Hershey, Pennsylvania, September 22nd, 2007 Options

[SJN1279]

Newspaper review stolen from SOY:

The Hersheypark Stadium summer concert season closed with an exhaustive bang Saturday: an economical, if emotionally confusing, five-band bill.

Opener Seether began with a brief, albeit thundering and angry, set highlighted by its hit "Broken" (minus Evanescence’s Amy Lee) and Shaun Morgan running through bits of the other bands’ tunes to let the audience know what they were in for.

Collective Soul was an interesting, if odd, choice to come next, playing its insightful, optimistic tunes. "Where the River Flows" was marred by singer Ed Roland’s quivering falsetto, but the insistent "December," a rollicking "Run," a crunchy "Hollywood" and a beautiful "World I Know" made up for the strange start.

The band ended with its first hit, a looser, easier version of "Shine."

It seemed as though most people were in the stadium to see neo-metallers Three Days Grace, and the band didn’t let anyone down. While its persistent blend of loud and soft, sweet and heavy got repetitive, it cranked out songs like "Just Like You," "Drown," "I Hate Everything About You," "Riot" and "Never Too Late" with crackling speed.

"Scared" got the pit on the ground moving like a giant amoeba (the seats had been removed for moshing), and the haunting "Home" wrapped things up on an eerie note.

Wilkes-Barre native Breaking Benjamin was another crowd favorite, probably because it sounded very much like Three Days Grace. It seemed as though the less, shall we say, intellectual or thoughtful bands got a better response overall, which made the combination even more interesting.

Starting with "The Diary of Jane" and blasting through "Until the End," "Breath," "Breakdown," "Shallow Bay" and "Sooner or Later," Breaking Benjamin couldn’t decide if it wanted to be a rock band, a metal band or a death metal band. Singer Ben Burnley favored a Cookie Monster-esque roar with his open-throated bellow throughout. "Break My Fall" and "So Cold" ended its hourlong set.

The organization of the night was stellar, with bands efficiently booking through their sets.

York’s Live was the peace-and-love portion of the show, maybe to its detriment. Singer Ed Kowalczyk was by far the finest singer of the night, breezing operatically through "All Over You," "Waitress," "River" and a lovely "Mirror Song" in his Cat Stevens-like voice.

Other set highlights were "Where Do We Go From Here," a fascinating take on Johnny Cash’s "I Walk the Line" (which Live made so much its own it almost sounded like it had done the song first), "Wings" and a hair-raisingly tense "I Alone."

So if the mental tug of flat-out aggression and self-loathing vs. optimism and spiritual uplift didn’t jar you, this was your show.

KIRA L. SCHLECHTER: 257-4763
or kschlechter@patriot-news.com

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/patriotne...ticle172645.ece

[crazy1]

I thought Live put on a stellar performance. I went there to see Live and Breaking Benjamin but I was totally impressed with 3 Days Grace! I was shocked at how many songs I actually knew. Breaking Benjamin was good, not as impressive as 3DG.
When the lead singer of BB played a little of Lakini's Juice, I said "OMG, I know that song!!" DUH! Sometimes I don't know where my brain is.

When Live came on the people around me lacked enthusiasm, I felt like I was the only one clapping and screaming. I guess I'm just used to being up front at every concert. I was shocked at how many people left after BB. Not trying to be negative (this board has been criticized by other boards as being negative and unappreciative of Live) but maybe if they would have opened up with Dam @ Otter Creek or Lakini's Juice the crowd would have stayed around?

This post has been edited by crazy1: Sep 24 2007, 12:00 pm

[SJN1279]

I thought Live put on a stellar performance. I went there to see Live and Breaking Benjamin but I was totally impressed with 3 Days Grace! I was shocked at how many songs I actually knew. Breaking Benjamin was good, not as impressive as 3DG.
When the lead singer of BB played a little of Lakini's Juice, I said "OMG, I know that song!!" DUH! Sometimes I don't know where my brain is.

