American hard rock giants Breaking Benjamin are in the midst of their 2019 North American Summer Tour and the lineup for this tour is impressive to say at least. They are supported by two other heavyweights – Three Days Grace and Chevelle, as well as two up and coming artists, Diamante and Dorothy. Breaking Benjamin is touring in the support of their latest release called Ember.
First one up was Diamante. Beautiful, sapphire color hair, powerful voice, hard rock artist from Boston, Massachusetts. In 2018 she released her first album called Coming In Hot with her most known song to date being the collaboration with Bad Wolves on her song Hear Me Now. Even though there were many support acts tonight, she was not given much time, just twenty five minutes but she used that time to gain attention from the many fans that arrived early.
With her rebellious look, somewhat reminiscent to Joan Jett, and a powerful yet beautiful feminine voice she captivated everyone in the audience. Needless to say we were watching a future rock star, her set filled with great tracks like Haunted, Bite Your Kiss, Hear Me Now, Sleepwalking and When I’m Not Around.
Right after, the stage belonged to another beautiful female fronted band, Dorothy from Los Angeles, California. Their music style is fused between hard rock and blues. and vocalist Dorothy Martin’s voice is currently one of the premier rock and blues voices in the industry. Though just two albums in their young career, the band is getting their name known across America and the world. They started off with Naked Eye, Raise The Hell and Flawless followed by Who Do You Love, Down To The Bottom and Freedom. Their set was maybe not as livid as Diamante’s, but considering the different style they played the performance was absolutely brilliant.
All together both opening acts were worth their own show here in front of the larger crowd, but certainly that time is coming sooner rather than later.
Then the atmosphere changed quite a bit. The crowd drew much larger in anticipation of the hard rock heavyweights. First came on Three Days Grace from Ontario, Canada. Six studio albums under their belt and over two decades of blessing us with their music, the band have suffered only one change in the lineup. In 2013 lead vocalist Adam Gontier left the band, and seemingly left an unrepairable void. However soon after Matt Walst, brother of bands bass player Brad Walst and former vocalist of now defunct My Darkest Days, joined the band. Despite the fans finding it a hard change to accept, Matt soon proved his worth with the two albums, Human and Outsider.
The Canadian rockers opened the set with the hit song from the latest release Outsider called The Mountain. The song is inspirational and used by many sports team as for that reason, and it got the fans on their feet immediately which was then followed with Home and The Good Life. The most notable songs were played from their arguablly best album to date One-X released back in 2006. Animal I have Become, Never Too Late, Pain and Riot were an absolute blast to see and needless to say, the venue security had to sweat a little during the performance of the Riot, as the band themselves asked the packed crowd to start a pit and riot. Thankfully everything ended well. These songs have become rock anthems and make the band a must see live act. Their strong performance and great interaction with the crowd, as well as fans familiarity with their biggest hits, makes their show a premier rock experience.
Next ones to rock the crowd were Illinois native Chevelle. The bands sound is more serious and more to the alternative rock genre. It wasn’t as raucous as Three Days Grace, but nevertheless their performance was an absolute rock’n’roll perfection. Chevelle are almost a family affair, consisting of two brothers Pete and Sam Loeffler and also used to include a third brother, Joe. Their visuals and physical movement reminded me of more grungy type bands, and sometimes their sound brought that vibe too.
They opened their set with Young Wicked, Clincher and Jars. From their last album released all the way back in 2016 The North Corridor, they performed Door to Door Cannibals and Joyride (Omen), besides the opening song. The rest of the set were filled with more older material.
For Breaking Benjamin, the stage was set in black and dark red colors with artwork from their latest release Ember, facing the crowd with certain level of intimidation, a fiery eye focused on to everybody in front of it. On each side of the stage two platforms had presumably VIP or contest winners having an artists view of the show. After the set’s third song the bands vocalist and only constant member Benjamin Burnley invited quite a few small children with their parents to join others on those platforms. The kids also received a few gifts along the way, like drum sticks and guitar picks.
Not sure from which side view was better, but the band put on one hell of a show. Usual spotlights were largely missing with band members being dark shadows against fiery background. And it was fiery. Besides the Ember artworka quite a few times actual flames were shot in to the air, creating a more dramatic atmosphere.
Not only were the visual appearance dramatic but the band’s songs are filled with angst, suffering and pain. They opened their set with their biggest song off the Ember album called Red Cold River, followed by I will Not Bow and Never Again. Interestingly enough they also played a sort of medley of many well known bands like Nirvana, Metallica, Rage Against The Machine, Pantera and Queen. Though they only have released six studio albums, the band has an abundance of big hits on their own with So Cold, Breath and show ender The Diary Of Jane met with the loudest ovations of the night.
Bands leader and vocalist Benjamin Burnley was born and raised in the state of New Jersey before moving to Pennsylvania. So for him shows in this state are always special, and he wasted no time to let the crowd know his feelings. No love was lost, and this home show was a blast.
PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Andris Jansons
Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle
Three Days Grace, Dorothy, Diamante
