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02/10/2007 Breaking Benjamin, Burden Brothers, Leo (Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom)
By Eric | February 10, 2007 8:21 pm
Well, 11 months without a show is no way to live! This was a great show to get back into the swing of rockin out, with no shortage of energy. Adam and I pretty much walked right into the venue, found us a spot on the third tier ring, off to the right of the stage. Perfect view, a barrier to lean against, no one behind us.
Leo was up first, an indie rock band from St. Louis. They weren’t too bad at all, kinda heavy but with the soaring vocals. I wasn’t surprised to learn that they had influences from Jeff Buckley and Ours to Soundgarden and Tool. That’s exactly what it sounded like. My socks weren’t knocked off, but I wasn’t snoring either.
The Burden Brothers were next, and I was excited to see these guys. Vaden Todd Lewis fronts this band, and he was the lead singer for the Toadies, whom I really liked, and this band doesn’t disappoint either. They played a nice mix of songs off of both of their albums, and the crowd slowly got into them as the set went along. The response would have been better I think if there had been some more song recognition, because there was no shortage of energy from the band. In no particular order, the set list included: Shine, Everybody is Easy, Good night from Chicago, I am a cancer, Buried in your black heart, Beautiful night, Come on Down, and Walk Away. Even better was the fact that the entire band was at the merch booth after the show, so I was able to pick up the new disc, Mercy, and get it signed!
But before the signing was the headliner of the night. The show was sold out, and there was no doubt that everyone was there for Breaking Benjamin. There was also no doubt that most people were not there just for the radio songs, because most everyone was singing along all night. Emphatically. The band came out to a thunderous ovation, and kicked into Polyamorous, and right into Home. Switching up albums, Shallow Bay and Breakdown were next, before they finally picked off the new album with Topless. Away was next, and then heavy on the Phobia tunes, with Diary of Jane (with the album intro), Dance With the Devil, Until The End, Had Enough, and Breath. There wasn’t much stopping in-between songs, and very little talking, just a lot of rocking! Sooner or Later was next, followed by Break My Fall, and then a cover of Depeche Mode’s Enjoy The Silence, which was actually very well done, and deviated a bit from the original. They closed the main set with So Cold, and this was one of the few crowds that kept the chant for the encore going the entire time the band was off-stage. I was quite impressed with the volume level in the place, and I think the band was too. They came back out to start the encore with You, and after saying goodbye one more time, launched into Blow Me Away. Which it did, as that’s probably my favorite BB song, and I wasn’t expecting to hear it, seeing as it’s essentially a B-side. It was an excellent show, the sound/acoustics were great, the venue was nice, and it was completely worth the $20 for the ticket. Great way to start my ’07 concert series!
Thanks to the magic of technology, someone has uploaded three songs from this show to YouTube, so I’m linking them here. The sound sucks, but it gives you an idea!
Polyamourous
Shallow Bay
Breath
Sooner or Later
So Cold
You
Blow Me Away
Topics: Concerts | Tags: 2007, Breaking Benjamin, Buffalo, Burden Brothers, Leo, Town Ballroom | 2 Comments »
February 13th, 2007 at 12:20 am
town ballroom is awesome
February 15th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
Yeah, I’d never been there before, but I was real impressed with it. Didn’t seem like it’d be too bad on the floor either. I’m curious to see what the dome in NF is like, cuz I haven’t been there either.