It was a headbangers ball on Saturday, Feb. 10, as Disturbed brought their Take Back Your Life Tour to the sold-out Mohegan Sun Arena in support of their new record, Divisive which was released last year. Disturbed’s tour was announced back in October of 2023 and featured 23 cities, with this show in Uncasville, Connecticut, being the halfway marker.
Disturbed, out of Chicago, Illinois, features Dan Donegan on guitar, Mike Wengren on the drums, with David Draiman on lead vocals and John Moyer on bass. This lineup has been together since 2004 after Moyer replaced Steve “Fuzz” Kmak.
As fans took a pause from their slot machines and rolling dice and filled into the arena, which sits at the heart of the casino, fans were greeted with the first of three bands of the night. The first group was the all-female band Plush. As the female foursome plugged in their guitars, they created a wall of sound behind the beautiful vocals of lead singer, Moriah Formica.
Despite the band only having a short seven-song setlist, they left their impact on the crowd. Fans who weren’t familiar with them were won over after hearing the group’s rendition of “Barracuda” by Heart which originally appeared on the band’s 1977 record, Little Queen. By the end of the set, fans headbanging and raising their fists in the air. It would be a surprise to no one if in a few years from now, Plush worked their way up the band bill to becoming the middle act and graduating to larger venues.
Rounding out Plush with Formica is Bella Perron on lead guitar, Ashley Suppa on bass guitar, and Faith Powell on the drums.
Following Plush’s set was the 2008 band Falling in Reverse. While the band is slightly different from the metal genre of Disturbed, Falling in Reverse brought hard rock and catchy choruses to the crowd and played their part well as the middle act. While lead singer Ronnie Radke is the only original member left, his energy alone was awe-inspiring.
Radke took fans down memory lane citing that the band used to play at the legendary Toad’s Place in New Haven, Connecticut, before upgrading to the Mohegan Sun Arena. Throughout the hour-long set, some mega fans in the general admission pit were screaming along to every song until the band took their final bow of the night.
Joining Radke in Falling in Reverse is Max Georgiev and Christian Thompson on guitars, with Tyler Burgess on bass and touring drummer Luke Holland.
As the clock struck 9 p.m. and the house lights dimmed to show a blank curtain with the shadows of the band, the thunderous roar from the crowd surged from the back and upper rafters to the front of the stage as the spotlights shot on. The curtain dropped and the metal masters of Disturbed greeted the Uncasville audience.
The band kicked off their pre-Super Bowl party with “Hey You,” off of the aforementioned Divisive. The band played 17 songs with at least one song off every album of theirs being played, making sure to accommodate every fan of every era of the band. In KISS-like fashion, a spectacular light show was rigged behind them with pyrotechnics and fire beaming out throughout the night.
As the band plunged further into their set, Donegan sat down at a piano with the top on fire and was accompanied by two string orchestra players. The band then began to play their famous cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence,” which can be heard on Disturbed’s 2015 album, Immortalized. The bone-chilling cover of this classic song also featured Wengren on giant symphony drums as the crowd once again screamed and cheered for a song they know extremely well.
As the band played on into the night they came to song number 15 in their set which was “Don’t Tell Me.” The studio version of their new album features Ann Wilson of Heart but this time, Moriah Formica of Plush made her triumphant return to the stage for her curtain call duet with Draiman. Throughout the night, Draiman would preach to the fans about fighting addiction and illness and claiming fans are “not alone” in the fight against mental illness which provided a sense of comradery and togetherness amongst the sold-out crowd.
As the band was transitioning into the second to last song of the set, Draiman hopped off stage to approach a young fan along the barricade in the front who, for the entire night, was holding a photo of a boy. The girl, who went by the name of Kailey, announced to the crowd that the boy’s name was Mark Rivers and he “lost his battle with addiction.”
While the two were interacting, what once was a loud arena filled with the sounds of heavy metal became as quiet as a church, you could hear the breath of fans around you. Before the band played “The Light,” Draiman brought Kailey on stage and dedicated the song to Rivers. Around the arena, you could see people shedding tears and embracing their loved ones beside them as they witnessed the heartfelt moment between the band and a fan in front of them.
As the band played their final notes, a moment of realization clicked in. Music is a force that joins people together. Music and concerts, in general, are an event and spectacle that bring out their emotions as a force that can heal fans no matter what they’re going through. The moment that a person’s favorite band is on stage, the music has the utmost power to heal and guide fans out of the darkest holes they might be in.
Disturbed was no different, through the headbanging and mosh pits of the GA section, to the harmony brought on by the band and one girl’s unifying story. Fans of all bands and all music, whether it was their first or ninth time seeing Disturbed, left Mohegan Sun Arena with hope and love in their hearts as Disturbed not only brought metal to Connecticut but a lasting impression that there is still good left in the world.
Plush Setlist: Athena, Champion, Run, Barracuda (Heart cover), Hate, Hope It Hurts, Left Behind
Falling in Reverse Setlist: Zombified, I’m Not a Vampire, Losing My Mind, Fuck You and All Your Friends, The Drug in Me Is You, Just Like You, Popular Monster, Voices in My Head, Watch the World Burn
Disturbed Setlist: Hey You, Stupify, Ten Thousand Fists, Prayer, The Vengeful One, Bad Man, A Reason to Fight, Land of Confusion (Genisis cover), The Game, The Sound of Silence, Indestructible, Don’t Tell Me, The Light, Stricken, Unstoppable, Down With the Sickness, Inside the Fire
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