THREE DAYS GRACE - BIRMINGHAM O2 ACADEMY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2022

BY SHARI BLACK VELVET

“Get the moshpit going! Get the fuck up!” orders Matt Walst, frontman of Three Days Grace, when the Canadian four-piece take to Birmingham’s O2 Academy stage. It’s an order you don’t want to dismiss, and Three Days Grace are not going to let you anyway. Opening with ‘So Called Life’ from their new album ‘Explosions’, the powerful, riff-heavy tune incites motion from the get-go.
It's good to have the quartet back in the UK again (they were last in Birmingham in 2018), and tonight’s show sees the band sounding and performing better than ever. It’s been ten years since Matt joined the band, as he tells the crowd before ‘Painkiller’. He was welcomed into the band back then, but now he leads the unit like a founding member. You can see the hunger and conviction in his eyes as he commands the stage. He’s joined by his brother Brad Walst, who pounds away on the bass guitar, the mysterious Barry Stock on guitar, and Neil Sanderson at the back, up on a very high drum riser. 

Matt makes ‘Animal I Have Become’, originally released in 2006, from the band’s second album ‘One-X’, his own. Stalking the stage and jumping up onto risers either side of the stage, he has indeed turned into an animal. The skulking backbeat is addictive, while the vibrant chorus is one you won’t forget. That said, a couple of days after the show, it’s sixth song in, ‘The Mountain’, which is still running around our head. The formidable ‘I Am The Weapon’, is played live for the first time and is another worth its weight in gold; it’s in your face and intimidating.
The band sit together at the front of the stage for a couple of slow-paced acoustic numbers – ‘The High Road’ and ‘World So Cold’, both of which keep the audience entranced. Drummer Neil plays the keys and adds backing vocals, showing his many talents. There’s a fun section where the band invite two audience members up on stage to sing ‘Just Like You’. Oli and Max are the lucky fans who each are given their own mic and can sing along on stage. Max, in particular, has the time of his life, coming to the front of the stage and standing side by side with Matt. He cheekily takes a quick selfie with him at the end too.

‘The Good Life’ is a particular favourite towards the end of the set with its bouncy beat, while ‘Lifetime’ is a real tearjerker. Matt tells the crowd it’s about losing the people we love and wishing we had a phone to call up to heaven. “We always think we’re going to have everyone in our lives for a lifetime,” he adds. We spend the song trying to hold back the tears as it’s so emotive. Thankfully, the band then do an about-face by ending the set with ‘I Hate Everything About You’. ‘Never Too Late’ and ‘Riot’ take care of the encore duties, wrapping the show up on a high.
We definitely hope that Three Days Grace are in the rock world for a lifetime. The show definitely made us feel alive again.

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