Chicago Goes Outta Control as Nonpoint Gets The Last Word in Familiar Territory

By; Ari Karnezis

On May 14th, nu-metal legends Nonpoint graced the stage once again at Chicago's Bottom Lounge to bring their Outta Control tour to a close with special guests SOiL, Sumo Cyco, and local act Mirage Gods. As with every Nonpoint show, the band and its support brought all of their energy to their audience, and this time, there were many familiar faces on both sides of the barricade. In the last few years, Nonpoint truly has shown no signs of relenting with back to back tours and new material. As of this writing, the band has served up a heavy new single “Is It,” with a new album The Last Word on the way–a slightly ominous title, but again, the band has not made any indication this will be their curtain call. On the contrary, this may be the last stop of the tour, but Nonpoint is not getting off the road quite yet this year. The Even More Outta Control tour was announced the same day as the Chicago show and will begin on July 31st in Wyandotte, Michigan, and end August 7th in Albany, New York, with support once again from SOiL and more nu metal legends Spineshank and (hed)PE.

Mirage Gods would kick off the night as the local support and would prove to be a fitting opener to the night. With a familiar Chicago metal sound and an energetic vocalist that barely left the barricade after the first song to be up close and personal, they left quite an impression on this crowd. Soon after their unfortunately short set, national act Sumo Cyco would take over. Nonpoint fans would likely recognize vocalist Skye Sweetnam and company as Sumo Cyco also served as openers for Nonpoint during their 2023 A Million Watts winter tour (which surely by no coincidence also took place at Bottom Lounge). Decked out in a fiery red tracksuit, Sweetnam and her crew commanded the stage with heavy riffs and a punk attitude. While they are purely an original band, easily the most memorable part of their set was their medley including a cover of Slipknot's “Duality,” with several masked mysterious figures joining them onstage to add to the percussion–although it was rather obvious these mystery folks were members of Nonpoint, aptly named “NonSlip” on Sumo Cyco’s Instagram page. To cap off their set, in true DIY scene fashion, Skye Sweetnam jumped into the crowd to lead a moshpit, requesting “as much energy as you've got” from the audience. 

Of course, this would amp the crowd up for SOiL, the alt-metal hometown heroes led by Ryan McComb, also the vocalist for Drowning Pool. With a post-grunge sound a lá Alice in Chains and a stage presence of headbanging, adept rockers, SOiL certainly put on a highly anticipated, satisfying show for their fans. McComb would also take a short trip down memory lane, reminiscing about the days of their headlining shows at the Metro to where they are now, opening up for some incredible tourmates and continuing to trek through the country with them later this year.

Finally, Nonpoint would take control of the packed Lounge and kick off their set with some of their newest songs, including their first independent release “Ruthless” and of course their newest offering “Is It.” In a very complimentary way, this tour's setlist felt like a greatest hits set, with the band performing songs from nearly all of their eras. Soriano would deliver a rather humorous monologue of “just putting 20 dollars in,” a commentary of the increasingly expensive gas prices as well as rising costs of everything else before bringing out a special guest. Like on their 2023 tour, Sumo Cyco's Skye Sweetnam joined the band onstage, and this time not only would she perform “That Day” with them once again, she also performed a new track “Red Yeti” (Elias Soriano introducing the song: “This is a weird one!”), which will be featured on the upcoming album. Possibly the only disappointment of the night? After looking up their other setlists (considered to some a sin of a concertgoer), I was expecting their cover of “In the Air Tonight,” my personal introduction to the band, which would have completed an aforementioned “greatest hits” setlist. Sadly, the band decided to leave this one out that night. Closing out with easily some of their most recognizable songs, “Alive and Kicking” and “Bullet with a Name,” which in full honesty never gets old, Nonpoint delivered yet another uncompromising, fierce performance, bringing the hype for a new album, another tour, and a new era for the nu-metal groomers.

MIRAGE GODS

SUMO CYCO

SOIL

NONPOINT