05/10/23
Hartman Arena, Park City, KS
Full Gallery HERE
Scranton, Pennsylvania based Another Day Dawns 4-some opened up the night to a crowd eager for the main acts to take the stage. The scream from the audience when BBs and Bush’s names were called was deafening, even as the crowd was continuing to fill in the arena. The Lead singers gravelly voice echoed thru the arena, sounding so much like Jonathon Davis from Korn. In fact, several hooks thru their set reminded me of the Nu-Metal gods. The bass and guitar, animated and energized, added to their growing fan base thru their set. It feels like they’re just getting their feet wet, I mean, as far as opening for Bush and Breaking Benjamin goes. By the end of the set, they’d gotten the crowd’s attention, and it certainly added some fans.
The crowd started filling in as the Bush crew began setting up the stage for the co-headliners. Anticipation for the Alternative icons grew throughout the crowd as numerous generations of Bush fans got ready for them to take the stage with “Identity”. I last had the opportunity to cover Bush in Kansas City along with Starcrawler in February. Tonight’s set was similar, albeit condensed from the previous show, but Gavin, the endless ball of energy on stage that he is, gives everything on stage and off, using “Flowers on the Grave” as the opportunity to journey through the crowd, into the stands, all the way to the back of the arena up as far from the stage as you can get, something he does at every show, becoming one with the audience. As always, and amazing show from Bush, covering the wide span of music that they have made over the years.
Closing out the evening were headliners Breaking Benjamin. The rock band from Wilkes-Barre, PA were fighting off a bit of sickness that night, encouraging the audience to assist in singing along to the setlist, which the crowd had no problem in taking on that responsibility. The show was still amazing even though it felt like the energy was at 50% due to illness, but as a fan, one could never be disappointed in seeing an artist truly go out and give their best they can. One highlight of the evening was the memories that Benjamin shared with the crowd of listening to Bush’s “Sixteen Stone” album and living the dream of touring with Bush.
