Three Days Grace @ The Old National Centre Egyptian Room — Indianapolis on August 10, 2013
Despite a number of obstacles, including nearly every entrance into the venue being blocked off for a bicycle race, eager fans made their way to the Old National Centre to see longtime Canadian rock band Three Days Grace. Though the award-winning band recently faced the loss of its frontman Adam Gontier earlier this year, they have continued touring fronted by bassist Brad Walst’s brother, Matt Walst. As the doors to the venue opened and tickets were checked, the Egyptian Room at the Old National Centre began to fill up for another night of music and entertainment.
The night kicked off with Otherwise, a hard rock band hailing from Las Vegas, Nevada. The band performed a handful of their singles, including “Soldiers” and “I Don’t Apologize (1000 Pictures),” and even played a short cover of Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing In The Name.” The band performed well, and seemed well-received, but had a fairly generic sound overall, and didn’t win any points for their typical ‘nu metal’ band tendencies. Acts like ridiculing popular bands (specifically One Direction), telling the crowd to throw their middle fingers in the air, and using as many profanities as possible, whenever possible, made the parents in the audience cringe – and there were a lot of them.
Despite both bands’ frustrated teenager demographic, there were shockingly few teenagers in the crowd. Most of the audience for the night consisted of middle-aged men and women in t-shirts and shorts, backwards caps, the whole nine yards – it was the type of crowd typical of a Dave Matthews Band concert. There were children present as well; as many were running around the main floor as they were in the VIP section. The lack of teenagers at the show simply has to be noted, however.
After the opening act left the stage, brightly lit purple fog took their place and concealed the stagehands as they tuned instruments and communicated with the soundboard crew. As the transitive music faded and the lights hit the stage, the crowd went wild and the band ran on stage. Neil Sanderson took to the drums, and the remaining members took their positions sans frontman Matt Walst, who let the rest of the band make final adjustments before enthusiastically running to the front of the stage, microphone in hand and arms wide open as the lights flooded the Egyptian Room.
Three Days Grace began their set with “Chalk Outline,” a track from their most recent album Transit Of Venus. The crowd enjoyed singing along, though their excitement doubled for the more familiar “Just Like You.” Touring frontman Matt Walst, who originated from My Darkest Days, showed his familiarity with the stage with commanding stage presence. Guitarist Barry Stock switched out to a double-neck for “Pain,” an instant crowd-pleaser. As the night progressed, however, and the band played a few of their newer songs, excitement amongst the audience died down a bit. Though Walst asked for a mosh pit at the beginning of “Home,” the most the crowd managed to muster up was a few jumps. It was a similar story when “Home” split into an atmospheric interlude and keyboard/drum solo that the crowd simply didn’t react to.
Though there’s no point in harping on it, it’s hard to argue that Matt Walst’s voice is as powerful as former vocalist Adam Gontier’s. He certainly had his moments, particular in “Get Out Alive” and “The Good Life,” but songs like “Pain” and “Animal I Have Become” made it obvious that post-grunge vocals were not his forté. That’s not to say he did a bad job; in fact, Walst’s voice was consistently on-key throughout the entire set, and some scattered screaming added some variety (albeit unnecessary) to his performance. However, songs like “Riot” simply demanded a bit of extra ‘oomf’ during the chorus that Walst didn’t seem to have.
Nearing the end of the set, Stock took to the microphone to introduce band assistant Shawn Hamm, who rushed onto the stage and burst into a cover of Limp Bizkit’s “Break Stuff.” The crowd went absolutely wild for the song, a change in pace from the awkward silence that blanketed the Egyptian Room prior. Ambiguous responses from the audience were a common theme of the night; though everybody screamed and cheered for the last few songs, they failed once again to form a mosh pit at the band’s request. After finishing “Riot,” Walst began chanting the band’s name, and soon the entire venue flooded with an echoing “Three Days Grace! Three Days Grace!”
The Good: Three Days Grace put on a good show, throwing plenty of hits and new songs alike into the mix. Interaction was good from the band, and their stage presence was good as well.
The Bad: The opening band was a tad generic. Matt Walst’s overly clean vocals detracted from some of the more powerful songs. The crowd also went back and forth between dead and enthusiastic throughout the course of the night.