American hard rock band, Breaking Benjamin have made their long awaited return to not only Manchester but the UK in general! After nine long years the long awaited tour has reached us, originally they were set up to play the Ritz before the not so shocking upgrade to Victoria Warehouse, honestly they could’ve gone arena way if they really wanted especially with how fast tickets sold out.
When this tour got announced not one person I knew didn’t share the announcement all over their Instagram stories, TikTok videos were being made by any alternative person left right and centre and you knew that Ticketmaster war was going to be painful.
It’s blistering heat in Victoria Warehouse this Thursday evening, security opening up the side doors next to the stage does nothing to help with the heat so I dread to think what the poor sods at the barrier are feeling like right now.
First support for the night is American Rock band, Return to Dust from Los Angeles, California. After only forming in 2022 this is probably one of their biggest shows to date, their first album being their self-titled was released in 2024 and they have that sound that brings you right back into the 90s of peak Grunge.
You don’t only get the Grunge feel with their sound which hits you in the face from the get go but they also have the full look, the baggy ripped jeans and baggy band shirts with the long hair you do feel like you’ve gone back in time. The way they move on the stage made me ask “What are they on and where can I get some” with the way they move around during songs whilst always being to hold themselves together enough to play the instruments flawlessly.
The grunge sound kind of sticks until I was randomly thrown off completely by their cover of Hey Ya! By Outkast, which is a song I completely forgot about until today. It’s different and a vibe 100%
They were a sound for an opener that I wasn’t expecting but I’m happy they were included on this tour because if you’re a fan of Alice in Chains and Nirvana and you love that 90s Grunge sound these guys might be that thing to make you feel a little bit more alive.
Setlist:
- Black Road
- Shine
- Sweet Escape
- New Religion!
- Hey Ya! (Outkast Cover)
- Bored
- Belly Up
At this point it’s pretty freaking warm in this warehouse. It’s a warehouse so its going to be stuffy but it’s grim. This is a fully sold out show. I’ve never seen security more on it to make sure water is being passed around.
The next band is one that grabbed my friend’s attention right away, for her this is an iconic night watching Breaking Benjamin but also Chevelle, I had messages all week telling me about these guys and how much I need to catch them as well as everyone that we know.
Word got spread and here we are as the American rock band from Grayslake, Illinois. These guys can go down in legendary category with their backlog of work going back all the way to 1995. Their sound kind of changes throughout the years, which heavily gets brought into this set going back to their old Indie Rock roots as well as going back into hard rock. They have a very unique sound and it’s brought in heavily with this performance. They took me by surprise as someone who went into this set claiming she didn’t know any songs by them (spoiler alert I did, you might know which one it was that made be realised).
Pete Loeffler has a way of carrying the set effortlessly, the way he performs he goes in songs acting in a way that shows the sound through his movements and stage presence. When he’s playing guitar with his head down low and knees bent during a progressive song you can see it all in the way he is, when it’s more indie you can see the more straight serious with a slight edge to his persona. It’s a very interesting and unique way of presenting yourself but it’s something to watch when you see Chevelle live.
Drummer Sam Loeffler couldn’t be any different to his brother, no matter the song he had the biggest smile on his face the entire time, it was like he was just happy to be there.
Vocalist Pete and touring bassist Kemble Walters are very alike with their performance, very stoic, very serious and intense in moments you kind of just want to watch intently in amazement.
Setlist:
- An Island
- Face to the Floor
- Self-Destructor
- Family System
- Send the Pain Below
- The Red
- Comfortable Liar
- Mars Simula
Now it’s the band of the hour, of the day, of lets face it the year. When this tour got announced it was like a major countdown until this day, I have friends who have done multiple dates of this tour making every second they watch count.
Breaking Benjamin, from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, known heavily for their hit song The Diary of Jane if you were an emo child at any point in your life you’ve heard that song, i don’t want to hear that you haven’t we don’t like liars here. The Phobia being an iconic album that highlights the many troubles crowding frontman and founder Benjamin Burnley’s life, creating a community of people who look up to him with the same struggles.
A sold out show originally planned for The Ritz, now at Victoria Warehouse which I would just like to point out again could’ve been done at the Arena with ease. Tonight’s show brought the full band in with an added extra Burnley’s son working as an extra vocalist and guitarist for the entire set, which was just an incredible sight to see. Father and Son together at the front of the stage and they jammed so many times together during the night, keeping the focus mostly on the other band members with the front lights only focusing on the rest of the band instead of the two vocalists up front.
The set started with I Will Not Bow going through various stages from their discography including singles like Polyamorous which was featured on video games WWE Smackdown! Vs. Raw and amazingly for all the Halo fans in the audience (I guarantee you, there was a lot) with Blow Me Away. Talking directly to a friend who was in that crowd who i know screamed bloody murder hearing that live.
In fact that’s how the crowd were, you know when you see people waiting anxiously for something but with excitement, that’s exactly how every single person i could see looked that night. Ben’s vocals are as flawless as they always have been and it’s clear his son has got the same genes with that because not only was his guitar playing phenomenal but he was a miniature version of his dad in every moment on that stage.
The thing is with Breaking Benjamin the entire show was an overall highlight, this is an iconic band that everyone has been waiting years to see and not one moment was a disappointment, it was an honor and an amazing experience to see them perform, and performing is exactly what they did with 100% of the effort thrown into every single aspect of the show.
And low and behold the entire crowd erupts the second that legendary intro to The Diary of Jane comes in at the end of the set, that intro just grabs everyone’s attention it causes meerkat level reactions from fans when they’re in random places and it plays. This song goes down in history with ease and experiencing that live was even better.
Breaking Benjamin do not stay away for that long please, the UK and the rest of Europe need your shows.
Setlist:
- I Will Not Blow
- Until the End
- Evil Angel
- Crawl
- Red Cold River
- Blow Me Away
- Follow
- Angels Fall
- You
- So Cold
- Polyamorous
- Dear Agony
- Something Wicked
- Breath
- Awaken
- Failure
- Dance With The Devil
- The Diary of Jane
Words: Jacob Robinson & Lauren Allard
Images: Lauren Allard
