March 19, 2025
Disturbed headline
An unfortunate series of events took place last week, when Disturbed played a home-town concert in Chicago – and their 0nstage pyrotechnics accidently burnt six banners hanging from the roof of the United Center.
These weren’t just any old banners either, but six championship banners celebrating NBA championships won by teams that featured arguably the greatest basketball player of all time – the legendary Michael Jordan. While terrible, the good news is that the banners are repairable although they won’t be back up in the rafters during this current season.
See Also: The Red Clay Strays at Mtelus, Montreal
How nervous then, must the Montreal Canadiens be with Disturbed in town tonight. The Habs are the most storied franchise in hockey, having won twenty-four Stanly Cups, with each having a banner hanging from of the rafters of the Bell Center – and that’s before we even begin to get into how many retired number banners are up there among those championship citations. Should anything happen to those banners, I assure you, the city would erupt into instant riots.
Habs fans have been known to riot when they’ve lost, even when they’ve won – and over player suspensions even. Luckily, none of that was needed tonight.
Sevendust
Somehow, nineteen years have passed since Sevendust last played in Montreal. Their last appearance, was a headlining set at the Spectrum – a long lost venue that some of the more youthful audience members tonight never had the chance to experience. One of many great buildings we’ve lost to the filthy wave of gentrification and condo culture that has swept of this, and many other great cities.
Tonight, Sevendust got a bit of a raw deal, opening a week day show at 6:30 pm – which is pretty early when you consider most people finish work at 5pm and have to get home, eat, shower and get ready to go out for the night. Still, they made the best of the cards they were dealt and those that were there made sure to let the band know they were glad to catch them.
Kicking the night off with a fantastic rendition of Black, Sevendust stormed back into the memories of the Montreal faithful. In all, there were six tracks in Sevendust’s set, including Denial, Enemy, , Praise, Crucified and Face To Face.
Unfortunately, Lajon Witherspoon’s vocals weren’t loud enough in the mix and didn’t carry as they should have. Not sure what happened there, but this wasn’t an issue that either of the other two bands on the night had. I assume it must have been an issue with whomever was running the mixing board tonight. Luckily, it wasn’t so big of an issue that the audience weren’t able to enjoy what was a great Sevendust set, however. Small victories I suppose.
It was great to have Sevendust back in Montreal again – and hopefully they’ll swing back around for a headlining set. And soon.
Three Days Grace
It had been a spell since I last got to witness a Three Days Grace gig, and it would seem that a lot has happened since that time. While I was prepared for something different – I wasn’t ready for the level of awesome that I found tonight.
Now, call me ignorant or accuse me of living under a rock because I knew that the original singer of Three Days Grace, Adam Gontier, was back with the band – but I assumed he had replaced Matt Walst. Nay nay! Both singers now form a duo on vocals, and the the result is astounding. Seriously. The pair play off of one another fantastically.
Starting off with the rhythmic melodies of Animal I have Become was a smart move of the bands part, as it serves as a great, high energy tune with a good groove and a solid way to reintroduce yourselves to old fans, and peak the interests of anyone in the audience that might not be familiar with them yet.
By the time So Called Life kicked in, the crowd were rocking out – with both singers cruising up and down the catwalk, making full usage of the unique stage design. Playing to the crowd, in ways that were truly impressive and created an ambience rarely found these days. Three Days Grace put on the best visual show of the night (unless you count the pyrotechnics that Disturbed brought to the party – more on that in a bit).
I had forgotten how much of an earworm band Three Days Grace are. Masters at hooks and catchy choruses. There is no doubt that this band is fucking fun to see live.
With a new studio recording rumored, and all but confirmed by the band themselves now, it wasn’t surprising that Three Days Grace snuck in their new track Mayday into the playlist. This is the first track to feature both Gontier and Walst – and kickstart the new era of the band.
