Three Days Grace is coming back to Louisville Tuesday, April 22nd at Mercury Ballroom. It’s a show that many in the band probably couldn’t have foreseen even happening a year-and-a-half ago, when original lead singer Adam Gontier was diagnosed with a non-life threatening illness, but forced to leave the band he had fronted since 1995.
Details have been vague due to the exact nature of Gontier’s illness, that forced him to leave shortly after the release of the band’s most recent album, 2012’s Transit of Venus; he has returned to music (not the band) performing solo shows all over the country, and working on an album of his own. While the boys of Three Days Grace only officially announced Gontier’s touring replacement, Matt Walst (of My Darkest Days, and brother of Grace’s own bassist Brad Walst) – as officially member of the band on March 28th 201, after nearly a year of performing with the band.
This is a creative renaissance for a band that has been on the road and in the studio for twenty years – carving out the cave paintings of modern metal. I will certainly be interested to see where Three Days Grace goes from here.
On Wednesday, April 23rd – right down the street at The Palace Theater, one of the hottest new bands on the planet, Volbeat will be taking the stage.
Volbeat is a Danish band that weaves from heavy metal to rockabilly and back, with little to no effort. That live shows have quickly become a thing of legend, and their latest album (the band’s fifth) Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies cracked the Billboard Top 10, and sold over 100,000 copies in its first week of release.
I understand that hitting more than one show in a week can oftentimes be draining. But the juxtaposition of going downtown to see Three Days Grace, a lingering band from the last class of heavy metal; and then the next night seeing Volbeat, the rising stars of a new class of metal, will be well worth inconvenience.
