After a long Houston area concert hiatus, I picked a nice return show
As you might guess based on my review of Phobia and my admitted Breaking Benjamin fandom, when it was announced that they and Evans Blue were coming to Houston I knew I would be there if at all possible. Unlike some shows, I was not only entertained but quite frankly impressed with the entire show. First up was Minnesota-based piano-rock group Dropping Daylight who I had only vaguely researched prior to show time. As you can see by the addition to the "Music I've yet to acquire" list, they made quite an impression. Highlights of the show included "Take a Photograph","Brace Yourself", in which Chad of BB played drums as a guest and apparently blew something up at the end, and lastly the lead single of Dropping Daylight's album "Tell Me" is a special tune.
Next up was Evans Blue. I'm proud to say I hit the opener with the energetic "A Cross and a Girl Named Blessed". This flowed smoothly into "The Promise and The Threat" one of my other favorites. On the track "Beg" Matisyn had a little backing vocal help from Ben Brunley which added to an otherwise solid track. There were a couple of tracks in the Evans Blue set that I didn't recognize but there efforts on "Cold (But I'm Still Here)" and "Over" were solid and had the crowd going.
Let us make no mistake though this was Breaking Benjamin's show from the first mention of "my polyamorous friend" there were 4000-5000 people singing along and active bouncing (in so much as it's possible for some of us). "Polyamorous" kicked off the set follow by a pause in which Ben commented on the crowd and then let to the next Saturate contribution with the simple warning "The wicked witch this way comes" leading into "Home" and its plethora of "Wizard of Oz" references. Sebastian Davin of Dropping Daylight contributed backing vocals to "Shallow Bay" followed by "Break Down" from We Are Not Alone. There was overall a good mix of old and new. "Topless",which is a much better live song, "Had Enough", "Breath" and "Dance With the Devil", were included with "The Diary of Jane" from Phobia, "Sooner or Later", "Simple Design", "Break Down", and "So Cold", which was the closer, appeared from We Are Not Alone . Saturate provided "Polyamorous", "Home", "Shallow Bay" and "Phase". Midway through the set Matisyn and company from Evans Blue joined BB for a solid cover rendition of the Deftones "My Own Summer (Shove It)" and Breaking Benjamin led off their encore with a surprisingly good rendition of Tool's "Aenema" before closing the show with "Blow Me Away".
Having seen Breaking Benjamin previously at Buzzfest I was entertained then, but I think the smaller venue and the close proximity of the crowd at Verizon accentuated alot of the interaction moments (the wicked witch clip, stopping the show twice to toast the crowd and have a beer, and the various sing along parts). Even on the new songs the majority of the fans I was near were singing throughout and carrying the song when asked. As a result of the crowd and the show I felt entertained more become it seemed that I was a more active participant.
Anyway, all three bands put on a good show but in order of lasting impression it goes
Next up was Evans Blue. I'm proud to say I hit the opener with the energetic "A Cross and a Girl Named Blessed". This flowed smoothly into "The Promise and The Threat" one of my other favorites. On the track "Beg" Matisyn had a little backing vocal help from Ben Brunley which added to an otherwise solid track. There were a couple of tracks in the Evans Blue set that I didn't recognize but there efforts on "Cold (But I'm Still Here)" and "Over" were solid and had the crowd going.
Let us make no mistake though this was Breaking Benjamin's show from the first mention of "my polyamorous friend" there were 4000-5000 people singing along and active bouncing (in so much as it's possible for some of us). "Polyamorous" kicked off the set follow by a pause in which Ben commented on the crowd and then let to the next Saturate contribution with the simple warning "The wicked witch this way comes" leading into "Home" and its plethora of "Wizard of Oz" references. Sebastian Davin of Dropping Daylight contributed backing vocals to "Shallow Bay" followed by "Break Down" from We Are Not Alone. There was overall a good mix of old and new. "Topless",which is a much better live song, "Had Enough", "Breath" and "Dance With the Devil", were included with "The Diary of Jane" from Phobia, "Sooner or Later", "Simple Design", "Break Down", and "So Cold", which was the closer, appeared from We Are Not Alone . Saturate provided "Polyamorous", "Home", "Shallow Bay" and "Phase". Midway through the set Matisyn and company from Evans Blue joined BB for a solid cover rendition of the Deftones "My Own Summer (Shove It)" and Breaking Benjamin led off their encore with a surprisingly good rendition of Tool's "Aenema" before closing the show with "Blow Me Away".
Having seen Breaking Benjamin previously at Buzzfest I was entertained then, but I think the smaller venue and the close proximity of the crowd at Verizon accentuated alot of the interaction moments (the wicked witch clip, stopping the show twice to toast the crowd and have a beer, and the various sing along parts). Even on the new songs the majority of the fans I was near were singing throughout and carrying the song when asked. As a result of the crowd and the show I felt entertained more become it seemed that I was a more active participant.
Anyway, all three bands put on a good show but in order of lasting impression it goes
- Breaking Benjamin
- Dropping Daylight
- Evans Blue
As always I must include at least the college football counter ... 1o days
posted by Aaron at 1:11 AM
1 Comments:
Dammit, I was so going to pick "Polyamorous" as the opener too. Oh well.
First Seether, and now BB? What is it with bands covering the Deftones? Don't they realize that you're supposed to cover bands that are no longer active?
Though I have to admit, seeing a cover of "Aenima" would be classic.
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