Numerous fans gathered over the weekend (on Aug. 18) for the New Jersey stop of this year’s Trespass America Festival at Prudential Center. The massive show included performances by Five Finger Death Punch, Killswitch Engage, Trivium, Pop Evil, Emmure, God Forbid and Battlecross.

Detroit based band Battlecross kicked off the night with a solid set. Unfortunately not many people filled the venue while they were performing but for the lucky ones that were there early they got to see an impressive set from the Michigan boys.

New Jersey natives God Forbid almost blew the roof off of the Prudential Center with their vigorous performance, during which they performed a wide range of tunes including some from their latest disc ‘Equilibrium.’ God Forbid made their hometown proud as they remain one of the most hardworking yet underrated bands out there.

Emmure was up next and they did not disappoint their fans. The Queens, New York natives also got a lot of love from the crowd and got some concert-goers bouncing and singing.

As more of a mainstream radio band, Pop Evil had a tough spot to fill right after Emmure and right before Trivium. Even though the band performed a decent set, the crowd was not showing the kind of energy they did for the harder-hitting outfits. It was evident that Pop Evil felt out of place on this particular lineup.

This was not the case with Trivium, who exploded with ‘In Waves.’ After seeing the band multiple times, it seems that Trivium get better with each and every performance. The crowd went crazy as they played a mix of songs such as ‘Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr,’ ‘Caustic Are the Ties That Bind,’ ‘Torn Between Scylla and Charybdis,’ among many more. Of course they ended with the fan favorite ‘Throes of Perdition.’ The one disappointing part about their set was that it was not at least 20 minutes longer.

If any Killswitch fans are disappointed about Howard Jones not being in the band anymore, they will likely have a change of heart when they see old/new frontman Jesse Leach perform with Killswitch Engage. Leach’s passionate deliverance of anthems such as ‘End of Heartache,’ ‘Life to Lifeless,’‘Rose of Sharyn,’ ‘My Last Serenade’ and ‘My Curse’ laced concertgoers with such an indescribable force.

Not to mention the unforgettable faces and actions of the one and only guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz are always entertaining onstage, as is the overall chemistry of the entire band, which made the performance that much more special. They also played a new track titled ‘No End in Sight’ off of their highly anticipated upcoming record, which is set for a 2013 release.

Although many Killswitch fans left after their performance, there were a lot of Five Finger Death Punch fans who pushed their way to the front. Frontman Ivan Moody sounded impeccable as he sang favorites such as ‘Under and Over It,’ American Capitalist,’ ‘Bad Company’ and much more. They also dedicated ‘Hard To See’ to the hometown band God Forbid. During ‘White Knuckles,’ Moody picked some lucky kids in the audience to come up onstage with the band to play a little game of ‘Ivan Says’ (a lot like Simon says except with some cursing) as he introduced the kids as the “future generation of heavy metal.”

As stunning as the production and lights of the headlining act were, the coolest part of their performance was that every member of the band gave their undivided attention to the crowd, looking them eye to eye singing the lyrics back to them and smiling from ear to ear.

The Trespass America Festival still has over a week of dates left. Go here to check out a full list of cities and dates. And check out photos from the New Jersey show below:

Five Finger Death Punch:
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Killswitch Engage:
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Trivium:
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Pop Evil:
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Emmure:
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God Forbid:
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Battlecross:
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