Wednesday, June 27th was opening day for Summerfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Summerfest Rock stage kicked off with a bang featuring headliner We Came As Romans, supported by The Word Alive and various others.

illuminoise was busy covering Lupe Fiasco when We Came As Romans took the stage, but we were able to catch The Word Alive just before we had to go. They have some good songs and can throw down pretty hard, but were marred by the crappy acoustics and bad sound mixing. With proper balance and good bass these guys would’ve sounded amazing, but unfortunatly it was not the case.

All sound issues aside, I though they were pretty good and banked on the big crowd waiting for We Came As Romans to fuel their energy and hard-hitting songs. They also made it very clear that they’re beyond happy to have the opportunity to tour with headliner We Came As Romans. During The Word Alive’s set, We Came As Romans singer David Stephens came out and joined The Word Alive singer Tyler Smith for half a song for a nice teaser of what was to come.

The way bands grow these days is insane and I think The Word Alive has a great chance at climbing the ladder and making it big in the heavy rock world. I’d love to see these guys again and get a better feel for what they’re like in a non-festival setting with better sound and more time to rock out.

The Word Alive’s  new album “Life Cycles” comes out in a few days and can be picked up on iTunes or Amazon.