Photos and Review by Jeff Palmucci
Galleries: Disturbed, Three Days Grace
Disturbed swung by the Mohegan Sun Arena last Saturday to tour in support of their new Album, Evolved. My first time photographing at the Arena, and I was surprised at how large the venue was given it is smack dab in the center of a casino. I’d say it’s about the size of the DCU center. Now I understand how they are able to book such large acts.
This makes it all the more impressive that Saturday’s show was sold out. There was only one opener that night: Three Days Grace, themselves a huge act. I’m guessing that when you’re a venue in a casino, you don’t need a lot of opening bands to take up the night. There’s s bunch of other things to do all around.
Three Days Grace had a ton of fans in the crowd. You could tell by the amount of signing along with the hits, especially during I Hate Everything About You. Lead signer Matt Walst (with the band since 2013 and yourger brother of bassist Brad Walst) did a good job warming up the crowd. He put on an animated performance urging on the moshers, and then taking a run through the crowd. He also challenged drummer Neil Sanderson to a beer chug in the middle of the show. Surprisingly, Neil lost. Come on man! You’re a drummer! Gotta work on that.
Disturbed came on to a pretty cool light show that integrated a huge video screen in back of the stage. Their performance also included a bunch of lasers drawing patterns on the stage and an insane amount of pyrotechnics. Last time I photographed these guys, I actually thought the stage was going to catch on fire. This time they came closer, with a stage hand having to run out with a fire extinguisher at one point. Now I’m not saying that there is a huge pyromaniac in the band, but if you told me that I’d believe it.
Lots of signing along with Disturbed also. It was kind of cool listening to the crowd fill int he “Whoas” during Land of Confusion.
They had a good mix of some older stuff and new tunes off Evolution. I’m really enjoying the new album. The band put up two of my favorites on YouTube: No More and Are You Ready. Give them a listen.
A smaller stage was set up at the back of the general admission floor area. The did a few songs back in this more intimate setting, starting with Reason to Fight. Before the song they put up a display with phone numbers to an addiction and suicide prevention hotline. Draiman gave a touching speech about how widespread these issues are before breaking into the song about the same.
After finishing on the back stage, they had the main stage configured for Sound of Silence. Featured were a string section, kettle drums, and a piano. As the song got more intense towards the end the pyrotechnics kicked in, including lighting the piano on fire. Not saying that these guys are all a bunch of pryos, but again, I wouldn’t be surprised. I bet Simon and Garfunkle never did that.
They ended the show with an amazing 5 song encore. It was practically another set. Make sure you stick around, or you’ll be missing a ton.
After leaving the show, I found myself thinking “Hmm, the poker room is right around the corner.” I think I’m going to like this venue.
Disturbed and Three Days Grace at the Mohegan Sun Arena – Uncasville, CT
