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Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ August 26, 2005

Concert Review and Photos by Becky

Crossfade and Seether have played the area before and I missed them. To say I was looking forward to this show is an understatement. It was all I could talk about. First of all, Crossfade’s CD has not left rotation in my player and Seether’s latest release is simply amazing. Dark New Day, I was not familiar with and very interested in seeing, after all the good things I heard about their debut album as I was walking into the venue. .

Dark New Day (DND) is a band made of members from Sevendust, Creed, Tommy Lee, Skrape, Stuck Mojo, Stereomud, Doubledrive, and Virgos Merlot. I quickly made my way to the stage. DND took the stage around 9 p.m. and I must admit, I was rather impressed. They were a bit heavier than I would have expected but they rocked the house. Brett Hestla got the audience moshing immediately. You know an opening band is good when the audience shows up at a show early and quickly responds to the band. First song and the audience was going nuts and the place was pretty full. I am definitely looking forward to seeing more of these guys.                                                             

    Crossfade was up next and the anticipation was boiling. They were my MAIN reason for covering this show and Seether was a bonus. I just love these guys. They hit the stage shortly after 10 p.m. and I was jumping for joy.

    I’m going to get a little off topic right now, but you’ll understand why soon after. Do you remember when Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses performed at the MTV Music Awards a few years back? He sounded absolutely BRUTAL! Well, let’s just say, Crossfade must have been having a bad night because this performance was not far from that kind of brutality. I was in pain just watching them and so very disappointed. I do put some high expectations on bands that I like, but this was pure torture to stand and listen to. First of all the music was extremely slow, and much louder than the vocals. The vocals were off key. I think there were maybe two songs that sounded half way decent and they were at the end of their set. The audience was completely into them...crowd surfing, dancing, singing...the whole nine yards. I don’t know, maybe I wasn’t drunk enough or something.

    Every band has a bad night and most of the time it’s because they partied too much the night before, the day of or both. I later briefly chatted with James, drummer of Crossfade, who admitted they did some major partying the night before. Knowing that, I will be writing this show off as a bad night for them and looking forward to the next show where I hope they will redeem themselves.

    Seether hit the stage around 11:20 p.m. and blew the house down. They were incredible. They sounded better than their CD. Unfortunately, I did not get to see their whole set. I saw about half of it and heard the other half from outside. When they started to play “Remedy”, you know I was right there watching. Everything about them was incredible. Their sound, their stage presence, and the band is tight as hell. It was a savior to the concert.

    All in all this was an incredible line up and even with Crossfade’s “bad” night, the show was amazing. I do recommend checking all these bands out when they come to your area, if you haven’t already.

*Dark New Day Photos*

*Crossfade Photos*

*Seether Photos*

Dark New Day Official Site    Crossfade Official Site    Seether Official Site