Show Review: Machine Gun Kelly Brings Rockstar "Mainstream Sellout" Performance in Oakland
Machine Gun Kelly
w/ Avril Lavigne, WILLOW
Oakland Arena
Oakland, CA
July 19th, 2022
Photos and Review by Jared Stossel
When pop punk music began to emerge beyond clubs and theaters, with artists like Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, and Blink-182 bringing the genre into arenas and amphitheaters, there was a sense of awe and wonder. Not only were fans getting a chance to see their favorite bands finally play to crowds over 13,000 people, but these artists were given a budget and a chance to design a stage beyond their wildest dreams. As much fun as it was for the fans in attendance, you got the feeling that these artists were also going, “Hey, look what we can do now!” Blink-182 had the word “fuck” forever immortalized in a pyrotechnic blaze that hovered behind the stage; Fall Out Boy literally popped out from underneath the stage, with bassist Pete Wentz even donning a flamethrower on his bass guitar’s headstock years later; Panic! At The Disco turned their stage into a fucking Ringling Brothers’ circus, complete with vaudevillian characters and a drumline.
Machine Gun Kelly’s performance in Oakland, CA reminded me so much of seeing acts like this emerge in the heyday of “the scene”. Machine Gun Kelly (the stage name of musician Colson Baker) took the stage in the Bay Area for his highly anticipated “Mainstream Sellout” tour, bringing with him a spectacle of epic proportions, a nearly thirty-song set list, and a rock star-worthy stage show.
Throughout this run of tour dates, Machine Gun Kelly has been filling each date with a rotating lineup of support acts, ranging from acts like blackbear and Mod Sun to Baker’s longtime collaborator and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker. For this date, the audience was treated to two stellar opening sets, with the first coming from WILLOW. That’s right! The young woman who wrote and performed “Whip My Hair” back in 2010 has been making some pretty exceptional pop-punk music as of late, and she brought forth a stunning set of inspired tracks, the majority of which come from her most recent album, 2021’s lately I feel EVERYTHING. Smith has been dabbling with the genre for most of her career, but her love of the music is now out on full display, and you could feel her passion radiate with each track.
Other than Machine Gun Kelly, perhaps the most anticipated moment of this show came with the return of Avril Lavigne, who hasn’t made a tour stop in the Bay Area since 2019. Lavigne has headlined venues of this size many times in the past, and it was clear that everyone in attendance was there for her just as much as Baker. The pop-punk icon rose up from below the stage clutching a bouquet of black balloons, reminiscent of the cover on her new album Love Sux (which we reviewed here). Lavigne smiled sweetly as she dove headfirst into hits like “Girlfriend”, “Bite Me”, “Love It When You Hate Me” and “What The Hell”. The eight-song set spanned Lavigne’s entire career, bringing her best songs into the spotlight, and further cementing her as a force to be reckoned with in this genre. The crowd sang along, at full volume, to every word of “Complicated”, “My Happy Ending”, the anthemic “Sk8er Boi”, and the arena-worthy ballad “I’m With You”. Hopefully, Lavigne will be back with a tour of this size on her own, sooner rather than later.
There are those that simply walk onto the stage and start performing, and then there’s Machine Gun Kelly. A video appears on the arena’s screen, showing him stuck in a box (“I think the Internet put me here,” he says). Channeling his best Anthony Edwards impression (that’s Goose from Top Gun, for all of you under the age of 30), Baker plays a helicopter pilot that comes to his rescue. A pink and black-striped helicopter flies out from the front of the stage and over the crowd. At the back of the arena, Baker climbs up onto the hanging ladder, and proceeds to perform the opening track “born with horns”, a flimsy ladder the only thing keeping him in place. This is KISS-level showmanship, and it was highly entertaining to watch. Said helicopter makes an appearance halfway through the show when he “kills the Internet”, and it reminded me of watching KISS last year, as Tommy Thayer used his guitar to shoot down UFOs with what I can only dub as “the power of rock”.
The extensive setlist pulled songs mainly from the mainstream sellout album, along with Kelly’s first emergence into pop-punk, 2020’s Tickets to My Downfall. What was most impressive to me was that Baker didn’t just jump from one song to another; each track was a moment and an event, deserving its own attention. He’d throw in some cheesy banter at times to set it up, but then the crowd would explode with excitement, whether it was “drug dealer”, “bloody valentine”, “emo girl” or “title track”. Lavigne even surprises the crowd and joins Kelly for their Love Sux collaboration “Bois Lie”. One of the best moments came during the performance of “Floor 13” from Hotel Diablo, the last full-on hip-hop entry (so far) in Baker’s discography before his foray into pop-punk. He rises above the crowd on an elevator platform as a massive array of fire sprays the air around him and the titled stage platform that his band adorns.
It must also be stated that Baker has surrounded himself with some incredibly talented musicians. Guitarists Sophie Lloyd and Jus Lyons, bassist Steve “Baze” Basil, drummer JP “Rook” Cappelletty, and keyboardist Brandon “Slimxx” Allen elevate the music well beyond the confines of a recording studio and truly bring each song to life. Baker, along with the full band, take songs like “bloody valentine” and “papercuts” and turn them into jam sessions with guitarists Lloyd and Lyons showing off their shredding prowess.
After a long night of flying on helicopter, smoking weed, destroying the Internet, and exploring the furthest corners of his discography, Machine Gun Kelly closed the night with the mainstream sellout conclusion, “twin flame”. The song swells from an introspective acoustic number into an incendiary full-band number, every member playing as if their life depended on it. The song fades out, and one thing is crystal clear: Machine Gun Kelly is now a rock star, whether you like it or not.
Machine Gun Kelly Set List
born with horns
god save me
maybe
mainstream sellout
drunk face
drug dealer
ay!
Bois Lie (with Avril Lavigne)
more than life
die in california
Floor 13
papercuts
title track
bloody valentine
roll the windows up
El Diablo
WWIII
WW4
emo girl
lonely
I Think I’m OKAY
jawbreaker/why are you here/sid and nancy (acoustic medley)
forget me too
make up sex
my ex’s best friend
twin flame
Machine Gun Kelly
www.machinegunkelly.com
www.facebook.com/machinegunkellymusic
Twitter: @machinegunkelly
Instagram: @machinegunkelly
Avril Lavigne
www.avrillavigne.com
www.facebook.com/avrilavigne
Twitter: @AvrilLavigne
Instagram: @avrillavigne
WILLOW
www.facebook.com/OfficialWillow
Twitter: @OfficialWillow
Instagram: @willowsmith
