 | Written by Alex Mrkonjic Photography by Rob Botten (C) 2018 All rights reserved by www.metalmasterkingdom.com BREAKING BENJAMIN & FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH w/ NOTHING MORE and BAD WOLVES @ Budweiser Stage Toronto ON, Canada August 20, 2018 Presented by Live Nation |
On March 13, 2018, Five Finger Death Punch and Breaking Benjamin announced that they would be joining forces for a summer co-headlining tour, with Texas quartet Nothing More and L.A. rockers Bad Wolves as openers. What a lineup. Both bands have had very successful years so far with Breaking Benjamin’s new album Ember debuting at number 3 on the Billboard 200 and number 1 on the Billboards top Alternative, Hard Rock, Rock and Digital charts, and Five Finger Death Punch’s new album And Justice For None debuting in the top 10 in 11 different countries, including number 1 in Germany and Switzerland, number 3 in Norway and number 4 in Sweden, USA and Canada. You then have Bad Wolves and their debut album Disobey debuting at number 23 on the Billboard 200 and two top 10 debut’s in Australia and New Zealand. Then of course, you have Nothing More, whose latest album The Stories We Tell Ourselves was nominated for Three Grammy awards including Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song. Now that is a lot of success for a genre that is apparently “Dead”, and based on the performance I saw, it is not going away anytime soon. The tour came through Toronto on August 20th at the Budweiser Stage, and it was the sole Canadian date of the tour.
| BAD WOLVES Photo credit: Rob Botten (C) 2018 www.metalmasterkingdom.com NOTHING MORE Photo credit: Rob Botten (C) 2018 www.metalmasterkingdom.com FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH Photo credit: Rob Botten (C) 2018 www.metalmasterkingdom.com BREAKING BENJAMIN Photo credit: Rob Botten (C) 2018 www.metalmasterkingdom.com | First up we Bad Wolves, who I was looking forward to seeing regarding their major success of their first single “Zombie”, a cover originally done by The Cranberries. They were supposed to have Cranberries lead singer Dolores O’Riordan sing on it, but sadly, she passed before they could record. They started the set with “Officer Down”, a real heavy hitter and clear indication of what is too come. Before they started with the next song “ Learn To Live”, frontman Tommy Vext noticed that people were sitting down and got them to stand up (I was one of them), and really got the crowd going. I have never seen a crowd so amped for an opening act and bring so much energy. It continued throughout the 7-song list with “No Masters”, “Remember When”, “Better The Devil”, “Hear Me Now”, and of course ending with “Zombie”. It was great start to the show and I would gladly see these guys again. Next up, we had Nothing More, who prior to this show I had not heard their music, so I didn’t know what to expect. I have to say however they did not fit this bill, after all the energy Bad Wolves produced, these guys seem to produce half that. They started the set with the first single from their latest album The Stories We Tell Ourselves, “Do You Really Want It”. Most of the setlist was their last album, with songs like “Let 'em Burn”, “Don’t Stop”, “Go To War”, and “Just Say When”. It wasn’t until the end of the set did they kick things up a notch. They did a cover of the Skrillex song “First Of The Year (Equinox)” and upped the ante with pyro and moving stages, frontman Jonny Hawkins' drum kit in particular, which began to move up in the air. They continued the momentum with the last song “Salem (Burn The Witch)”. Overall I would say they were okay, it was just unfortunate that it didn’t get exciting till the end. Next up was one of my favourite modern metal bands in Five Finger Death Punch. They started with a hilarious intro of the Barney song “I Love You”, then kicked things off with “Lift Me Up”, a great way to kick off the set. This was my second time seeing them, and they really kicked things up a notch this time around in the pyro and lighting departments, having fire and smoke go off during the opening track. Next up was “Trouble” from their greatest hits album A Decade Of Destruction, and the deluxe edition of their new album And Justice For None. The former and “Gone Away” were the only songs being played from the new album, which are awesome songs, but the big fan in me was hoping for some new songs from And Justice For None, but oh well. They continued the high octane energy with “Wash It All Away”, “Jekyll & Hyde”, “Bad Company” and “Never Enough”. The acoustic part of the show is where things got really cool, as frontman Ivan Moody