Wednesday nights don’t get much better than this. I’m talking about a Southern California evening at Mattress Firm Amphitheatre located in San Diego with open bands Bad Wolves, Nothing More, Five Finger Death Punch and ending with our featured artist for this review, Breaking Benjamin.

Breaking Benjamin started the show with “Red Cold River” which is the lead single from their latest Album Ember.  Then we get hit right between the eyes with the thunderous “I will not Bow” from the 2009 release Dear Agony. The crowd is pumped and it is very contagious.  Most of Breaking Benjamin’s songs have great Riffs and Hooks and you instantly become a fan once you listen to them.  After the opening songs you knew that Breaking Benjamin was here to heat things up, kick ass and take names. The night just kept getting better and better with songs like “Never Again”, “Breath” and a very cool Medley starting with the Star Wars ‘Imperial March” and featuring Songs from Tool, Nirvana, Pantera and Metallica. The Medley drove the crowd to new levels of excited bliss and then the Drum Solo and everyone went ballistic.  Nothing like a good old fashion Drum Solo when done right and Shaun knew what the crowd wanted.  Something that gets over looked are the Lyrical content of Breaking Benjamin’s songs. There are some great messages in their songs including one of my favorite lines of theirs in the song “Sooner or Later”, “Your Scream is Burning through my Veins…” and the song delivers hard and heavy and hits home for many of us and it progresses from “your life” to “my life” to “our life”.  Then we get another great song “Blow me Away” from 2009’s Dear Agony release which is a personal favorite because one of my friends bandmates sings on the song on the album.  It’s a powerful song and deserves your immediate attention.  Next was the killer song “So Cold”, Followed by “Angels Fall”, “Psycho” and “Failure”, all songs have catchy hooks and make you want to turn it up and sing along.  Breaking Benjamin doesn’t really have many weak songs.  They are brilliant song writers and lyricist and I can’t say enough good things about their music. They are one of the rare bands that I will buy their albums sight unseen.

Back to the show with another amazing song “Until the End”, very intelligent lyrically and I’m sure it has helped many listeners who are feeling depressed and down.  The crowd has been on cloud 9 for this entire show and it seemed like there was no end. The band finished the night with “Believe”, “Torn in Two” and a fan favorite “The Diary of Jane”.  I can’t wait to see them again and hope all people reading this will support this band’s music. Give them a listen and you will become a Fan.

Breaking Benjamin:

Benjamin Burnley – Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar

Shaun Foist – Drums, Percussion

Jasen Rauch – Lead Guitar, Strings

Keith Wallen – Rhythm Guitar, Vocals

Aaron Bruch – Bass, Backing Vocals

Mattress Firm San Diego Set List:

1. Red Cold River
2. I will not Bow
3. Never Again
4. Breath
5. Imperial March / Schism / Smells like teen spirit / Walk / Sad But True
6. Drum Solo
7. Sooner or Later
8. Blow me Away
9. So Cold
10. Angels Fall
11. Psycho
12. Failure
13. Until the End
14. Believe
15. Torn in Two
16. The Diary of Jane

Review by Storm@backstage360.com

Venue:  Mattress Firm Amphitheatre