Of course, Three Days Grace were going to play I Hate Everything About You – which is probably their most-known and most liked track to date. That was a given. Some of the other tracks on the night were a little more akin to a deep cut dive, and I’m here for it.
I find myself surprisingly eager for the bands upcoming eighth studio album, if nothing more than to see how this new two singer dynamic is going to play out.
Disturbed
Can somebody please explain to me, how it has already been twenty-five years since Disturbed released their The Sickness album? Seriously. A quarter of a century. Well, that is the case and the reason for which Disturbed are on tour.
Building up the anticipation appears to be something that Disturbed are rather good at, as prior to starting their set, they played a series of video clips across a large curtain that was doubling as a projector screen. These were clips from years past, showing the band in various stages of their career in a cool little montage. Following that, the boys could be seen as shadows hidden behind this same giant white curtain, until it eventually lifted and the group got underway, with fireworks bursting off an elaborate set up behind them.
This was to be a night of two halves; the first saw The Sickness played in its entirety, which is a pretty amazing experience to sit through – and following an intermission where everyone ran to the bathroom or for more drinks (I did both, I’ll have you know) before a second set that consisted of the bands greatest hits. Their words, not mine.
Getting off on the right foot by playing Voices, which lead straight into The Game where the band made full use of the fairly long catwalk that had been installed directly in the midst of the floor, allowing fans to get super close to the three bands playing tonight.
By the time Stupify was played, the bands trademark barrage of pyrotechnics were popping off from all over the stage, heating up the already warm arena. Streams of flames bellowed up towards the heavens, and I feared for the safety of those sacred Habs banners above. Thankfully, they were spared. (there had also been some fireworks let off earlier on, during Voices.)
As promised, the entire The Sickness record was performed – including a cover of the Tears For Fears banger Shout, one of three covers played on the night, but we’ll get to that in a wee bit.
Upon the bands return to the stage, they played Ten Thousand Fists which immediately got everyone back in the right state of mind, and despite the break, the sold out Bell Center crowd were right back into the fray of things.
Sensing that the time was right, Disturbed then broke out their new song, I Will Not Break, which is normally where a crowd quiets down, but still high off the energy unleash during the previous song (or maybe high off the fumes given off by all that pyro, who can say for sure) that wasn’t the case. I Will Not Break is the first single off of what is expected to be a new album, although the band and those around them have been very tight lipped about anything to do with that. Still – we can assume, and if we do so, it would appear that we are in good hands for a future album.
Of course Indestructible was played, sandwiched between two great covers of legendary artists. Would it even be a Disturbed show with a rendition of Indestructible? Maybe that whole riot thing I joked about might have back around again as it really doesn’t take people in this city much of an excuse to go out and smash shit up. We’re known for it.
An incredible version of the great Genesis track, Land Of Confusion was only just toppled by an even better cover of the Simon & Garfunkel masterpiece The Sound Of Silence. At first, it seemed like Draiman was tired and the vocal power wasn’t really there, but as The Sound Of Silence wore on, Draiman found his voice and let it roar with all of its might, making the hair on my arms stand up.
At one point, just prior to Disturbed playing The Light, Draiman spotted a youngster in the crowd and brought her and her mother up on stage – turns out, she’s a twelve year old at her first concert, and here she is, on stage at the Bell center! This will surely be a night she never, ever forgets. What a heart-warming moment that was. Kudos to Draiman and Disturbed for being so great to their fans.
Concluding what had been an incredible evening, as one final track. Inside The Fire, which seemed to be a cue for the road crew to unleash whatever pyrotechnics were still in the building. There was so much heat coming off of the flames that it felt more like we were watching Disturbed play on some Caribbean island (and truth told, I wish that had been the case too.)
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Once the dust had settled, and as the crowd stumbled out into the welcoming warm spring air, I realized I had a huge grin plastered across my face. All three bands had been brilliant tonight, and life was indeed good.
Yes! Tonight was a good night. Nothing caught fire that wasn’t supposed to. No riots occurred.