spent this time opening up about his previous addictions and how the fans saved his life by never giving up on him. It was a really cool and tender moment. Right after saying all this, he and lead guitarist Jason Hook went into the songs “Wrong Side Of Heaven” and “Remember Everything”. Jason got a huge welcome home and ovation during this time, acknowledging the fact that he is from Toronto and the fans were happy to see him. During “Remember Everything” frontman Ivan Moody invited kids on the stage to sing the song. That was really cool to witness. Towards the end, they ended with “Under & Over It” and of course “The Bleeding”. With all they brought to the table, you would have thought they were closing the night. It was an awesome show and I can’t wait to see them again. Finally, to round off our evening, we had Breaking Benjamin. They kicked off the evening with the new single “Red Cold River” and upped the ante with their own lighting and some pyro. Again, like with FFDP, the big fan in me wants to hear songs from the new album Ember, and they did to an extent, also playing “Psycho” and “Torn In Two”. Understandably though, they played the usual hits “Blow Me Away”, “So Cold”, “I Will Not Bow”, “Until The End”, and “Breath”. There were some lesser known songs as well though, most notably “Sooner Or Later” and “Believe”. The latter of the two was a surprise, but a welcomed surprise nonetheless. Prior to “Sooner or Later” they upped the showmanship with a medley of the Star Wars “Imperial March”, Tool’s “Schism”, Nirvana's “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Metallica’s “Sad But True”. I have heard them do this before, seeing as this is my third time seeing them, so for me it's nothing new, but i'm sure it was very exciting for some. Afterwards, there was a great drum solo from drummer Shaun Foist and during the solo, you could even hear parts of Pantera's “Primal Concrete Sledge”, an obvious tribute to the late great Vinnie Paul. Rounding off the night was of course “The Diary Of Jane” and beforehand, they pulled a FFDP |
moment and invited fans onto the stage, both kids and adults. A good 15 people were on that stage. It was very unexpected and I am happy to see Breaking Benjamin participate in that. They really did a good job in terms of upping the stage presence. It was a great way to cap off a great night: with fans on stage celebrating rock music, proving rock will never die.
Overall it was an amazing night. I enjoyed seeing both co-headliners again and even openers Bad Wolves. Although, I will say you would have thought Five Finger Death Punch were the headliners, based on how many t-shirts I saw in the crowd. In some way, you could sense the disappointment that FFDP wasn’t headlining, but the crowd quickly realized that Breaking Benjamin were just as good at putting on an impeccable show of their own. The crowd was loud, full of energy, and engaged every step of the way as they cheered on their heroes and proved one thing: ROCK MUSIC WILL NEVER DIE!
Overall it was an amazing night. I enjoyed seeing both co-headliners again and even openers Bad Wolves. Although, I will say you would have thought Five Finger Death Punch were the headliners, based on how many t-shirts I saw in the crowd. In some way, you could sense the disappointment that FFDP wasn’t headlining, but the crowd quickly realized that Breaking Benjamin were just as good at putting on an impeccable show of their own. The crowd was loud, full of energy, and engaged every step of the way as they cheered on their heroes and proved one thing: ROCK MUSIC WILL NEVER DIE!
| BREAKING BENJAMIN Benjamin Burnley - Lead vocals & rhythm guitars Jasen Rouch - Lead guitars Keith Wallen - Rhythm guitars & backing vocals Aaron Bruch - Bass & backing vocals Shaun Foist - Drums & percussion Label: Hollywood Records Website: www.breakingbenjamin.com NOTHING MORE Jonny Hawkins - Vocals Mark Vollelunga - Guitars & backing vocals Daniel Oliver - Bass & backing vocals Ben Anderson - Drums & percussion Label: Eleven Seven Music Website: www.nothingmore.com www.facebook.com/nothingmore | FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH Ivan Moody - Vocals Jason Hook - Lead guitars Zoltan Bathory - Rhythm guitars Jeremy Spencer - Drums & percussion Chris Kael - Bass & backing vocals Label: Prospect Park Records Website: www.fivefingerdeathpunch.com BAD WOLVES Tommy Vext - Vocals Doc Coyle - Lead guitars & backing vocals Chris Cain - Rhythm guitars Kyle Konkiel - Bass & backing vocals John Boecklin - Drums & percussion Label: Eleven Seven Music Website: www.badwolvesnation.com |
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