Disturbed - Promowest Pavillion, Columbus, OH(9.26.02)

Posted by Jeff Modzelewski on 10.04.2002

Disturbed takes The Sickness back out on the road

First off, I have to thank two radio stations here in Columbus for making this review possible. I won tickets from BOTH modern rock radio stations in the city. I won another copy of the CD and two tickets from 107.9 The Big Wazoo and two more tickets and two passes to the after show meet-and-greet from 99.7 The Blitz. I haven’t won concert tickets in over a year, so I don’t know where this little run of luck is coming from. But, what the hell, go me!

Well, the Browns are now 0-2 when I’m not at the game, and 2-0 when I am. Something tells me that I am the good-luck charm here. I’m going to the Browns/Ravens game this Sunday, and, after the Browns victory, I’ll be even more convinced of this fact. Maybe I can get my dad to let me use one of the season tickets every week to guarantee a playoff run! Woo-hoo! Yeah, I doubt that’ll happen too, but it’d be nice.

Ok, on to the show. What can I say? Disturbed came in on Thursday, played for a little over an hour and a half, and kicked some major ass. They opened up with Voices before going into Fear. They did a great job mixing up the set between their first and second album. First album tunes also included The Game, Violence Fetish, Conflict, and Shout. Off the second album they played Liberate, Awaken, Believe, Intoxication, Rise, and Mistress. Of course, they also played their main singles, Down With The Sickness, Stupify, and Prayer. If I missed any songs, I’m sorry, but I got booted in the head pretty good during the set, so the night’s a bit hazy.

Frankly, I don’t think that the band could’ve sounded any better. Every song sounded good. There’s a tendency for heavy bands to sound very muffled live, where you can’t really tell what’s going on in the song musically. The guitar work was very crisp. Dave’s vocals have improved dramatically since the last time I saw them live. I was wondering how well he’d pull off some of the vocal work that’s on the new album, and he did a great job of it. The band didn’t really jam on any of the songs, staying pretty faithful to the album versions, but that’s probably the best way to go for a band like this. The highlight of the show for me was Shout. They do a great version of the song, and the crowd exploded when it started. Overall, the band sounded better than most metal bands tend to sound live.

The crowd wasn’t as into the set as I expected. The floor was packed, but there wasn’t any sort of pit to speak of. Whether or not this was because of the band or just because the crowd was kind of dead, I don’t know. The band themselves really seemed into the set. Dave was actually smiling, something that you hardly ever see from a frontman. The girls in the crowd actually seemed to be enjoying the set as much as the guys, and Dave really played up to that. He moved around a lot on stage, with the girls probably thinking of him as “sexy,” and my buddy calling it “faggy.” Anyways, the energy of the band was more than I expected, but the crowd energy wasn’t.

After the show, I got the chance to actually meet Dave. He was a very nice guy, but not too talkative. I complimented him on the new album, basically saying the same stuff I said in my review. Basically, we chatted a bit about how the writing of the new album differed from the last one, and he thanked me for the compliments. He wasn’t a dickhead rock star, and he really seemed to enjoy meeting the fans.

The opening band was called “A Colder Year.” Not really that good at all. Disturbed was off to the side of the stage watching, and the crowd seemed more interested in them than the band on stage. Not that I blame them, because there was nothing worth watching on stage.

Again, I really have nothing but good things to say about Disturbed. They do more on musically then they need to, which is what separates them from all the mediocre bands out there. I wouldn’t have complained if they decided to play another hour or so, but I know that that’s just not going to happen. Unfortunately, Disturbed’s gearing up to go out on tour with Korn, for some reason. In my personal opinion, Disturbed should be doing their own tour, and continuing to kick Korn’s ass.

The 411: While it’d be difficult to call Disturbed the biggest “underground” band in America, they are one of the biggest hard rock acts. They are definitely worth checking out, although I’d hold off until after the Korn tour and wait for a full headlining tour.

Final Score:  0.0   [ Torture ]