Disturbed & Breaking Benjamin – Concert Review & Photos

Disturbed, Breaking Benjamin, Alter Bridge, and Saint Asonia recently played to an insane crowd at Gexa Energy Pavilion in Dallas and Keith Higgs, from Monson Photographytx, sent us his review and a ton of photos.

Check out the photos in the gallery above and take a few minutes to read the exciting review of the show below.

The following review was written by Keith Higgs of Monson Photographytx:

"With a lineup such as Disturbed, Breaking Benjamin, Alter Bridge and Saint Asonia you know you are in for a great show and that is exactly what they brought to Dallas. Upon arriving at Gexa Energy Pavilion you could see a long line of fans waiting to get in while standing in the 100 degree Texas summer heat. The fans were HOT and ready to show the bands why Dallas is the best place to play on any tour. They were ready to rock with some of the best in the business

Saint Asonia, fronted by former 3 Days Grace singer Adam Gontier started the night off with one of their songs "Fairy Tale". This got the crowd of close to 20,000 going strong. They followed that with "King of Nothing" and "Dying Slowly" before breaking into one of Adam's older 3 Days Grace songs "Just Like You". The crowd went crazy hearing this and sang back to Gontier as loud as they could. The band followed that with one more of Gontiers older songs to keep the hype going as they played "I Hate Everything About You". They closed with their songs "Better Place" and "Let Me Live My Life." Saint Asonia is for sure a band that is going to make big waves in the very near future so keep a eye out for them.

After the fans got a taste of Gontier's band you could start to feel the energy build. I knew when Alter Bridge hit the stage the place was going to erupt. As Mark Tremonti led his band on the stage the fans were fired up and ready to go. Miles Kennedy hit the stage and owned it for the next 7 songs. His voice was golden and spot on as he started with "Come To Life". The set went on to include "Farther" "Ties" "Isolation" "Metalingus" "Blackbird" and my all time favorite "Rise Today".  Fans were not ready for Alter Bridge to be conclude. The short set left fans wanting more and many were excited to hear that Alter Bridge will be playing again on October 7th at House of Blues.

Up next was Breaking Benjamin. This is a very anticipated show for the fans as most have not seen the band since the hiatus in early 2010. This due to health issues that Benjamin Burnley has been facing since early 2007. When Benjamin hit the stage he was ready to give the performance of his career. The band started with a crowd favorite "So Cold". It was amazing to hear all 20,000 concertgoers singing each and every word back to the band. Breaking Benjamin played 13 more songs, among these were "Angels Fall" "Sooner or Later" and " Blow Me Away". The band then went into an ode to Star Wars, played the Imperial March which lead into great covers of "Schism" by Tool and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. Keeping with the theme of cover songs and being in Dallas Texas home of the greatest rock band ever PANTERA- they decided to pay tribute by having Dave Draiman of Disturbed join them on stage and play "Walk" one of Pantera's many hit songs. By this point fans were so enthralled by this crazy ensemble of songs that Breaking Benjamin put together you could hear talks of what's next??? Well the band responded with "Polyamorous", "Ashes of Eden", "Believe", "Breath", "Failure", "I Will Not Back Down", featuring Adam Gontier, "Until The End" and closing with "The Diary of Jane". There was a point when Benjamin could have stopped singing and just let the crowd finish it for it. Again the sound of 20,000 fans singing with such emotion sent chills down my spine. The band then came to the front of the stage and tossed out guitar picks and drum sticks before taking a bow and thanking Dallas for a great night.

Fans knew it was time for the headliner, the band everyone came to see, Disturbed. At this moment as I stood in the photo pit I saw the faces of fans and listened to the crowd as they awaited the intro for Disturbed. During the recorded video intro the fans reacted with screams for their favorite band to emerge. Disturbed was about to melt Dallas and rebuild the city. Disturbed started the show with "10,000 Fits" and PYRO! The pyrotechnic show alone was well worth the ticket price. The flames were so hot in the photo pit that at one point my camera would not snap a picture.

Disturbed never lets fans down with their set of old and new songs. They also have a stage presence that leaves you talking about the show for days. After the flames died off, the band came back with "The Game" and "The Vengeful One" with even more flames and explosions. The first three songs of this set proved to be a very powerful way to start a show. Bass player John Moyer played to the fans with his high jumps and lavish slaps to the bass neck. All while thumping out the fast paced bass lines to "Prayer", "Liberate", and "Land of Confusion", a cover song by the band Genesis. Disturbed took the fans into the mind of singer Dave Draiman with the next song "Stupify" and then slowed it down with "The Sound of Silence". Sound of Silence is a song by Simon & Garfunkel that really shows the vocal control that Draiman possesses. The band breaks down in acoustic guitars and Draiman lets his voice become the main instrument. The band then picked back up with "Inside the Fire", "Stricken", "Indestructible", "Voices" and closed the night with "Down With the Sickness". Disturbed is by far one of the best live bands to see live."

The review and photos were provided by freelance photographer Keith Higgs, of Monson Photographytx and Through the Lens Magazine. We'll be posting more reviews and photos from Keith very soon.