Click here to see a slide show of the concert.
Three Days Grace and Breaking Benjamin with Hurt and Seether
March 6, 2008
Cruzan Amphitheater
Better Than: A cold beer on a hot night.
Allow me to begin by saying that I commend everyone that made the hellish commute from areas nowhere near West Palm Beach. After becoming reeducated on the term “rush hour,” I arrived at the Cruzan Amphitheater just in time to hear Hurt finish up their set. I can only imagine that it was terribly short. According to the DJs from WHDR-FM, also known as 93 Rock, Hurt started playing at around 6:40 p.m., by the time I made it through the doors at 7:00 p.m. the band had already exited the stage.
Seether took the stage after Hurt. While their performance was well executed, it was too damn short, not as short as Hurt’s performance of course but short nonetheless. It’s understandable because they weren’t the headliners, however they didn’t even have a chance to play any of their old singles from Disclaimer. They did play “Broken,” a divisive choice as most Seether fans either love this song or hate it, with members from Three Days Grace and Breaking Benjamin. Before they ended their six-song set with “Rise Above This,” their second single off of Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces, the band played a short cover of “I Hate Everything About You.” I think every Goth kid in the audience smiled as they heard Shaun Morgan’s trademark, Cobainesque voice belt out the lyrics to the song. If the Goth kids smiled, the rest of the audience went insane.
Speaking of smiles, a couple of good-looking girls sat next to me while Seether played, however, they stood at attention like soldiers at Buckingham Palace for the band’s entire performance. In hindsight, they barely moved during the entire concert, the only exception being to sit down or light the occasional cigarette. I get it. Some people come to concerts just to enjoy the music live, but I wonder if these girls even tapped their toes to the songs. It was just eerie to have people jumping and generally going crazy and then watching these two stand and stare. A head bob would have been acceptable.
Breaking Benjamin was up next and their set seemed to be the longest out of all the bands performing. They covered a lot of the tracks on their latest album and played some fan favorites like “So Cold,” “Polyamorous” and “Sooner or Later.” The real treat came as singer Ben Burnley took what seemed like a small break from singing (I can only assume it was so he wouldn’t strain his voice). The band jammed and started playing songs from Metallica, Rage Against The Machine and even AC/DC. It was all to mask the fact that Burnley was taking his break but it was expertly done, another band would have had us stare at a drummer doing a solo for the entire 15 minutes that Burnley was gone. Before they ended, Burnley brought out Morgan from Seether and Barry Stock from Three Days Grace. The intermingling of bands played an exquisite cover of the Deftones’ “Change.”
Three Days Grace covered most of their new album. Despite the fact that by the end of the night a lot of people were tired, when Three Days Grace came on stage everyone stood on their feet and started jumping around like maniacs. Being the band with the smallest catalogue of songs to choose from, Three Days Grace was able to play a lot of songs from their latest album as well as their self-titled debut album. A mosh pit was sorely needed.
Personal Bias: I’ve heard every song by the bands I got to see at least twice.
Random Detail: The music of Three Days Grace makes some men take their shirts off in sheer spur of the moment joy. It is that powerful.
By The Way: Shaun Morgan dedicated the song “Rise Above This” to his brother, Eugene Welgemoed, who died last year.
