What is it people say “the third time is the charm”, With this being Evans Blue third time in Houston is less than a year, I think that could be a very true statement. They have built an incredibly strong fan base in a very short amount of time. When Evans Blue got on stage to sold out Verizon Wireless Theater I could really see a difference in the band from the first time I saw them.

When I saw them last they were touring with Taproot and not that they were bad, but you could tell they hadn’t done a lot of national tours yet. They also played the side stage at the last Buzz Fest. In my last review of Evans Blue I even said with a better stage and some lighting these guys could be awesome. And wouldn’t you know it at the Verizon they were nothing short of incredible

As they rolled in to their first song “The Promise And The Threat” the crowd just filled the place up with a roar of cheers and hundreds of hands in the air and not to let a second go by as soon as they finished with the song they went in to another. When the second song was started Breaking Benjamin front man Benjamin Burnley came on stage and joined Evans Blue front man Matisyn on the vocals for the song “Beg” getting the crowd all excited over what was to come later on in the night.

Evans Blue was formed in early 2005 when the five musicians, then in three different bands, connected through a local musician’s message board in Toronto, Candna and they began working together in March 2005. Since then, the band has written and recorded their debut album, The Melody and the Energetic Nature of Volume, which was completed in early November 2005 and released in February 2006. Their first major single was “Cold (But I’m Still Here)”, which received a great deal of radio airplay and got many people intrested in them.

Although their set wasn’t to long Evans Blue did a great job with the time they had. Going through maybe 10 songs with in the 45 minute set. Before  playing “Cold (But I’m Still Here)” they gave thanks local radio station 94.5 The Buzz and all the fans for requesting their music and giving them the chance to get their music out and heard.

Before they ended the set Matisyn told the crowd to “rock this place till the mic hits the floor” and the fans did just that. They finished with a song that’s not on their album , its an unreleased track that can be found on their myspace page called “Blackhole” and before the end of the song crowds were up and rocking hard as crowd surfers went flying everywhere and with the last screaching yells of the song Matisyn droped the mic to the floor and walked off stage with the fans giving overwelming aplause to a great preformance…

Breaking Benjamin

Not long after Evans blue had left the crowd wanting more, the lights dimmed and with an amber laser light glowing upon him Breaking Benjamin’s guitarist Aaron Fink began the opening distorted riffs of  “Polyamerous”. When the rest of the lighting kicked in, the rest of the band came out and filled in the voids of sound. As Benjamin Burnley made his way to the mic crowds came alive as his voice filled the theater.

They played maybe five or six songs from their previous albums 2002’s “Saturate” and their 2004 breakout “We Are Not Alone”.  Before going in to the first single “The Diary Of Jane” off the new album “Phobia”. With this being the first time for me to see Breaking Benjamin I can say I was truly impressed with their sound and on stage energy.

Burnley does an extraordinary job with his vocals giving life, love, pain, and sorrow to every song and his guitar playing was also very surprising. He cut riffs that would make any metal band envious. Having Fink and Klepaski on guitar and bass and Chad Szeliga on drums brings it all together. To give Breaking Benjamin their hard-edged sound that thousands of fans have come to love.

Breaking Benjamin Formed in 1999 under the moniker “Plan 9”, the band quickly garnered a local following before changing their name to “Breaking Benjamin” in late 2000. The name “Breaking Benjamin” came from lead vocalist Benjamin Burnley’s solo experience where he broke a borrowed microphone and the person who owned it came on stage and stated, ‘Thanks to Benjamin for Breaking my fucking mic’ .

Not too bad for the guys from Wilkes-Barre, PA to go from being almost unknown until their breakout hit of 2004 “So Cold” from the album “We Are Not Alone”. Which made them one of the hottest bands of that year. After that you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing these guys from radio and movie soundtracks to being video game background music. And all this done in less than six years, which how long some bands go if not longer before even getting a record deal.

As show rolled on there were a few surprises that no one could have expected. Such as when what seemed like a return of the favor of earlier in the night. When Burnley came out to sing with Evans Blue. Matisyn came out to help Burnley with what everyone though would be a Breaking Benjamin song. But they explained this was going to be something you would only see and hear on this tour. They busted out with a cover of the Deftones “My Own Summer”. With Burnley taking the role of Chino and Matisyn filling in the primal yells of Chi Cheng. I couldn’t believe how exceptional they pulled it off.

That wasn’t the only collaboration of the night, joining Burnley on stage for the song “Shallow Bay”. Was that nights opening band Dropping Daylights Vocalist Sebastian Davin. After that played a few more favorites before ending the night with the song that got them where they are “So Cold”.  Burnley didn’t even have to sing because of the crowd going word for word through out the whole song.

This is definitely a band I would like to see again, their next stop in Houston will be at Buzz Fest on October 8th out in the Woodlands. If you get the chance to see them live, I recommend doing so and give their new album “Phobia” a listen. You might be like me and find some surprise to what Breaking Benjamin has to offer.