On April 18th, kicked off hard rockers Seether kicked off their 2014 tour at Huntington Long Island’s The Paramount. The venue’s intimate setting, along with its history of great audience turnout, did not disappoint, and this Friday night Seether concert was no exception to the growing list of talented performers to grace their stage. Although well respected band Filter had dropped out of the evening’s line up, the fans did not allow this to discourage their enthusiasm, and were ready to rock.
Southern New Hampshire natives, Supermachine opened for Seether, and brought a strong presence in warming up the crowd. The band consists of vocalist David Nebbia, bassist Paul Jarvis, guitarist Jay Fortin and drummer Mike McNeil. Having shared a bill with Seether at prior shows, the duo was a familiar sight to the crowd, who were enthusiastic in their reception of the bands.
Supermachine has a strong and clean sound, best described as a blend of hard rock, grunge and 80’s metal. Their music definitely possesses potential for growth in the future. Nebbia provided consistent crowd interaction, and seemed to be a natural presence on stage. While still a young band, Supermachine’s songs do come across as repetitious at times, and this writer would like to see the band inject some variety to their sound. Overall, their performance was sharp and enjoyable. With some slight modifications, Supermachine has the potential to take the music industry by storm.
After a brief intermission, Seether came to the stage, jumping right into the concert with no introduction. The band consists of the three original members Shaun Morgan (vocals/guitar), Dale Stewart (bass) and John Humphrey (drums), along with newly added live touring guitarist Bryan Wickmann. The South African natives started Seether a little over a decade ago, and now, five albums later, and with millions of copies sold, the band is still as fierce as ever. In the midst of working on their sixth studio album due out sometime in 2014, Seether unleashed new single “Weak” in 2013, to hold fans over until their next full length project.
With an amazingly powerful voice, Shaun Morgan belted out each song with a perfect blend of passion and intensity, and each note was more impressive than the last. The songs they performed were poetic, with diverse hard rock melodies that made you want to cry, dance, and headbang all at the same time. Seether never skipped a beat, and you could feel the talent and years of experience shining through their performance. The unexpected and flawless drum solo by seasoned drummer Humphrey was both phenomena,l and a crowd-pleaser.
The vitality of the audience was incredible the entire evening, and plenty of crowd surfing and mosh pits kept the crowd’s blood flowing. It seemed that the majority of the crowd were long time Seether fans, and participated along with almost every song.
Seether played for over an hour and a half , keeping their stamina during the entire performance. The band played all their hits, which included “Broken”, “Remedy”, “Fake it”, “Fine Again”, “Rise Above This”, and “Tonight”, along with many others. Known to put all his energy and concentration into his performance, Morgan graciously thanked the crowd in between songs, though kept his interaction with the audience limited. This songwriter’s style is more reserved, and his form of communication is letting the music do the talking. Many fans would agree this was one of the best Seether performances they ever experienced.
Seether is one of those bands that will be around for a long time, and their music seems to be timeless. These are the types of songs that will be passed down from generation to generation without losing any value. Sometimes you have high expectations and other times low for a live performance, but every now and again a band sets the bar for all the rest, Seether is one of those bands. With this show being a prelude to their upcoming tour with BlackStone Cherry and Skindred, 2014 is starting off on the right foot for Seether.
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