Alert Kael’s Army: Five Finger Death Punch returning to Rupp with Shinedown

Rupp Arena added some metal to its increasingly busy 2018 concert calendar Tuesday announcing Five Finger Death Punch and Shinedown will be returning to its stage.

The May 8 date will be 5FDP’s first stand at Rupp since October 2015, and it’s yet another homecoming for Lexington native Chris Kael, bassist for the Las Vegas-based band. That show saw numerous fans turn out in T-shirts that said Kael’s Army, based on the old Kiss Army logo.

Before that show, Kael told the Herald-Leader’s Walter Tunis that playing Rupp Arena was a buck list item for him. He is a Lafayette High School graduate, was a DJ at the University of Kentucky’s student station, WRFL, and his first concert was a 1989 Rupp show with Cinderella, Winger and Bullet Boys. He played in a number of local bands before heading out west to pursue a career in music.

In addition to co-headliner Shinedown, the Rupp concert will feature openers Starset and Bad Wolves, who are on the charts with a cover of The Cranberries’ “Zombie,” released in memory of Cranberries frontwoman Dolores O’Riordan, who died suddently in January at age 46. Proceeds from the single are going to her three children, according to the concert announcement.

Tickets for the May 8 show are $39.50 to $59.50 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Feb. 16 at the Lexington Center Ticket Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, by calling 859-233-3535 or visiting Rupparena.com.

This story was originally published February 13, 2018 at 11:07 AM with the headline "Alert Kael’s Army: Five Finger Death Punch returning to Rupp with Shinedown."