The crowd at Ruoff was definitely more diverse than I anticipated; there were metalheads of all ages, but there were a surprising number of families, including a several sweet little grandmas. This was probably the most active pit I’ve seen in a while as well. There were the obligatory beach balls, but I think it must have been someone’s birthday as well, as security confiscated multiple balloons. It had been blazing hot all week, but it was fairly temperate, which I was grateful for. The pavilion was not completely jam packed, but there was a huge crowd on the lawn!
Others Meditate, and I Promote Calamity
I was well acquainted with Ukrainian metalcore Jinjer prior to this concert and I am so happy to say that. Lead vocalist Tatiana Shmayluk is known for having one of the most dynamic ranges in the industry. In the opener, Perennial, she begins with “standard” vocals (side note—her voice is beautiful), but flip-flopped in and out of that and her infamous guttural growling with ease. The first instance of this literally startled some audience members, and there was so much buzz and chatter around me with people trying to figure out if that is her real voice (it is) and if she is married (she is lol). Stage setup was simple, but worked well. There were a few risers that the guitarist and bassist took advantage of along with Shmalyuk, who was constantly high-kicking and whipping her ponytail braids around. Shmalyuk was the most dynamic and high energy member of the band, and definitely received the most attention, but I don’t think her bandmates mind and the attention is definitely well-deserved.
I’m Living it Up While I’m Falling from Grace
Breaking Benjamin is one of those bands that I often forget about, but that I like when I hear them. They are definitely a nostalgic band and bring me back to middle/high school and were most likely part of the soundtrack of many of our years of teen angst. I actually found out from Jinjer’s frontwoman that this was the last night of the tour and you could REALLY tell during this set. As a whole, the band technically sounded good. But the performance was relatively static, and I was expecting more movement and emoting from everyone on stage. Frontman Benjamin Burnley does have some health issues and knowing this, I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, as I definitely did not want to see him overexert himself. I did enjoy how they used clips from accompanying music videos as their visuals (it was especially impactful during Red Cold River). There were two songs where lead vocals were covered by other members of the band; first was bassist Aaron Bruch performing Simple Design, and then two songs later wasrhythm guitarist Keith Wallen on Sooner or Later. These guys definitely killed their vocals, and the harmonies in other songs sounded good as well. There were a couple of brief technical difficulties in the form of the jumbotron blinking out (we joked that they were using too many filters on the screen at one time), and there were a few instances of way too high bass where it did not belong. Again, this performance was not bad by any stretch, but it was between two raucous, high-energy performances so it got a bit lost.
Sometimes Darkness Can Show You the Light
Whenever I’ve thought about Disturbed in the past, it has been the “OOH WAH AH AH AH” part in Down with the Sickness and that is pretty much it. I will say honestly that they were not my main motivation for coming out (that was Jinjer), but I was super pleasantly surprised to be proven wrong. These guys know how to put on a damn show from minute one of being onstage. There was a really cool silhouette effect where each member of the band was spot lit before the privacy curtain was dropped and then from there, the pyrotechnics and fog and spark showers started and they kept on coming. Not only were the effects over the top, but so was the energy and the performance of all the band members. Bassist John Moyer was a whirling dervish, constantly spinning to other parts of the stage. Drummer Mike Wengren’s setup was reminesentof a chopper motorcycle and featured chrome pipework and pink fuzzy dice, the string of which actually snapped due to a bout of violent playing during his drum solo toward the end of the show. Moyer and lead guitarist Dan Donegan both had solo spotlights as well, and frontmanDavid Draiman was always good about introducing them and hyping up the crowd. Two covers were played, including Simon and Garfunkel’s Sound of Silence, which they brought a string section onstage for, and the other was Genesis’s Land of Confusion. About halfway through the set, A Reason to Fight was played, being preceded by a quick video on the jumbotron regarding mental health awareness and then a moment of silence for those who have been lost to suicide. Draiman absolutely broke down during this part of the performance and it was a lot to experience; at one point, Draiman even joked, “When you bought this ticket I bet you weren’t expecting to be taking part in the world’s largest group therapy session, huh?” Right around the end of the show, he pulled a mom and her two kids up on stage, and a few minutes later was like “whatever, it’s the last night of the tour” and pulled up middle school boys up as well to experience being onstage with the band. A quick addition that was not on previous set lists was singing Happy Birthday to Wendgren, whose birthday was on September 3rd. Down with the Sickness was FINALLY played during the encore, and I can say that the screams are even more satisfying to hear live than they are on the recording.
The Good
Disturbed over-the-top pyro, spark showers, and fog blasts — it just kept on giving
Tatiana Shmalyuk’s infectious charisma
The Not-as-Good
Breaking Benjamin were some sleepy boys.
The Lineup:
Disturbed – Dan Donegan, Mike Wengren, David Draiman, John Moyer
Breaking Benjamin – Benjamin Burnley, Aaron Bruch, Shaun Foist, Jasen Rauch, Keith Wallen
Jinjer – Tetiana Shmailyuk, Roman Ibramkhalilov , Eugene Abdukhanov, Vladislav Ulasevich