When Live came on the people around me lacked enthusiam, I felt like I was the only one clapping and screaming. I guess I'm just used to being up front at every concert. I was shocked at how many people left after BB. Not trying to be negative (this board has been criticized by other boards as being negative and unappreciative of Live) but maybe if they would have opened up with Dam @ Otter Creek or Lakini's Juice the crowd would have stayed around?

I'm glad you enjoyed the show. I don't think it would have made much of a difference what Live opened with. I think there was a total generation gap with Live and Collective Soul on one side and Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace and Seether on the other. It was a weird mix for a festival.

[LovinLIVE]

I thought Live put on a stellar performance. I went there to see Live and Breaking Benjamin but I was totally impressed with 3 Days Grace! I was shocked at how many songs I actually knew. Breaking Benjamin was good, not as impressive as 3DG.
When the lead singer of BB played a little of Lakini's Juice, I said "OMG, I know that song!!" DUH! Sometimes I don't know where my brain is.

When Live came on the people around me lacked enthusiam, I felt like I was the only one clapping and screaming. I guess I'm just used to being up front at every concert. I was shocked at how many people left after BB. Not trying to be negative (this board has been criticized by other boards as being negative and unappreciative of Live) but maybe if they would have opened up with Dam @ Otter Creek or Lakini's Juice the crowd would have stayed around?

I completely agree, LIVE was GREAT!!! Unfortunately only a fraction of the original crowd got to see them. I know it had been a long hot day for many people, so I understand, especially if they were not as familiar with LIVE. I really thought more people would stay especially after the response BB got from the little bit of "Lakini's Juice" they played. Starting off with "All Over You" and "Waitress" was great, but when they went into a few of the lighter songs more people left. It was a bit disappointing to watch that happen, but my group kept singing, yelling, clapping, and goin' with the flow. A girl from a different part of our section came over to join us, because no one in her area was really getting into it. I hope they enjoyed it, but were just too tired to be as enthusastic as we were. This was my last show that I have tickets for this year. I'm still hoping for an Atlantic City show (or anyplace close by)later in the fall. Thanks to LIVE for a great spring and summer of fabulous shows!

[crazy1]

I completely agree, LIVE was GREAT!!! Unfortunately only a fraction of the original crowd got to see them. I know it had been a long hot day for many people, so I understand, especially if they were not as familiar with LIVE. I really thought more people would stay especially after the response BB got from the little bit of "Lakini's Juice" they played. Starting off with "All Over You" and "Waitress" was great, but when they went into a few of the lighter songs more people left. It was a bit disappointing to watch that happen, but my group kept singing, yelling, clapping, and goin' with the flow. A girl from a different part of our section came over to join us, because no one in her area was really getting into it. I hope they enjoyed it, but were just too tired to be as enthusastic as we were. This was my last show that I have tickets for this year. I'm still hoping for an Atlantic City show (or anyplace close by)later in the fall. Thanks to LIVE for a great spring and summer of fabulous shows!

I'm hopeful for another show in the NJ/PA area but they are heading back West and I don't think they will come back our way for a while. (just my opinion) I was thinking of going to the Vegas show but with work & school and lack of funds I decided not to go.

[Tina]

Live usually plays Atlantic City around November every year. I can only hope they do that again. I'll pray.

[WaiterAtCliftons]

My full review

Seether - For their 35 minute set I thought it was a good one. Shaun sounded great. I was really looking forward to see how he is doing so soon after the whole rehab thing. And for only having 3 guys Shaun really had to make up for the missing guitar which he did a great job. Seether is my second favorite band and it made my night to hear him introduce Live, I never thought I'd hear the words "Give it up for mother fuckin' LIVE", come out of Shauns mouth hah.

Collective Soul - Surprised me, I really thought they'd be the worst band of the night but that has to go to someone else. I thought they sounded great very smooth.

Three Days Grace - Probably the band I was most impressed by, even if I don't think they did a better job than Live. They were great and they've come a long way since I saw them at the Chameleon about 3 years ago wow! I'm a huge TDG fan and they totally rocked the place.

