Three Days Grace and Breaking Benjamin Tag-Team for An Unforgettable Night
- Charlie Meister
- 23 minutes ago
- 4 min read
It took until early September for one of the summer's best amphitheater shows to finally roll through town. Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace, along with support from Return To Dust came through Western New York for an unforgettable performance at Darien Lake, just outside of Buffalo, NY.
I have a long history with both of these bands. Back in the summer of 2003, I attended an I Mother Earth concern in Lockport, which featured a completely unknown Three Days Grace as direct support. At the time, they were a radio battle of the bands winner from Southern Ontario and their first album wasn't even released yet. I called our local rock station, 103.3 The Edge, endlessly requesting "I Hate Everything About You" only to be met with confusion.
A year later, in the early summer of 2004, myself along with about two dozen other people, caught Breaking Benjamin at Club Infinity (now known as The Stage) in Williamsville, NY.
Needless to say, these bands both had a bright future directly ahead of them. In the decades since, they've toured the world over dozens of times, and I've likely seen them both together more often than apart. Did anyone catch that tour with Evanescence and Seether in 2004?
This tour felt different. Breaking Benjamin is overdue for an album, having just dropped a new single, "Awaken," almost a year ago. Their last studio album, 'Ember,' was released back in 2018. Meanwhile, Three Days Grace have just released their latest album, 'Alienation,' marking the return of founding vocalist Adam Gontier. This album is fantastic. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I had hoped at minimum, the band would find a way to utilize both Adam and co-vocalist Matt Walst in a way that didn't detract from their signature sound. If you've heard it, you already know...it's incredible.
Now for the show, which opened up with a set from Return To Dust. I wasn't familiar with this band, but they brought a straight-forward brand of alternative hard rock that got the crowd ready for the evening to come. The band had great stage presence and knew the crowd they were there to entertain.
Three Days Grace was next. They opened up their set with "Animal I Have Become" and I immediately realized this band is absolute magic as a five piece. These guys were so clearly having a blast on stage and enjoying performing in each other's presence. The chemistry between vocalists is something David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar couldn't even dream of. I'll admit, I've enjoyed both incarnations of this band, despite being a purist for the original. After this performance, I don't want to see these guys any other way. The tradeoff of vocal duties, how they each supported backup duties for each other, it was perfect.
A few standout tracks from the set included "The Mountain," "Mayday," "Pain," "The Good Life," "Time of Dying" and "Never Too Late." Just kidding, this entire set was pure catharsis. I truly did not know how bad I needed to see this Three Days Grace show. I can only hope the band is enjoying this as much as they look like they are. I'll sign up for a few more decades of this!
Breaking Benjamin took the stage with an extremely high bar as they opened the night with their latest single, "Awaken" before throwing it back to their second album with "Follow." After this, the stage went dark as the video wall filled with scenes of space. It took me a few seconds before the familiar rings of Halo reminded me of what was coming next. The site of Cortana and Master Chief only added to my anticipation. Yes, "Blow Me Away" has long been one of my favorite Breaking Benjamin songs (and clearly the best of the rock tracks on the 'Halo 2' soundtrack album).
Similar to Three Days Grace, the entirety of the setlist was expertly craft, as if Ben Burnley reached right into my head to pluck the songs, I was hoping to hear the most. A heavy dose of "Phobia?" Sure, here's half the album! If I could add one song to the set, they should play "Shallow Bay" every night. That song was an early favorite. So much so that it was the name of their online Fanclub back in the beginning.
What a show! What a tour! There's a reason these bands tour together so often and I'm glad they do. Let's make this an annual outing! The tour is finishing its final week right now, before wrapping up in Fresno, CA next week on October 3rd. If you're in one of those final dates and considering grabbing a ticket, do it and thank me later!
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