Three Days Grace Continue Filling Arenas on Second Leg of ALIENATION tour
Three Days Grace has continued to create a sense of nostalgia not easily replicable during their live performances. The band has been a defining pillar in the alternative rock universe and is known by many for having dominated the rock charts in the early 2000’s. With dedicated, long time followers as well as newer fans, the band continues to create special performances for generations of fans.
I have witnessed a variety of concerts put on by bands that initially had success 15-20 years ago. Often these rock bands have to rely solely on nostalgia in order to create and sell a performance. Three Days Grace is in a different category. Their performance on Tuesday Night at the Peoria Civic center was nothing short of phenomenal. The band packed the arena with fans of all generations.
Supporting American rock/emo band The Funeral Portrait opened the night up with a theatrical yet hard-hitting performance. The fans throughout the Arena sang along to TFP’s set list. It’s amazing to see how many fans in the front rows screamed along to every word for a supporting band, but The Funeral Portraits fans showed up with high energy.
Next up on the bill was I Prevail. In a way, I Prevail was a perfect contrast to The Funeral Portrait. A less theatrical and a more aggressive blend of music offset previous performance. Both bands have built a dedicated community of fans over the years and when combined with the headliner, the arena was packed tight with eager music lovers.
Three Days Grace started off their set with “Dominate” from 2025 touring album Alienation. Shaun Foist (Drums), Barry Stock (guitar), Brad Walst (bass), and Neil Sanderson (keyboard) came onto stage followed by co-frontmen Adam Gontier and Matt Walst. The LED display flashed black and white as the song started with a quick spoken count-in immediately followed by an aggressive vocal shout and heavy guitar riffs. Every fan in the front rows begin to shout expressively and head bang- absolutely locked in to the rhythm.
Followed by the opening song was 2006’s hit “Animal I have Become.” Every person in the venue- regardless of if they were there for the headliner or the opening acts- shouted this song word for word. By song three, “So Called Life,” crowd surfers came rushing to the front of the pit, yelling the lyrics even after they made it over the barricade.
After a few songs in, Gontier grabbed his mic and expressed to the audience his gratitude towards the band and Walst for continuing the bands legacy while he stepped away. The result was heartwarming “awes” and a lot of cheering from the audience. The band members shared a moment with each other before jumping into the next segment.
Three Days Grace continued to play both some of their newer projects as well as well known hits that can be credited towards their long-term success. The staging work was a huge success and aided in making the performance memorable. The pyro cues were timed to perfection and enhanced how hard-hitting the performance was. The lighting design was also fantastic. Utilized was a large circular lighting rig made the stage look like an entirely different world instead of a horizontal, flat stage. The LED visuals were also especially great, showing different scenes during songs like “The Mountain” and a mashup of “Gone forever” / “Pornstar Dancing.”
The band kept the audience entertained throughout the night by switching perfectly between slower tunes then changing the pace for something more upbeat. During the second half of the show, a segment was included to highlight the nostalgia of the band being together and touring again. A pre-recorded visual played and discussed the need to create raw, meaningful music as a way to stand up to the feelings of loss and pain. This segment was followed by a few acoustic songs being played to commemorate and enhance the emotional vulnerability being shown by the band.
Unsurprisingly, the band closed out with multi-platinum rock anthem “Riot.” The continuous feelings of nostalgia mixed with the excitement of hearing new music live kept the energy flowing throughout the night. At this point in their career, Three Days Grace does not need to rely solely on nostalgia to create successful performances. They had excited the crowd with newer hits, unseen visuals and a truly enticing way to put on a show. The band continues to have success and they made it apparent that they will not be stopping anytime soon. Having packed an Arena on a Tuesday evening is telling of that Three Days Grace is still capable of, even years after climbing mainstream success. After more than 20 years of creating music, Three Days Grace made it apparent that they will not be slowing down anytime soon.
Photos and review by Elena James
