Soil, Three Days Grace, Staind
Topeka Performing Arts Center
August 8, 2006
By Crystal
(SugarBuzz Kansas City)
Photos by Crystal
Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me! Yes, my 25th birthday for the 5th or 6th year in a row. At least this year I got a good gift..something fun to do in the middle of the week.
Anyway, the show rocked! Soil warmed up the crowd for about 30 minutes. Those guys are troopers! It was their first show on the tour, and their bus broke down on the way. They had to rent a U-haul and unload the bus and then load everything back on the U-haul so that they wouldn’t miss the show. You would never have known it though. They played great and seemed in good spirits, regardless of the long night. The crowd was lovin’ them too. I guess aside from all the mishaps, life is still good for Soil.
I had the pleasure of reviewing the new Three Days Grace release, One-X, a couple of weeks ago. I’m glad that I had the opportunity to do so before seeing this show. I think I got a lot more out of the performance this way. These guys were awesome! Dressed in black shorts and short sleeve button up shirts, accented with white ties, they came out full force and pulled off a flawless show from beginning to end. A lot more aggression comes through on the stage than you hear in their album. I like that.
They played a set complete with the new and the old. The audience really got into “Animal I Have Become”, the first radio single from One-X. We got to hear several new ones, actually. “Pain” is a good song that makes me think he’s singing about bondage. Sorry, it’s probably a very emotionally driven song about love, but in my head it’s not.
“Let’s Start A Riot”, my personal favorite, got everybody going. It’s one of those “fuck the world and screw everybody who ever pissed me off” songs. Of course, they weren’t going to leave without belting out a couple of popular tunes from their previous album, right?
"I Hate Everything About You” was definitely well received! I guess we all relate to that song on some level, and it feels good to scream that at the top of your lungs. Even if the person your thinking of can’t hear you! "This House Is Not A Home”, another radio single, was also a big hit. Three Days Grace kicked ass. I’m glad I decided to like them.
Staind is Staind, and they will always be Staind. I’ve seen them many times, and they are consistently a good live band. I prefer their earlier stuff much more than the new. I liked it when Aaron Lewis was really really angry. You know, BEFORE he began coming to terms with all of his pain. But, hey, it’s good to get it all out in the open too.
They played all the typical radio singles so that all the couples in the audience could kiss and hug and tell each other how cute they were. They played some new ones, which I’m not familiar with because I haven’t heard their latest album. And, they closed the show with my all time favorite angry-Staind song, “Mudshovel”.
All in all, it was a great show! Interestingly enough, I enjoyed Three Days Grace the most of all three bands. Who woulda thought!?