Disturbed Performs at the House of Blues

17:00 April 04, 2016

The funniest thing I read post-show at the House of Blues was "people still listen to Disturbed?" One look at the sold-out crowd would give you a definitive answer.  The advent of nu-metal in the mid-90s played host to several bands experimenting with a time-tested genre.  The bulk of them just seemed to copy off one another and in turn fade away.  Bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Staind have somehow managed to stand the test of time by taking that mentality that started the whole idea and evolving it with the ever-changing music scene.  Another one of these bands was Disturbed.  Opting to stay clear of the whole rap infusion, David Draiman and company went the route of "wild animal" instead.

Nonpoint started the evening off and kept the energy up for the whole set.  That energy without a doubt bled over into Disturbed’s set.  The band showed a five minute or so pump up video spanning their career before going on stage.  The evening’s set list surprisingly wasn’t stacked with songs from last year's, Immortalized, but was heavy on the group's debut, The Sickness.  Even though the biggest crowd reaction of the night was when the band launched into “Down with the Sickness,” the rest of the evening still carried that type of energy.  There was plenty of crowd participation all evening and the acoustic set proved to be extra special as the band played their latest single, a cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence.”  The amazing thing about their cover is how unlike many other covers of that song, the band completely embraced it and found an angst in it that somehow made the lyrics even more haunting and beautiful. 

It’s funny how a band with so much rage can weave a message of hope throughout their set.  A final moment that mirrored that amazing disconnect was after the show when Draiman left to get into his ground transport holding his son and ushering his wife forward.  This was by far not a slight to fans, but more over a love of family.  

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