This was a tour that if you asked me about a year or so ago, I would say it would never happen. Staind was one of the biggest bands in the late 90s and early 2000s. They made a ton of great music, sold out monster tours and seemed to have it all. Around 2010 the wheels started to come off the bus and in the coming time drummer Jon Wysocki departed. They released some music and did some touring but that was the beginning of the end. In mid 2012 they announced that they would be taking a hiatus. During this very long hiatus, singer Aaron Lewis had a quite successful run in the country music forum. Guitarist Mike Mushok and bassist Corey Lowery, went on to form Saint Asonia along with Adam Gontier from Three Days Grace. So in the end this tour was the culmination of a lot of band member swaping. Mike was back on stage with Staind and Corey is now with Seether.
Starting off the night was Tim Montana, an artist that's been around much longer than I realized. He's been stomping throught country and southern rock scene since 2003. I just recently discovered him through his song "Savage" becuase it's been playing on Sirius XM Octane. His set was only 5 short songs mostly from is forthcoming album Savage. He and his bandmates put on a haevy performance that had the fans amped up. They were the perfect started for this night of rock and roll.
Next up was Saint Asonia, like I mentioned earlier this band was formed by Mike Mushok and Corey Lowery from Staind and Adam Gontier from Three Days Grace. While the make up of the band is a little different these days, with Adam at the helm they are still bound for greatness. I've only had the pleaure of seeing Adam perform many years ago with Three Days Grace. He's still a monster vocalist and showman. They performed another short set totalling 7 songs. Two of which were Three Days Grace songs. When they played "I Hate Everything About You" and "Riot" the crowd went nuts. To me those will always be Adam's songs, they belong to his voice. They also killed it on their Saint Asonia songs which included "Devistate", "The Hunted" and "Wolf". One more fun fact about this show is that their current touring guitarist is Tavis Stanely whom I met years ago on Shiprocked when he was representing his own band the Art of Dying. I took guitar lessons from him for at least a year. I'm not great but he had the patience of a saint. No pun inteded.
Direct support for the night was provided by Seether. This band has been one of my favorites since they first started out. Lead singer Shaun Morgan is one of my favorite vocalists. His gruff, no frills aproach and style just sits at home with me. His guitar playing is in the same manner, even though they have a second guitarist, Shaun always records a riff on a looper and plays over it. It's a pretty unique way to play live. In this day and age where half the bands would crash and burn without a laptop onstage, Shaun keeps it real.
Seether managed to jam in almost all of my favorite songs during their one hour set. The songs spanned most of their career and highlighted 7 of their albums. They started the set off with a fast paced track named "Gasoline" to get everyone into the moment and then kept up the fury with "Fine Agian". Then they hit the brakes to play one of their most well known songs, "Broken". This was originally recorded with Amy Lee from Evanescence but has been performed live with a host of other female artists including Lzzy Hale. This time around it was just a darkened and foggy stage with Shaun, and bassist Dale Stewart on acoustic guitar. This song is alway haunting, not matter how it is performed.
They eased back into the fast pace with their pseudo country, "Country Song". Then finished out with hits "Rise Above This", "Dangerous", and ending with Remedy. For me Seether is the sing along rock band. Their lyrics can be dark but they are powerful. Someone can always find something relatedable. The crowd loved every minute of their set and so did I. They could have played a full set and I do not think anyone would have minded.
Last but not least, the revival of Staind. Ok, so I was actually conflicted on covering this set. I tried to separate the art from the artist becuase I have fond memories of Staind. They put on an awesome show and I was pleasantly shocked with cohesive the band was for being apart for nearly a decade. Staind perfomed a jammed packed 14-song set. They mixed in old favorites and 3 new tunes from their most recent release Confessions of the Fallen.
They started off their set with a new song "Lowest in Me". It absolutely blended right into the mix of their older music. The writing style, playing and singing was Staind, through and through. Aaron was pretty subdued hanging onto his mic stand for most of the song and Mike Mushok was his usual animated-head banging self. The next song was "Eyes Wide Open". Aaron grabbed his electric guitar for this one and jammed out with the rest of the band. Next was "Fade". Aaron put down his guitar and lit up his signature cigarette. Which I honestly found a little comical as between sets I sat by a VIP entrance door where no less than 10 people begged to go outside and smoke. Each time they were told it was a non smoking venue and they weren't allowed to go out.
The rest of the evening they mixed up their set with highs and lows and old and new. The fans loved every minute of it and got the show that some of them have been waiting for years to witness. Staind has a ton of dates throughout the summer so if you are a fan get out and support them.
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