WALLINGFORD, Conn. – Welcome back Ben!!! Benjamin Burnley, the namesake behind the Pennsylvania rawk group Breaking Benjamin, brought his band out of mothballs for a mini East Coast tour that had four stops on it. Luckily for us, Wallingford, Connecticut, made the cut.
Breaking Benjamin had massive success between 2008 and 2010 before Burnley decided to shut the band down for an indefinite period of time. Some say this was due to health reasons, others say he was not thrilled with his band and some of the decision that were made… can I have creative differences for a $1,000 Alex?
During this hiatus, the band released a greatest hits record, Shallow Bay and from some accounts this was done without the permission or acceptance of Burnley. At this point he fired his band, which in turn sued him… four years later, Ben has the name rights to the band and he has decided to do something about it!
This was billed as an evening with Breaking Benjamin with a start time of 8. Well, as most rawk shows go or don’t go, this one went on late, around 8:30. This wasn’t Guns n Roses late, but enough to get the fans a little riled up.
The band opened with So Cold and although it took a few songs to get their sound in order, it was great to see these guys live once again. Follow, Break My Fall, Unknown Soldier and Simple Design came next and musically speaking, these guys sound like they haven’t missed a beat.
Some other songs played in the first half of their set included Blow Me Away, Phase, and Polyamorous. At one point Burnley brought up a friend from another band to sing the song Water. Right after that, the band ripped through some parts of cover songs including Metallica’s For Whom the Bell Tolls (music only) and Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit. Even with the amount of songs they have available to play, it’s always cool to hear a band do a cover song.
This was a two-hour set chock full of songs from their entire catalog of music. Some of the songs in the second half included Home, Shallow Bay, Give Me a Sign, I Will Not Bow, and Lights Out. The band finished off the set with probably their biggest hit and a song that is still played on rawk radio today, The Diary of Jane.
After a short breather, Breaking Benjamin came back out for a five-song encore that included You, Breath, Here We Are, Sooner or Later and an acoustic version of Rain to end the night.
The band had the sold out crowd roaring all night long and definitely gave them their money’s worth, playing 26 songs with very little breaks in between. It’s really great to have this band back playing live and I’m really hoping to hear some new music and possibly a full blown tour to follow.
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