Breaking Benjamin - I enjoyed the old stuff but seriously can they make 2 songs that don't sound exactly alike? They were good but the worst of the night, which is saying a lot about how good the whole show was. I really don't get the phenom around them? They were cool and original with their early stuff, but my god it irritates me to see a band with so much talent wasting it playing the same song over and over again anymore. It was very nice to hear Ben giving props to the boys, very nicely done.

Live - Was fuckin' awesome! They kept the set moving and just rocked out. Loved hearing Waitress again in concert, I could've done without the la da da lets all sing together at the end, but it was great hearing it! Probably the best performance I've seen of Walk the Line. Ed's vocals were spot on, and the rest of the band sounded great. Chad T. was a lunatic out there it was great! Would've liked a couple more songs but I understand that they wanted all the bands to stick to their times.

What a Great Show....

[Jennyfoo]

Satuday was my 30th Live show, my 27th Collective Soul Show, my 4th Breaking Benjamin show and my first 3 Days Grace show. Thats alot goin' on in one day and it was freakin' awesome! Its funny how different people's opinions are... thats 2 people that I know that hated Breaking Benjamin and they were actually my favorite set of the day.

Here are all the setlists if anyone cares about that.

We missed most of Seether, but we heard a few songs on the walk from the car to the stadium.

Collective Soul Set List:
1. Where the River Flows
2. Heavy
3. December
4. Run
5. Why pt 2
6. Hollywood
7. World I Know
8. Shine

3 Days Grace Setlist:
1. Animal I Have Become
2. Just Like You
3. ??????
4. I Hate Every Thing About You
5. Pain
6. Riot
7. Get Out Alive
8. Never Too Late
9. Scared
10. Home

Breaking Benjamin Setlist:
1. Intro/ Diary Of Jane
2. Had Enough
3. Until The End
4. Breath
5. Topless
6. Breakdown
7. Polyamorous
8. Shallow Bay
9. Sooner or Later
10. Break My Fall
11. So Cold

Live Setlist:
1. All Over You
2. Waitress!
3. the River
4. Mirror Song
5. Dolphins Cry
6. Where do we go from Here
7. Stood Up For Love
8. Walk the Line
9. Wings
10. Run To the Water
11. I Alone
12. Heaven
13. Shit Towne
14. Lakini's Juice
15. Lightning Crashes

[crazy1]

Satuday was my 30th Live show, my 27th Collective Soul Show, my 4th Breaking Benjamin show and my first 3 Days Grace show. Thats alot goin' on in one day and it was freakin' awesome! Its funny how different people's opinions are... thats 2 people that I know that hated Breaking Benjamin and they were actually my favorite set of the day.

Here are all the setlists if anyone cares about that.

We missed most of Seether, but we heard a few songs on the walk from the car to the stadium.

Collective Soul Set List:
1. Where the River Flows
2. Heavy
3. December
4. Run
5. Why pt 2
6. Hollywood
7. World I Know
8. Shine

3 Days Grace Setlist:
1. Animal I Have Become
2. Just Like You
3. ??????
4. I Hate Every Thing About You
5. Pain
6. Riot
7. Get Out Alive
8. Never Too Late
9. Scared
10. Home

Breaking Benjamin Setlist:
1. Intro/ Diary Of Jane
2. Had Enough
3. Until The End
4. Breath
5. Topless
6. Breakdown
7. Polyamorous
8. Shallow Bay
9. Sooner or Later
10. Break My Fall
11. So Cold

Live Setlist:
1. All Over You
2. Waitress!
3. the River
4. Mirror Song
5. Dolphins Cry
6. Where do we go from Here
7. Stood Up For Love
8. Walk the Line
9. Wings
10. Run To the Water
11. I Alone
12. Heaven
13. Shit Towne
14. Lakini's Juice
15. Lightning Crashes

Thanks to everyone who shared their reviews!!!
I didn't think BB was bad, I was just really impressed by 3DG.