Staind and Breaking Benjamin have just kicked off their co-headline Awaken the Fallen tour and if you want a rock show that shakes your inner core, this is it.
With Wage War and Lakeview as support, the tour’s second stop brought them to Nashville for a sold-out show at Bridgestone Arena.
Formerly of Pittsburgh, but now residing in Nashville, Lakeview (Jesse Denaro and Luke Healy) have a metalcore background, but have infused it with some country. They shook the early arrivers awake and had the pit jumping , raising their hands with beers held high.
After “Dying Breed” and “Wrong Side of the Track,” Denaro joked, “If you don’t know who we are, there’s a big fucking sign behind us,” which indeed there was.
The band has been getting airplay on SiriusXM’s Octane thanks to their next song, “Money Where Your Mouth Is.”
Their originals kept the early crowd nodding along, but their cover of Hinder’s “Lips of an Angel” had the audience whip out their phone flashlights to light up the arena and sing along.
After dedicating “Son of A” to the guys of Breaking Benjamin, Lakeview said their closer was for the fans that had been supporting them, “Home Team.”
Florida’s Wage War was up next and transported us to the early 2000s when nu-metal was king. Frontman Briton Bond snarled and growled his way across a riser at the front of the stage, sounding a bit like Korn’s Jonathan Davis.
By their second song, “Godspeed,” Bond, Seth Blake, Cody Quistad, Chris Gaylord, and Stephen Kluesener had the pit jumping and a mosh pit circling. Bond’s growls were complemented by the clean vocals of Quistad, and Kluesener was an absolute monster on the drums, pounding away as well as any Travis Barker or Tommy Lee could.
After “Low” and “Stitch,” Bond told the crowd that when they released their album in 2021, “in a weird time,” it did well “thanks to you,” and went into their hit, “Circle the Drain.” This infused the general admission zone with renewed energy and a mosh pit began swirling while the remainder of GA was jumping with raised fists.
Wage War kept the energy up, coming to “Magnetic” and finishing with “Manic,” both of which had the crowd singing along.
As the crews set up for Breaking Benjamin, a white curtain dropped in front of the stage. When the lights went dark, the Breaking Benjamin logo appeared on the curtain, then began rotating as the screams of the crowd grew. The “Dark” intro from their “Dark Before Dawn” album began, the curtain dropped, and the band was revealed, escalating the roar of the crowd.
I have been attending Breaking Benjamin shows since they were a three-piece in Pennsylvania playing in front of 10 people at a tiny bar. When they kicked off with “Failure” and the entire venue was singing along, I got teary. They have been incredibly successful for decades, but it is always amazing to see a band you believed in be embraced by the masses.
The pit was full, the seats were filled in, and the band – Benjamin Burnley, Aaron Bruch, Jasen Rauch, Keith Wallen, and Shaun Foist – was ready to go with Burnley announcing, “We’re going to have a great fuckin’ time!”
Burnley was indeed correct and they gave us a sweet setlist of hits, deep cuts, and their newest track. “Until the End” and “Evil Angel” are two fan favorites that elicited screams and cheers and we got some solo Foist action plus orchestral moments that were stunningly beautiful.
While Burnley has been handing off some main vocals to Bruch and Wallen in past tours, he was fully the frontman this time, but we still got plenty of Bruch’s phenomenal screams and harmonies, showcased perfectly in “Red Cold River.”
“Blow Me Away” included “Halo” visuals that the crowd cheered for while “Follow” proved Burnley still sounds incredible and that Bruch compliments him so well.
When major hit “So Cold” began, loud cheers erupted and Burnley encouraged the crowd to sing along, which they did loudly. The excitement continued through another fan favorite, “Dance With the Devil.”
In October 2024, Breaking Benjamin announced they had signed with a new record label and dropped a new single, “Awaken.” This tour is the debut of “Awaken” and the crowd sang along as if they had known it for years. After once again showing off some epic screams, Burnley told the crowd, “That’s only the second time we’ve ever done that in front of anybody. You are amazing singing along and we love you for that.”
