Breaking Benjamin brought their final headlining performance of 2018 to Hard Rock Live’s Etess Arena inside of the Hard Rock Casino in Atlantic City, NJ for an evening full of hit songs and they even brought along their friends in From Ashes To New for a rockin’ New Years Eve Eve. This evening was a special one not only cause it was the bands final performance of the year but also because this show is a hometown show for Breaking Benjamin’s own Benjamin Burnley, who was actually born right in Atlantic City as he greeted the crowd saying, “Atlantic City, How the f-ck is everyone doing tonight, man it’s so good to be home, I was born right here in Atlantic City. I wanna see and hear each and everyone of you guys singing each and every word tonight.”
Launching the evening of impeccable rock music was Lancaster, Pennsylvania’s own From Ashes To New, who have been conquering the world with their rap infused rock music whose music has been dominating the radio with their chart topping singles like “Through It All” and their latest single “Crazy.” The band brought the energy on-stage from the beginning to the end of their set, bursting into their song “The Future” from their latest record, The Future (released via Eleven Seven Music on April 20th, 2018). The song instantly got the crowd singing along but when they performed their single “Crazy,” the crowd knowing every word, began to really get into their unique sound. The band’s empowerment anthem “My Name” was definitley a highlight of their set as it’s one of our favorite songs from the band on never stopping or giving up and always pushing through until the world knows your name, which is just what From Ashes To New have done. They may have gotten a new vocalist in the band and lost their original but that didn’t stop the band from dominating radio with their new music with new frontman Danny Case, this small obstacle didn’t stop rapper Matt Brandyberry from continuing the band and continuing the tour grind making the world know From Ashes To New’s name. Ending their set with an unbelievably perfect tribute to Linkin Park and their late frontman Chester Bennington, performing a blend of the bands “Heavy” and “Papercut” in which the band did an impeccable job of covering the two, Case sounding almost like Bennington during “Heavy.” Finishing their set with their biggest hit and the song that put the band on the maps, “Through It All.”
Breaking Benjamin exploding onto the stage in the birthplace of frontman Benjamin Burnley, to the impressive roars of the first single “Red Cold River” from their latest record, Ember. This show marking the last show of the year for the band who have been treking across the U.S. and Canada all year long co-headlining with Five Finger Death Punch as well as performing several headlining shows of their own throughout the entire year, but Breaking Benjamin is not slowing down anytime soon as they just recently announced some spring tour plans for 2019 already. You can find details on those tour plans, HERE.
Breaking Benjamin powered through a 16-song setlist that was full of smash rock hits including songs from their latest chart topping record, Ember, with “Red Cold River,” “Psycho,” and “Torn In Two” but also including three tracks from their 2015 release of their No. 1 album, Dark Before Dawn. The remaining songs on their setlist included a selection of songs that would be considered the bands greatest hits from the bands plethora of chart topping songs including several Gold, Platinum, and Double Platinum hits certified by the RIAA. Also in their setlist about halfway through their set, the band had a medley of cover songs that are songs everyone loves including a Star Wars themed The Imperial March, Pantera’s “Cowboys from Hell,” Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” complete with a massive drum solo from the band drummer, Shaun Foist. We were impressed at Foist’s drum solo as he gave a pounding unique sound even interacting with the fans as he soloed.
“We love seeing you guys rockin’ out, out there dude, I am so grateful for doing this for 20 god damn years, you believe that sh-t? 20 f-cking years. That is because of the support of you guys out there, We ain’t sh-t without you guys. We are so grateful for each and everyone of you and we love you!” -Benjamin Burnley
The band sounded better than they have ever sounded before live this time around, as with the amount of touring the band does, I can only imagine how that allows them to perfect their live sound. Personally, I think that the band sounds better live then they do on their recorded records as the energy put forth into their live performance is a force to be reckoned with. Not to mention the band overall seems to be at their happiest, as all of them could be seen with the smile not leaving their face throughout their 2-hour performance. The band is an incredible talented group of guys all of which allow their talented to shine during a live performance including vocally by Benjamin Burnley, Aaron Bruch, and Keith Wallen, but also instrumentally with Shaun Foist on drums and Jasen Rauch on lead guitars.
Ending their set before an amazing encore with “Torn In Two” in which frontman Ben Burnley entered the crowd for a more intimate experience getting closer to and singing with fans directly in the near capacity arena crowd on the general admission floor. Burnley being in his birthplace of Atlantic City, NJ brought out his Mother and her friend as well as his childhood friend to introduce them to crowd and allowed them to stay on stage for their encore performance of “The Diary Of Jane.” Also, during “The Diary Of Jane” Breaking Benjamin brought some of their younger fans on stage filling the stage with their VIP fans, family, children with their family who adore the band and even a dog this time around and Burnley performed directly to them.
Check out the photos from the show below by @AWendowskiPhoto:
Breaking Benjamin Spring 2019 tour dates:
Mar. 15 – Saginaw, MI – Dow Event Center *
Mar. 18 – Evansville, IN – Ford Center *#
Mar. 20 – Moline, IL – TaxSlayer Center *
Mar. 21 – Milwaukee, WI – Eagles Ballroom *
Mar. 23 – La Crosse, WI – La Crosse Center Arena *
Mar. 25 – Madison, WI – The Sylvee *
Mar. 27 – Sioux City, IA – Tyson Events Center *
Mar. 29 – Mankato, MN – Verizon Center *
Mar. 31 – Bismarck, ND – Bismarck Event Center *
Apr. 02 – Rapid City, SD – Barnett Arena *#
Apr. 05 – Broomfield, CO – 1STBANK Center +
Apr. 07 – Casper, WY – Casper Events Center ^
Apr. 08 – Billings, MT – Rimrock Auto Arena ^
Apr. 10 – Kennewick, WA – Toyota Center –
# public on sale begins Friday, December 21 at 10 a.m. local time
* With SKILLET / UNDEROATH / FIGHT THE FURY
+ With UNDEROATH / DIAMANTE
^ With ASKING ALEXANDRIA / UNDEROATH / DIAMANTE
– With ASKING ALEXANDRIA / DIAMANTE
