By “Tampa” Earl Burton, Rock At Night Tampa
Live Review: Summer of Loud Festival – MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa, Florida – June 22, 2025
The kiddies are out of school, the Indianapolis 500 (or, for those in the Southern U.S., the Coke 600) has been run, and people are warming up for the Fourth of July celebrations. A part of that warmup is the summer concert season for many amphitheaters around the country, and Tampa’s MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre is no exception. On Sunday, the sweltering summer heat also brought the thunderous show of the Summer of LOUD, which was only into its second stop on its multi-date tour in 2025.
Summer of LOUD Features Established Acts, Up and Comers
Kicking off their summertime run on July 22 in West Palm Beach, the Summer of LOUD 2025 is a unique concert series that features four of the stalwarts of the hard rock game today, accentuated by an assortment of younger bands that are looking to stake their name in the game. Sunday was only the second stop of the tour, but you would have thought these bands were weathered veterans by how well they came out of the gate. It was a lengthy eight-hour day for the fans in attendance, and nobody seemed to lament the time spent!
For the Tampa show, things kicked off with the Colorado musician TX2. TX2 was the artist who was the icebreaker for the Tampa audience, and he did not waste the fleeting time he had on the MidFlorida stage. Over a five-song set, TX2 was able to open the show with a couple of his more popular tunes, including dedicating “So Numb” to agent Dave Shapiro, who was in a plane crash in San Diego that killed everyone on board in May.
TX2’s brief time on the stage was quickly followed by other up-and-comers in the world of hard rock/metal who picked up the baton. Next was Australia’s Alpha Wolf, who surprised the amphitheater crowd with a powerful set, with vocalist Lochie Keogh growling his way through a thirty-minute set featuring “Sucks 2 Suck,” among other notable tunes. Alpha Wolf actually surprised me with their power, and the Tampa crowd was also appreciative of the efforts of the Aussies.
The two best-known of the “undercard” bands were up next, and they showed why they are just a monster hit from taking over a main stage. The Amity Affliction and The Devil Wears Prada followed Alpha Wolf to the stage, and both were the beneficiary of having a little longer sets to work through for the crowd. Both currently have songs out that are drawing attention on mainstream rock charts (“Drag the Lake” for The Amity Affliction, “For You” from The Devil Wears Prada) and have demonstrated the chops befitting their time in the music world.
If I were forced to rank the four “openers” for the main card, The Devil Wears Prada would have to top the list. Alpha Wolf had a powerful set, and The Amity Affliction was right with them. If TX2 had been given a bit more time, I am sure it would have made it a close four-way battle! These four bands will be the undercard on the Summer of LOUD through July 2, when Kingdom of Giants (July 2-15) and Dark Divine (July 16-27) will take over the responsibilities.
Monster Efforts Out of Four Headliners
After the opening acts were complete, the audience settled into place – or at least the place they were going to stand – for the performances from the four bands that make up the headliners for the tour. It is not often that you see four big acts like this on one bill, making the Summer of LOUD a special event. Each of the headline acts got a fifty-minute set, and they arguably could have filled a much longer time frame; the only question on this Sunday of the festival was who would bat first!
That honor in Tampa went to I Prevail, who had previously hit the MidFlorida stage back in August 2024 along with Halestorm. There were a few differences between this show and their past run alongside Halestorm in that this time they featured some new material, “Violent Nature” and “Into Hell,” in the setlist. Overall, they were the same powerhouse that showed up in Tampa last year, and the Tampa audience showed their appreciation for the return visit through thunderous ovations.
The band I wanted to see most was Beartooth, and they did not disappoint. Caleb Shomo’s combination of punk and metal has always intrigued me, and from the start of their set on Sunday, the band demonstrated they are going to be a force in the hard rock/metal world for years to come. If there were one criticism I could make (and it is a very nitpicky one), it was that there was a great deal of attention paid to the last album from the band, The Surface. This could be more of a feature of Shomo’s improvement in his mental health (a major driving force behind the creative forces for The Surface) and that he doesn’t identify with his older material anymore.
Killswitch Engage were on tap next, and their performance was arguably the talk of the night for this stop on the Summer of LOUD. The band was in full throat for the performance in Tampa, but it got even better when the original vocalist for the band, Howard Jones, joined vocalist Jesse Leach and the group to pound out the powerhouse “The Signal Fire” to the roars of the crowd. Not sure how many times this is going to happen on the Summer of LOUD festival, and if it was a one-time thing for the Tampa audience, they got a rare treat.
After the Jones appearance in the Killswitch set, Australia’s Parkway Drive had to close the night, and they dropped the hammer on the audience. Parkway Drive took the crowd through a balanced attack of their catalog (my personal favorite was “Vice Grip”) and even sprinkled in their new tune “Sacred,” much to the delight of those still in attendance after eight hours. By the time the band finished off the night with “Crushed,” the Tampa crowd was thoroughly spent, albeit in a good way, after the hard rock assault of the day.
The Summer of LOUD is a great concept and one that many rock acts should consider when taking their bands on the road. The audience was in great spirits after seeing one great rock act after another, and the bands fed off that energy. The Summer of LOUD 2025 is on the road through the end of July and, if the carnival comes to your town, it would be well worth the time to enjoy a power-packed day of rock and roll.
.