My own needs were selfishly satisfied by the next three songs: “Breath,” “Polyamorous,” and “Without You” (with some gorgeous orchestral add ins!). Then another favorite, “Dear Agony.” Seriously, this setlist is fresh and outstanding!
Another song is debuting on this tour – “Blood” off the band’s last studio album, 2018’s “Ember.” Again the crowd ate it up, and again, Bruch’s screams were insane. “I Will Not Bow” featured a big finish and another Foist solo before the band closed the night with “The Diary of Jane.”
With a “What a fun fucking night. Thank you for being awesome!” from Burnley and every single pick on stage tossed to the crowd, Breaking Benjamin was out and the curtain fell again.
SoCal can catch Breaking Benjamin on October 6th when they invade Toyota Arena in Ontario with Three Days Grace and Return to Dust.
Once again the lights went out and Staind’s logo was splashed across the curtain as Van Halen’s “Unchained” played over the PA. The curtain dropped and the arena was filled with screaming cheers.
Staind made their way to the stage with frontman Aaron Lewis strolling casually up front as if he was ready to hang out with some friends at a house party.
At no point during this review will I be able to adequately describe Lewis’ performance. How he can release such iconic growls and screams without any physical motion visible through his body is a mystery. He would lean on the mic stand, relaxed, and emit such powerhouse vocals, making it look so effortless.
But next to Lewis, guitarist Mike Mushok headbanged, jumped, and contorted himself in a multitude of ways throughout the set. His body language screamed joy whether they played something heavy or soft – whatever Mushok is feeling onstage, I want some please.
Along with Staind founders Lewis and Mushok, Johnny April and Sal Giancarelli put on an epic performance that included stunning visuals on the video screens and outstanding musicianship from all four. The Massachusetts band began with “Lowest in Me” and “Eyes Wide Open,” then Lewis greeted the arena with, “How you doin,’ Nashville?”
“Fade” was up next and had a nice sing-along with the crowd, but that escalated when “Right Here” began, and stayed high for “Not Again.”
The band members left the stage and a spotlight shone on Lewis, alone with an acoustic guitar. He gave a beautiful rendition of “Epiphany” that actually made me teary. I have not seen Staind live in more than a decade, but it was as if no time has passed because Lewis can still bring it, and any moment where he was not singing, the fans were cheering or whistling.
Mushok joined Lewis – who now had a cigarette and cocktail – and they launched into “Something to Remind You.” Lewis would sing, hold a note, and take a drag off his cigarette in between singing. Sometimes he would even sing while still holding the smoke in his mouth, something a smoker assured me was painful and difficult.
The rest of band returned and the growling rock resumed with “Raw” as Lewis strolled again. When it was over, he said, “I won’t say much tonight, but this goes out to every hater that talks shit,” and they kicked off “Wannabe.”
But Lewis did speak again: “I’m not going to say much because I get myself in trouble. But, I wrote this song 30 fucking years ago.” “Outside,” the song that seemingly made Staind a mainstream act is 30 years old? Behind the band, clips of Staind and Fred Durst played, reminding us of that iconic Family Values tour era. Midway through the song, Lewis said, “All right, fuckin’ sing this with me. Take your phones out and light up this mother fucker.”
After “Better Days” and “Paper Wings,” another incredible moment in the show was “So Far Away,” which had the crowd singing and couples in the pit dancing romantically.
When it was time for “For You,” Lewis controlled the arena with the mere “come here” gesture of his hand, encouraging everyone to sing along, and then they left the stage at the song’s end.
The lights did not shut off completely; they just scanned the crowd like flashlights as the cheers for more songs escalated. Then the guys walked back out and Lewis said, “Thank you for sticking around. Appreciate ya. I’m going to play more whether you have time or not.”
Staind closed out their well-rounded set with “It’s Been Awhile” and “Mudshovel,” a perfect end to a rock show such as this. Two bands with decades of success that continue to release fresh material, bringing up two new acts ready to move the heavy rock sound forward.
Make plans to catch the Awaken the Fallen tour in your area. Staind will continue to close the shows until mid-May and then swap spots with Breaking Benjamin until the tour ends June 1st.
