Sold Out House Of Blues Crowd Comes Down With The Sickness

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All Photos By Larry Petro/Petrofyed Photography

When Chicago rockers DISTURBED announced in 2011 that the band was going on a 'hiatus' after storming the heavy metal scene back in 2000 with the smash hit "Down With The Sickness" and releasing 5 very successful albums, many in the rock world wondered if DISTRUBED was simply using the hiatus to quietly ride off into the sunset. Its members had all gotten involved in other projects like bassist John Moyer joining ADRENALINE MOB and vocalist David Draiman creating his industrial metal side project DEVICE. Still, the DISTURBED faihtful held out hope that one day their heroes would reemerge to kck ass once again. Indeed the band did reemerge in late 2015 with the release of their sisxth studio album, Immortalized, and just like that, fans came down with the sickness once again.

The band is now out on the road for the first time since the album's release and, according to Draiman, the entire run of mid-sized venues sold out in just 48 hours, a testament to the appeal that DISTURBED never lost. The only question that remained to be seen was 'are they really back?'. The answer for the sold out crowd at the Houston House of Blues on March 24th was an overwhelming 'yes'!

Florida groove metallers NONPOINT, led by frontman Elias Soriano, were tapped as direct support for this tour and they took the stage precisely at 8:15, getting fists pumping with "Miracle", the title track of the 2010 album of the same name. The band was in fine form and very active, so much so that certain members such as bassist Adam Woloszyn made it difficult for us photographers to get good shots. The band played a brief 30 minute set but made the most of their allotted time with tracks like "Hands Off", "Misery", "Breaking Skin" and set closer "Bullet With A Name". My first time to catch a performance from NONPOINT will not be my last.

Songs played included:

• "Miracle"
• "What A Day"
• "Hands Off"
• "Misery"
• "The Truth"
• "That Day"
• "Breaking Skin"
• "Fuck'd"
• "Bullet With A Name"

The stage was changed over fairly quickly and at 9:20 DISTURBED kicked things into a whole higher level with "Ten Thousand Fists", the band's 2005 album title track. Maybe more bands should take a multi-year break like this because DISTURBED appeared to be fully recharged and ready to storm the world again, and did their very best in Houston. The band went all the way back to the first disc for the next song "The Game" before ramping up to the present for "Vengeful One", the first single/video from the Immortalized opus. David Draiman and company had the pedal to the heavy metal with a pair of tracks from the smash 2002 album Believe (this reviewer's favorite album), Prayer" and "Liberate", followed by their cover of GENESIS' "Land Of Confusion". Two songs later the band would once again perform a cover, this time SIMON & GARFUNKEL's "Sound Of Silence", while throughout the entire show the crowd sang every word of every song. "Inside The Fire", "Stricken" were up next along with "The Light", another new tune from Immortalized, before the band performed a 4 song medley that consisted of portions of "Closer" (NINE INCH NAILS), "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (U2), "Teenage Wasteland (Baba O'Riley)" (THE WHO) and the RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE classic "Killing In The Name Of", the last of which the band was joined onstage by NONPOINT's Soriano to sing with Draiman. The band closed their pre-encore performance with "Indestructible", before returning for a pair of debut album tunes, "Voices" and set closer "Down With The Sickness".

It was a triumphant return for DISTURBED and for those of you who didnt manage to catch them this time around, fear not, for the band is jumping to an outdoor shed tour this summer with BREAKING BENJAMIN. This is one show you do not want to miss!

Setlist:

• "Ten Thousand Fists"
• "The Game"
• "Vengeful One"
• "Prayer"
• "Liberate"
• "Land Of Confusion" (GENESIS Cover)
• "Stupify"
• "Darkness"
• "Sound Of Silence"
• "Inside The Fire"
• "Stricken"
• "The Light"
• "Closer"/"Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"/"Teenage Wastelend"/"Killing In The Name Of" Medley
• "Indestructible"

Encore:

• "Voices"
• "Down With The Sickness"

Check out some more photos from the show!
All Photos By Larry Petro/Petrofyed Photography