David Draiman walks onto the stage and immediately commands the attention of every person in the room. It is not only his incredibly unique vocals and powerful words that make Disturbed such a complete success; it is the enigmatic personality of the lead singer. To be able to play to a sold out crowd and still make every person in the room feel personally involved in the show is something that every artist strives for, yet not just anyone could pull it off as flawlessly as Disturbed.
The concert begins with a new song, "Guarded", from their CD Ten Thousand Fists, during which someone threw an American flag onto the stage, and without missing a beat, David Draiman picked it up and draped it across his shoulders, as his amazing voice accompanied by his unsurpassable band pumped out over the crowd. Taking a minute to address the crowd directly for the first time, he realized that there were two young men in wheelchairs, and he had them put on stage as he commended them for being strong and not letting their handicap keep them from living life to its’ fullest. From that he then instructed the crowd to get up, “Unless you’re in a wheelchair, there is no reason for you to be sitting on your asses during a rock and roll concert”.
His patriotism for our country was another strong theme of the concert, going as far as getting the crowd chanting for the United States and freedom. “You are one of the people of the USA and you should treasure that shit.” Getting the crowd riled up about treasuring their freedom and above all else not judging others was inspirational. To see a huge crowd of essentially rock and roll fans, some of whom consider themselves outcastes show such patriotism was an inspiration, because they were not being judged at all, but rather were being brought together by things that they love.
By playing a combination of old favorites, such as "Down with the Sickness" and "The Game" and mind blowing new songs, such as "Stricken" (the first encore) Disturbed kept the crowd on its feet chanting, clapping and singing along. For their second encore, the crowd was asked which song they wanted to hear, and in an almost unanimous vote "Stupify" was chosen. The music could be felt throughout the venue, not only the actual notes, but the lyrics flowed over everyone churning the crowd into a frenzy of clapping and shouting. Although they played a strong set, one did not want it to end at all. In order to truly be a performer, one needs to have a combination of talent and charisma, which David Draiman has in abundance. Disturbed is indisputably a group that needs to be seen live in order to be able to appreciate their talent as performers and artists fully.
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