The crowds came out enmass to TD Place on Wednesday night but it wasn't to cheer for the RedBlacks or the Ottawa 67s it was to pump their fists in the air, slam into each other in the mosh pits and scream at the top of their lungs all night long as Disturbed rocked Ottawa, their second of only two Canadian stops on their current world tour (the first was the night before in Quebec City).
I have to say I was surprised at how quickly the building filled up last night. With under 10 minutes to go it looked like much of the audience would be coming late but by the time the lights went out it was clear that the show had filled TD Place to capacity. This isn't the first major rock show to visit TD Place since it reopened with it's new look last summer AC/DC rocked the field at TD Place with a spectacular outdoor show that had fans talking for months after.
Last night it was Disturbed who brought along guest acts Nothing More and Chevelle to help build up the crowd energy leading up to Disturbed and they were most definitely up to the task with each group taking the energy up a notch or two with ease.
Nothing More
Kicking things off was Nothing More out of San Antonio Texas. Frontman Jonny Hawkins meant some serious business when he raced out onto the stage shirtless and wasted no time getting the crowd riled up, some minor technical mic issues at the start did little to dampen his enthusiasm as he threw one mic down on the stage and quickly picked up another ( it seemed to take the sound man some time to notice that Jonny had switched mics as Hawkins went on to sing much of the later half of a song in silence...kind of ironic since Disturbed would perform "Sound of Silence" later in the evening so I guess now everyone knows what silence sounds like.
One thing that I look for in a show is what a band brings to the stage to make fans have to see them live. With Nothing More that gimmick has to be "The Bassinator". "The Bassinator" is a contraption built onto Hawkins' percussion kit that holds Daniel Oliver's bass. At one point in the show Oliver and lead guitarist Mark Vollelunga both start playing the same bass and soon after are joined by Hawkins who uses his drumsticks to drum on the chords of the bass.
Chevelle
Chicago area based Chevelle took to the stage next and continued the onslaught onto the crowd. Currently touring in promotion of their 8th studio album, The North Corridor, which has already spawned their fifth number 1 single, "Joyride (Omen)", on Billboard's Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart.
Chevelle's experience really came across on stage with a well orchestrated set covering songs from across their 21 year history (15 years as a recording band), making them the veteran group on this tour. (although Chevelle was technically founded one year after Disturbed Disturbed took a break from 2011 to 2015).
Disturbed
Disturbed really impressed me. Few rock singers can match the vocal power of David Draiman of Disturbed, even with a cold (he told the crowd he was suffering with one last night) he can easily out sing and out power most modern day rockers.
By the time Draiman and co. took to the stage the crowd was a powder keg waiting for something to light the fuse, and then it happened. Pyro, and lots of it. The fists came up and the crowd became Draiman's pons. "My brothers and sisters, my blood" Draiman would say to the crowd "We Are..." aiming the mic to the crowd which responded "Disturbed"! It was chilling and gave me goosebumps to be honest, I loved every second of it.
Of course it's no big secret that Disturbed scored a huge home run with their cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence", which was released late last year. The song played a big part in the band's comeback which began late last June. The song appears on their album Immortalized and is their highest ranking single since "Down With The Sickness". After a brief delay, due to Draiman literally being "Down with the Sickness", the group returned to the stage, much to the delight of thousands of rabid fans, and hammered out a few more songs before wrapping things up with "Down with The Sickness" and a selfie with the audience (I was able to find myself in the photo, let me know in the comments if you were able to see yourself.)
The group is off to Mexico this weekend followed by a few shows in Texas before hitting Cuba and then a tour of down under in Australia and New Zealand and then will begin the European leg of their tour in the new year. Should you happen to be in, or near, a city that Disturbed is going to be performing and can snag a ticket to the show I highly recommend it. Last night's show was by far one of the best rock shows I have seen in years!
Huge thanks to Live Nation for allowing us to cover the show and to TD Place for their hospitality, looking forward to a busy couple of months at TD Place with plenty of amazing shows still to come including the Our Lady Peace, I Mother Earth Tour, Marianas Trench, Simple Plan and many more! For full details checkout www.tdplace.ca
Field Service Tech by day, Live Music Nut by night! My family and I call the Thousand Islands region of Ontario home. I'm a blogger, social media geek, tech, and live music fanatic. I founded Sound Check Entertainment in 2010 to help promote festivals and emerging artists from across Canada and the world! I now act as festivals liaison, manage media relations and, of course, cover events in the National Capital region. I'm also a diehard Habs fan but Sens fans fear not; as long as they aren't playing against my Habs I cheer just as loud for the Sens.
