey's Black Box.
- Liz Rainey
- May 15
- 3 min read
On May 13th, American Rock band Pop Evil brought their What Remains tour to Mickeys Black Box. This is their latest tour after releasing their latest album What Remains just two month ago. This tour includes Oni and Devor the Day for this date. This date was back the Mickey’s Black Box from the floor to the seats, making it a sold-out date.
Canada’s own metalcore Oni opens the set. This is Oni’s second tour with Pop Evil, being an opening act on Pop Evil’s fall tour last year. The lead singer of Pop Evil mentioned to go see them at merch before they “become expensive.” Oni always knows how to warm a Pop Evil crowd. Their powerful riffs and interaction make the crowd ready. Jake Oni and Jared Dines even make a point to jump on the barricade to interact with the fans. This makes fans prepare for what to come.
The next band to take the stage was Devor the Day. What makes Devor the Day so interesting is that two members of this band are also members of Pop Evil. This makes this tour interesting where you are able to see two members from the opening band be also in the headlining bands. Blake Allison sets the mood right away. Running around the ramp and motioning for people to scream back, it's getting this crowd to move around. They talk about leaving the worries at the door and jumped along with the music. This brought the energy to the small venue.
Pop Evil comes out and opens the set with Eye of the Storm. As Leigh Kakaty spent the majority of the song sitting in smoke clouds, the crowd is on fire for their favorite band. The setlist includes a mixture of classic Pop Evil hits while also playing a lot from their new album, What Remains. Leigh stops to welcome fans to the What Remains tour. While doing this, he makes a note how big their family is growing in PA. He also greets the fans to the rest of the band. While doing this, he makes a note about how Joey “Chicago” Walser and Blake Allison were just in the last band, Devour the Day. He makes a joke about how this may be the only tour in 2025 you see the openers become the headliners. Before playing into their track, “Skeletons,” Leigh reminds the crowd to take care of themselves. This band believes their fans are a family and that no matter what’s going on in the world, you have this community.
While playing their new hits, there’s a song that Leigh needs the crowd to remember. Leigh says how he’s not going to play but asks the crowd if they want to hear it. It is just him and lead guitarist, Nick Fueling, playing on stage. To Leigh, this is how the song should be play. It was Pop Evil’s classic hit, “100 In a 55.” You hear everyone in the crowd singing along loudly, flashing the lights on their phone towards the stage. People are smiling and enjoying themselves as well as Leigh and Nick. This is a special moment for every single person in this small venue tonight.
Pop Evil teases to not play an encoure. Leigh says if you’re tired, we won’t play anymore. Pop Evil closes with three more songs. Leigh thanks the crowd, wishing them a happy spring and summer. There’s only a few dates remaining on Pop Evil’s “What Remains” tour where you can see this line up. Visit popevil.com for more information and ticket information.
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