Breaking Benjamin blows the roof off Verizon Center
Michael McShane
Staff Writer
It was a rock fanatic’s dream come true Friday night as Breaking Benjamin played a fantastic set list that would make any music lover faint.
The concert was packed way before Breaking Benjamin even got up on stage as fans were also jumping up and screaming their hearts out to Fight the Fury, Underoath and Skillet. The group of bands have been on tour going from city to city.
Fight the Fury were the first to go on as they opened up the event. Playing only four songs for their set, they got the mood going with some nice hard rock.
It wasn’t long though until recent Grammy-nominated metal band Underoath came on, and without any need of introduction, blasted the crowd in screaming lyrics. Starting off with a loud one, “On My Teeth” led the pack of heart pumping songs.
Other songs Underoath drilled into the crowd’s hearts were “Hold Your Breath”, “Breathing in a New Mentality” and finishing off with “Sink with You”. At no time were anyone in Verizon Center, let alone in the pit, not on their feet jumping up head-banging throughout the whole set list.
Once Underoath finished their set, it came time for Skillet to come on stage. The band gave the crowd no time to prepare themselves as the Christian heavy metal band had everyone in the palm of their hands with “Feel Invincible”.
Midway through their set list, lead vocalist John Cooper brought to the crowd’s attention, especially to their long-time fans, that Jen Ledger, the drummer and co-lead vocals for the group, was unavailable to come on tour.
Because of this, Jarob Bramlett from The Protest took charge of drums and former lead singer of Flyleaf, Lacey Sturm, joined Cooper on stage. Skillet also played all of its best hits including “Hero” and “Monster”.
As they played one of their songs “Sick of It”, Cooper asked all the people in the crowd to think of things they are sick of in their life.
As he went on, Cooper told the crowd he is personally sick of all his friends in the music industry killing themselves, referring to the deaths of Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington, lead vocalists to Soundgarden and Linkin Park respectfully who both committed suicide in 2017.
After their set, the crowd in the pit and stands began to shuffle back to recharge as everyone knew who was coming on next. When everyone returned, a drape covered the stage and it wasn’t long until the lights died down and the crowd screamed loudly.
Photos by Mansoor Ahmad | MSU Reporter.