THREE DAYS GRACE – THE EXPLOSIONS TOUR

I headed to out to Wallingford Wednesday night to see The Explosions Tour featuring Three Days Grace with guests Wage War and Zero 9:36.It was good to see a packed house for a midweek show. Three Days Grace was another band that I was supposed to have seen earlier this year but Covid took down their appearance at The Big Gig in Worcester. I was looking forward to this show since it was announced and they did not disappoint. The crowd was already on fire from the opening acts, which I will comment on later, and kept the energy going for the headliner.

As soon as “Jump Around” from House of Pain started playing over the P.A. the crowd happily obeyed. 3DG led off the set with “So Called Life” and turned up the volume with “Animal I Have Become”. Vocalist Matt Walst then thanked the crowd for the past 10 years he has been in the band and introduced the other members. “Home” was followed by “Pain” where guitarist Barry Stock brought out the double neck guitar. I did notice that if you were standing in front of him you probably got a pick. He threw multiple picks into the audience during every song and in between songs too.

“Break” followed and the Wage War singer Briton Bond came out to join on vocals for “The Mountain”. Next was “Neurotic” and “Painkiller”. There was a quick change for an acoustic set where drummer Neil Sanderson came down front and jumped on the keyboards. This is where the band joked around a bit, telling cannabis stories and acting confused at to what cannabis was because they always called it pot or weed. They also got a beard chant going in honor of Stock’s facial hair.

Walst and Sanderson sang duets for “The High Road” and “World So Cold”. Sanderson returned to the drum kit. Walst now picked out an audience member to come up and play guitar and another to sing “Just Like You”. While the singer should keep his day job, the kid on guitar was outstanding. Stock even let him riff on his own at times. He was jamming next to bassist Brad Walst like he rehearsed his set.

The main set closed out with “Time of Dying”, “The Good Life”, “Lifetime” and “I Hate Everything About You” which began with a I Hate audience chant. The band returned for an encore of “Never Too Late” and “Riot”. A great song to end a great night of music.

Leading off the night was Zero 9:36. His backing band was drum and bass heavy, I think the guitarist could have taken the night off. Some highlights of his 9 song set were “The End”, “Break” and one of my favorites, “Adrenaline”.

Wage War was next and the more I see them, this was my third time, the better they are. The crowd was really into them right from the start. They were head banging, devil horns in the air, phones out right from the get go. Wage War also had the best light show of the evening. The first mosh pit I saw appeared during their second song, “Teeth”.

As mentioned earlier on lead vocals is Briton Bond who has a great stage presence and keeps the crowd moving. Rhythm guitarist Cody Quistad does a great job on backing vocals and also takes over lead vocals really impressing me on “Grave”. Some other highlights of the 14 song set were huge crowd favorites. “Manic”, “Death Roll”, which had one of the biggest circle pits I’m sure the Dome has seen and closing song “Circle the Drain” were dynamic”. After the openers the crowd was certainly ready for Three Days Grace. A great job by both.

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