Fans swarmed the floor of Reliant Arena on Tuesday, throwing anything they could get their hands on, crowd surfing and slamming into each other in wild pits on the strictly contained floor – it’s too bad all of the bands couldn’t match their performance.
Red, Seether, Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace took the stage in front of what had to be one of the best reactions from a crowd this year, but some performances were disappointing.
Red started the show with a mix of hard-hitting songs that generated positive reactions. The crowd was half-filled for the band and seemed to respond with general enthusiasm.
However, when lead singer Mike Barnes asked the crowd, "Houston, you guys got cell phones? Lets get ’em up in the air," it was over. It must be concert taboo to ask for cell phones in place of lighters. The crowd was already adorned with floating screens as people took pictures, so why ask for such a ridiculous and redundant gesture?
Thankfully, Seether came out with guns blazing as the trio began to stir the growing crowd of maniacs on the floor. As the hard rock trio played, the beastly nature spilled over the front lines. Crowd surfers began floating wildly while security did its best to accept the surrendered bodies.
Seether packed its set with radio epics and album favorites; the band turned the switch on for the rest of the night – the floor was an endless eruption for the entire 45-minute set. The crowd was treated to a special performance of "Broken" with members of other bands present, including lead singer Adam Gontier from Three Days Grace.
The set was too short for a band that could have easily doubled its playing time without a single moment of disappointment. "Remedy" closed the short set, which was devoid of "No Jesus Christ," a song that will find itself in every show on Seether’s next headlining tour.
It became easier to gain perspective on what kind of crowd was present between bands. For a mildly volatile floor crowd, the makeup was wildly mixed: platinum blond Barbies arrayed in rock ‘n’ roll attire and foul-smelling hard rockers .
Most apparent was the inexperienced horde of high school kids gathered in mini-cliques or under the paranoid and watchful eyes of their parents.
As the classy evening continued, Breaking Benjamin increased the angst in the crowd, opening with "Diary of Jane."
Breaking Benjamin sadly disappointed, though, when lead singer Ben Burnley ducked backstage and the rest of the band performed a disgusting montage of rock riffs. The drummer started the short descent with a decent solo behind the ridiculous palate of an excessively decorated drum kit.
But what began as a tasty solo quickly turned sick with the bassist’s massacre of Metallica’s "For Whom the Bell Tolls." The bass line was butchered so badly that I’m sure Cliff Burton turned over in his grave. As the montage continued, the crowd bought into it, but it was a truly disgusting display of amateurism.††
Thankfully Breaking Benjamin redeemed itself tenfold as Burnley showed an extreme dedication to the fans. Shaun Morgan, lead singer of Seether, waltzed out on stage to help the band perform an amazing cover of the Deftones’ "Change (In the House of Flies)," while Burnley tossed out free water to the overheating crowd.
Sadly, Three Days Grace could not show the same courtesy to the half-drunken crowd as they closed with the worst performance of the night. The mix was way off, with Gontier’s vocals drowning out the rest of the band, and the snare drum piercing the ears with each overly bright stroke. Fans could have stayed home and listened to the album instead of being tortured by a grossly over-hyped sound. The performance never peaked above average with the band as a whole sounding completely hollow in comparison to the previous assailment of the night’s lineup.
Gontier even took it a step down with an acoustic performance of "Rooster" by Alice in Chains that was fair at best. It was no shock that most of the crowd began to file out during the band’s performance.
Overall, it was the best rock show to hit Houston in a while. Though some of the performances were lacking, the vibe was completely intact and the crowd was feeding off of it rabidly. Seether and Breaking Benjamin dominated the stage while Red and Three Days Grace were overwhelming disappointments.
It is comforting to know that at least Houston has not lost its taste for violent mosh pits and its whimsical need for crowd surfing.
