Concert Review: Breaking Benjamin

Concert Review:  Breaking Benjamin

Several years ago, I forced myself to sit down and document my bucket list – a list of bands that I desperately wanted to see before I got too old…or they did. Breaking Benjamin was one of the first bands that came to mind. At that time, catching a show was out of the question, as singer Benjamin Burnley was sick, and the band was in a nasty legal battle over the band name and material. My general assumption was that Breaking Benjamin as I knew it was probably over. However, I still put them on my bucket list and held on to hope.

Much to my thrill, in 2014 it was announced that BB was on it’s way back, with a brand new band surrounding Burnley, a new album, and some heavy touring planned. I was ecstatic. After 12 years of anticipation, I was finally able to check them off my bucket list at Rock on the Range 2015, but rather than blog about that show, I decided to hold off until 3 days later, when we had the opportunity to catch them up close in personal, for a headlining set in a small venue in Indianapolis called the Egyptian Room. Breaking Benjamin – let’s do this.

Rock on the Range 2015: Day 3

Rock on the Range 2015: Day 3

Day Three of Rock on the Range 2015. This day’s lineup featured a lineup as diverse as ever – with the chance to see Crobot again, a Halestorm show that I was hoping would surprise me, and a Tech N9ne show that was sure to be an outlier in a day full of hard rock and metal. On top of that, it was all culminating for a massive Linkin Park show to headline the weekend. We loaded up the van for the third straight day, with a slight headache and my beloved Monster Rehab, headed back to Mapfre Stadium for the grand finale.

Art of Dying

The day opened up with Art of Dying, a band that was introduced to me at ROTR in 2011 (see the review here), and they were a pleasant surprise. Get Through This and Die Trying were strong enough tracks to peak my interest, and I was excited to see what was in store for this band. Fast forward 4 years, and I haven’t heard much from them since. Unfortunately, this show didn’t quite stack up well to the previous one. I still enjoyed a handful of their songs, including a surprisingly fun version of Rise Up, but overall show seemed like a slightly less energetic version of the one four years ago and didn’t feature anything that stood out or felt unique. Not a BAD way to open up the day, but I was excited to move on.