NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
After kicking off their North American “Take Back Your Life” tour in Montreal a few nights ago, heavy metal stalwarts Disturbed stopped by ScotiaBank Arena in Toronto to start the month of May in proper fashion. The band had released their eighth studio album “Divisive” on November 18th of last year, with both the record (and the first single “Hey You”) topping the charts in the US and reaching number 9 on the Canadian charts. I last saw Disturbed at a private show at the iHeartRadio Theatre in NYC and, while seeing them in such an intimate setting is something I’ll never forget, there’s nothing like watching this band rocking an arena!
Opening for Disturbed was Canadian rock band Theory of a Deadman, who released their most recent album “Dinosaur” just a month ago on March 17th. Before they took the stage, Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” was played over the speakers, with the song slowing down and distorted just before the band took the stage! Led by guitarist/vocalist Tyler Connolly, they played mostly a hard rock set, consistent with their new material. One exception was their cover of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” with Connolly playing keyboards on stage by himself before being joined by the rest of the band during the chorus. Towards the end of the set, Connolly mentioned that the band has been doing this for 21 years and what keeps them going? Weed! I was happy to see the band going back to harder rock and the band sounded great, even if Connolly sounded like he had trouble with the high notes at times.
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As the venue was being set up for Disturbed, a large curtain had been drawn across the whole stage. As the lights dimmed, the band members’ shadows could be seen on the curtain. Then the raucous notes of “Hey You”, their first single off “Divisive”, pounded through the arena, the curtain dropped and Disturbed kicked off their set in powerful fashion. After that incredible start, they kept the energy going with “Stupified” off “The Sickness” album. I didn’t think the crowd could get any louder! The band didn’t play as many songs from the new album as I thought they might but I suppose it’s hard to satisfy everyone when there are so many great hits to play. One of my favorites of the night was “A Reason to Fight” with David Draiman introducing the song by talking about addiction and how much he missed all the friends that had been taken by addiction to drugs or alcohol. He asked the crowd to raise their hands if they knew someone fighting addiction and there wasn’t a fan who didn’t raise their hand.
After “Indestructible”, just the twelfth song of the set, Disturbed started to leave the stage. Fans who hadn’t been following setlists from the previous Canadian shows were flabbergasted by how short the show seemed! But it was a fakeout by the band. They brought out two fans from the meet and greet who had experienced traumatic experiences. The first fan, Charlotte, had be abused physically and mentally in high school and Disturbed’s music got her through it. When Draiman asked the second fan, Shawn, about his traumatic experience, Shawn said he just wanted to get the next song started so he could rock out! It seemed that they had identified the wrong Shawn! The right Shawn was located and brought onto the stage, where they got to sit next to the drumkit while Disturbed played “The Light”. What an experience for both the meet and greet fans as well as the “wrong” Shawn!
The band played five more songs as part of their revised encore, including fan favorite “Down With the Sickness”. The band’s passionate and powerful performance cannot be denied so if Disturbed plays a city/town near you, run and get a ticket if you don’t already have one!
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