DISTURBED

w/ P.O.D., Alterbridge, and Behind Crimson Eyes

Festival hall – Melbourne, 6th September, 2008.

Check out photos from the gig here!

Disturbed’s ‘Music as a Weapon’ tour rolled into Melbourne for the final show of the Australian outing. Coming along for the ride were local boy’s Behind Crimson Eyes, Americans Alter Bridge, and the band everyone liked in high school, P.O.D.

As main support, P.O.D. managed to get some reaction from the crowd, although it was clear who the already full festival hall crowd was there to see. They drew on hits Southtown, Alive, and Youth of the Nation to get some cheers, throughout the set. As he brought out a boy during Youth of the Nation, P.O.D. singer Sonny Sandoval placed the mic to his face to sing the chorus, only to get a shrug of the shoulders, and realising his mistake passed the mic into the crowd for a better rendition next time.

After a change of set, the lights dimmed, turning the stage into a scene from Silence of the lambs. Out came a doctor pushing a trolley with a straight jacket clad man on it. After being released, and removing the straight jacket, and face mask, the beast that is Disturbed‘s lead singer, David Draiman, was unleashed upon the crowd, full of chest pumping in his black overalls.

The crowd, already raring to go, fed off the bands enthusiasm, and went crazy as they kicked into Perfect Insanity. Voices got the crowd going even more, and as they churned through hit after hit with Haunted, Indestructible, Just Stop, Prayer, Deify, Divide, The Game, and their cover of the Genesis track ‘Land of Confusion‘ the crowd never let up their enthusiasm.

The stage set up had drumer Mike Wengren pushed to the very back on a stand, with the guitarist Dan Donegan and bassist John Moyer making good use of the open space, venturing from side to side, but coming off a little choreographed at times. I guess this is a drawback of having a big lighting set up.

“Are you ready to sing some filthy language with me?” preceeded the ‘final’ song of the night, Stupify and the crowd rose to the challenge and swore to their hearts content. Definitely a crowd favourite of the night.

The encore started with the usual speech of we love australia.. etc etc. I dont care for that kind of shit, but from the cheers of the crowd, nearly everyone else did. Following that was a (nearly) flawless rendition of the aussie aussie aussie chant.. only failing on the last hurdle, but yet again, the crowd loved the chance to be patriotic. With the crowd on a high, the band kicked into Indestructables first single inside the fire, followed by Stricken, setting the fans into a frenzy!

“We’ve come to the conclusion that all Australians are infected…with the sickness”

Knowing that this would be their final chance to go crazy, the fans, whether on the floor, the sides, or the balcony, took up the chance for 4 more minutes of insanity, as the band finished the set on a high with Down with the sickness.

Overall the band played a solid 75 minute set of their blend of mainstream metal, with their fans loving every moment of it. The songs were true to the album, with Draiman’s voice holding strong in the live setting. If everyone in the venue does as Draiman asked, and spreads the word so next tour they get to play an arena, it shouldn’t be too long till the men from Chicago return down under.

7.5/10

Review and photos by Scott Boelsen

Header photo by Nadine van Grootveld