Concert Review: Breaking Benjamin, Staind, and 3 Doors Down

Okay, it's time for another SIT concert review. I did one of these last year, and I decided to do it again. Let's get started.

My night began in a rather unpleasant way, since there were a bunch of storms moving through the Pittsburgh area, and it looked like the weather might not cooperate. In addition, there was a crash inside the Fort Pitt tunnel, which caused traffic to back up. A lot. It took about half an hour to drive a couple miles (actually, my dad was driving, but still...). As a result, I didn't actually get to the Post-Gazette Pavilion until about 7:20, so I missed the opening act, No Address. Fortunately, they seem to suck rather hard, so I didn't care. And the weather was clearing up, so I was in a better mood anyway.

Once I got to my seat, I noticed that the crowd seemed a lot less annoying than last time. There were no shirtless hippies or drunk trailer trash in sight. This trend continued throughout the night, and of all the concerts I've been to, this one probably had the most well-behaved crowd. Aside from the numerous chain smokers, of course. Friggin' suicidal idiots. Take your damn cancer clouds elsewhere.

...Anyway...

At about 7:45, Breaking Benjamin came on. This band is actually the main reason I went to the concert (if you're a rock fan and you don't listen to BB, you're missing an awesome experience), so I was pretty excited. They opened up with "Natural Life," which is one of their best and heaviest songs. I literally thought my heart was going to explode from the intensity of the bass drum. The rest of the crowd didn't seem very excited, but that's their problem. These guys kicked ass. The rest of their set included these songs (not in order):

"Home"
"Breakdown"
"Polyamorous"
"Simple Design"
"Away"
"Sooner Or Later"
"Rain"

They closed with "So Cold," which really should've been their opener, but...what do I know?

Breaking Benjamin plays some really great stuff live, but they could've had the sound turned up a bit more. I'll expand on that later. Also, Ben Burnley does some really weird hand motions during most of the songs. Most lead singers dance or jump or something; This dude does freakin' sign language. I'm not sure why.

A few minutes later, it was time for Staind to hit the stage. They didn't really make much of an entrance. They just kind of walked up there and started playing "For You," which the crowd seemed to get into. From this, they went straight into "Crawl," which was incredibly loud. They also had some cool lighting effects. At the end of this song, Aaron Lewis decided to talk to the audience for a little while. He didn't really sound very excited to be there:

"Good evening...thanks for having us back...this is about the fifth or sixth or...seventh time we've been here..."

For a guy who claims to have found meaning in his life, he sure sounds depressed. Maybe it's part of his rock star persona. Anyway, Staind went through a lot of their older material, which I will list...now:

"So Far Away"
"Yesterday"
"Fade"
"It's Been Awhile" (if you weren't living under a rock in 2001, you probably know this one. He changed one of the lines to "it's been awhile since I said 'fuck off.'" I'm not sure why.)
"Epiphany"
"Outside"

They also did some stuff from their upcoming album, Chapter V:

"Falling": Good heavy song, can't remember much more than that

"Right Here": This is their new single. It's a lot like "So Far Away," but it's got a little more of an edge to it. I like it.

"Paper Jesus": This one was kind of funny. Aaron introduced it by saying it was "kind of a ballad," and one of the other guys said "your mom would like it." Then they started playing, and it turned out to be one of the heaviest songs they've ever done. It was awesome.

They played another one too, but didn't say what it was called. Aaron said it was "in memory of someone I never met." I think it's called "Nutshell" or something. Anyway, it was mainly acoustic, and kinda boring.

They closed with "Mudshovel," which really got the crowd going, and then they left.

Staind puts on a decent show. They're not really that animated, but the mix of acoustic and extremely distorted songs keeps it interesting. The lights helped, too. Also, compared to Breaking Benjamin, Staind was really, really, REALLY loud. They had a much better sound than BB, and the vocals were a bit easier to hear. Did I mention the loudness? Holy CRAP.

After this, 3 Doors Down decided to take their sweet time getting to the stage, and every time we thought they were going to get started, it turned out to be an advertisement on one of the projector screens. You know how you go to the movies and have to sit through a bunch of previews and ads before the actual show starts? That's what it was like. Three false starts later, they finally kicked off their set around 10:15.

This was my third time seeing 3DD, so I wondered how they were going to keep things interesting. They've released a new CD since the last time I saw them (which is, honestly, not as good as most of their previous efforts), and I knew they would be doing songs from it, but the rest was a mystery.

They started out with "Right Where I Belong," and I immediately noticed that they seemed a lot better and louder than the last couple times. Brad Arnold actually decided to move around, and their overall stage presence was much better. They must have learned something from touring with Nickelback last year. Also, they had pyrotechnics. Sweet. The rest of their set included these songs:

"Duck and Run"
"Better Life"
"Kryptonite"
"Be Like That"
"Away From the Sun"
"Changes"
"It's Not Me"
"The Real Life"
"Behind Those Eyes"
"Landing In London"
"Let Me Go"

They closed with "Loser," which was weird, because that's usually their encore song. They left the stage after this, but the screen still had the 3DD logo, and the lights were still off, so it was pretty obvious that they were coming back. When they did, Brad pretended to be surprised:

"Hey...you're all still here!"

They finished up with "Here Without You" and "When I'm Gone" (this one included a cool video dedicated to the U.S. armed forces), and then they left for good.

I really wasn't expecting a lot from these guys, but I think this was the best of the three times I've seen them. In addition to the improved stage presence, they also seem to have gotten louder and more musical, and I ended up really getting into songs like "The Real Life" and "Behind Those Eyes" that didn't impress me very much on the CD. They've also switched drummers since the last time I saw them. They now have Greg Upchurch from Puddle of Mudd, and their old drummer, Daniel Adair, is now with Nickelback. Upchurch is okay. He's really energetic, if nothing else. I don't think I've ever seen a drummer raising the sticks quite so high. If I tried some of the stuff he was doing on my set, I'd probably break the friggin' thing. He did not, however, play a solo like Adair, so I was a little disappointed. Anyway, if you get a chance to see 3 Doors Down, I highly recommend it. They get better every time.

After the show, a few people were vomiting, so I guess the Pavilion sold plenty of booze. I'm still amazed at how well-behaved the crowd was, though.

Anyway, that about wraps it up. At the end of last year's review, I mentioned how much the concert reminded me that I needed a band. I actually have a band now, so I can't do that. I can, however, point out that my band needs more people so we can do live shows. That looks like a lot of friggin' fun.

Posted by CD on July 16, 2005 03:20 AM | TrackBack
Category: Music