People were piling into the Bell Centre on a late April night, but not for the main reason the city hoped they’d be. But if you’re not going for playoff hockey, Nu Metal stalwarts Disturbed are definitely a good alternative.
The first thing I noticed walking in was the stage. A few years back, when they rocked Place Bell in Laval, Disturbed had brought a custom triangular stage. This time around, in the larger venue, they brought a more traditional stage.
First out to warm the crowd up were Canadian rockers Theory of a Deadman. The band came onto the scene 2 decades ago, labelled as ‘Nickelback Lite,’ even signed to Chad Kroeger’s label, but have since stepped out of that shadow to form their own identity. They don’t stray too far from the rock radio formula though. They are high energy and do an excellent job of activating the crowd’s rock receptors.
Just in case your rock receptors were tuned to a heavier frequency, Disturbed hit the stage to “Hey You” to set everyone’s hand antennas to rock horns. The intensity did not let up as they rolled out banger after banger.
Most bands 25 years into their career are touring on the strength of their past, but Disturbed have no plans to follow that mould. The crowd went wild when they broke into “Bad Man” off their new record. It’s a powerful song about a bad man with a cult following, hmmm… I wonder who it’s about. This song hits hard, personally. One of the cornerstones of rock music has always been its ability to speak truth to power. It’s something that in a time where such sentiment is direly needed, it seems to have disappeared and is, in my opinion, responsible for rock’s decline as part of our cultural zeitgeist. Disturbed bring that energy back with a vengeance.
Anyhow, back to the show. In the past, Disturbed has traditionally slowed things down with a ballad section, but this time around, the headbanging only stopped briefly for their haunting cover of “Sound of Silence,” and we were right back to bopping our heads to “Indestructible.”
The encore zapped every last ounce of energy you had with “Down With the Sickness” and “Inside the Fire.” I’m always amazed at how effortlessly David Draimin gets the “ooh wah ha ah” out at the beginning of “Down With the Sickness,” if you’re reading this review, odds are you’ve attempted to do and nearly destroyed your vocal cords in the process.
Every time I see this band, I’m struck with the oxymoron which is vocalist David Draimin. If you just watch the videos, he gives off the impression of a super serious and intense goth maven who wouldn’t be very fun at parties. But then you see him live or in interviews, and he’s got an infectious smile and has an innate ability to connect with the audience with his charisma, the type of guy you’d have a blast having a beer with. Well, hats off to all of Disturbed on a fantastic night of gothic rock fun.
Review – Richard Brunette
Photos – Kieron Yates
