Concerts are sometimes difficult to review, because those attending are often already fans of the band, and easier to please than a blind viewer.
So, when it comes to objective criticism, you have to consider what a truly good concert is. I think it is easy for many established groups to simply do the bare minimum, knowing the audience will be pleased since they have already earned their admiration. Sadly, Rise Against belongs in this category.
Their performance at the House of Blues Orlando on Saturday, October 4 was not terrible or without positive attributes, but the band rarely excelled in any way. Given how costly attendance was, I expected more. Instead, I was presented with a set that hardly lasted an hour and a half, a bare stage presentation and a band that clearly felt more comfortable playing it safe.
This year saw the release of Rise Against’s newest album The Black Market and a decline in the quality of their newer material. While many fans have been pleased with their latest output, I would venture to say few have made the claim that it is on par with their earlier work. Whether it was due to this more lukewarm reception or how new the album still is, Rise Against, thankfully, chose to play only two songs from it. This only helped one of the better aspects of the show, their setlist, which was largely composed of songs from their first 5 albums. No matter how good the song selection was, however, it doesn’t change the fact that there just wasn’t much to the show.
The stage was almost entirely bare except for a backdrop, featuring the cover of their latest album, and huge neon letters, spelling the word “rise”. The tickets were very expensive, especially considering how young their fans are, and to see so little spent on the actual presentation was disappointing. If this was a smaller band who wouldn’t be able to charge as much, I wouldn’t consider it a problem, but given their stature, it felt insulting.
If you went in to Rise Against’s show, already a diehard fan, I think it would have been easy to enjoy the show. They played a great selection of songs, almost entirely ignoring their weaker albums, and had enough energy to validate their performance. It is just too bad, however, that they didn’t do more to validate their ticket prices. Opening bands are standard nowadays, and not enough to excuse the ridiculous price.
