Concert Review: Three Days Grace Alienation Tour Ft. The Funeral Portrait and I Prevail at Hershey's Giant Center

Three Days Grace's Alienation Tour melted The Giant Center at Hershey. They brough along two bands that could not be further across on the rock spectrum from each other, The Funeral Portrait and I Prevail. Each band had hordes of rabid fans in attendance. I arrived at the venue about an hour before it was scheduled to start and the lines to get in were halfway around this very large arena complex.

The Funeral Portrait started off this jam-packed night of music. This band is one that has been grinding for years before they caught the ear of Jose Mangin, DJ for Octane and Liquid Metal, on Sirius XM. He played the crap out of Dark Thoughts getting these guys on everyone's radar. Now they are on bills with the biggest names in music.

They played a very quick 30 minutes warming up the audience. They started with started with a very odd choice, a cover of Tears For Fears, Mad World. Vocalist Lee Jennings took to the edge of the catwalk and worked the lights and shadows to perform a haunting rendition of this song. Instead of coming out blazing they came out heartfelt and heart heavy.

They turned up the heat next with Generation Psycho to get the audience moving. The Funeral Portrait kept the momentum up for the rest of their set with their radio hits, Holy Water, Dark Thoughts and Suffocate City.

This band just exudes fun. They play off of each other and genuinely love what they do on stage. Be sure to get to these shows early to catch their set, they've been on at 7pm sharp.

Next up, I Prevail. A heavy and hardcore leaning band sandwiched between emo boys and dad rock. I've seen them a few times before singer Brian Burkheiser departed from the band, so I was really interested to hear the newly configured lineup. I Prevail got their big break from covering Taylor Swift's Blank Space. Seeing them now, you'd probably laugh at that fact.

I Prevail performed 12 songs and had a drum solo in a set that was around 45 minutes long. They started the night with NWO, heavy singer Eric Vanlerberghe also started the set at the end of the catwalk. He was mostly in the dark with an insane amount of pyro behind him. His vocals were spot on, and the band was in top form as usual. The fans were going crazy but oddly enough there were more people dancing in the aisles of the floor seats than in the actual pit. Security gave up trying to get people back into their seats.

Violent Nature which was their first single after Brian's departure really showed the new and much heavier direction of the band. Coupled with the pyro, heavy riffs and growling vocals I Prevail reached the peak of hard core.

While the new material is heavy, they still performed songs like Hurricane which are way more melodic and straight forward rock and roll. Guitarist Dylan Bowman has taken over the clean vocals full time, instead of the band hiring another singer. He does a great job but honestly, I felt like a piece of the band is missing. Eric is not super interactive with the crowd and since Dylan is set so far from the fans while he is singing it lacks connection. It wasn't bad it's just lacking the past feeling of the band for me.

I Prevail has so much more to come and I am excited to see where the future takes them. They are a very solid live band which in the current times of electronics is a rare find.

Saving the best for last. Three Days Grace, a band that has come full circle. I've seen Three Days Grace in their beginning years with original lead singer Adam Gontier. I've seen them with lead singer Matt Walst after Adam departed from the band and now, I've been graced by the dual lead singers that have figured out how to make the best of the past. I've been following Matt's career since My Darkest Days, seeing him play the super tiny Croc Rock in Allentown, PA to them opening for Nickleback at Madison Square Garden in 2012. Adam didn't stop creating and performing during his hiatus from Three Days Grace, he went on to start another hugely successful band, Saint Asonia.

When I heard Adam was coming back, I didn't know how this was all going to work out, if egos were going to get in the way, if Adam and Matt would just take turns singing songs, they recorded vocals on, or even if this would last.

Well, a couple of years in and now we know the answer. They've successfully formed their own super group with the rest of the members, Brad Walst (bass), Barry Stock (guitar) and Neil Sanderson (drums). They take turns singing but harmonize together beautifully. They don't try and outshine each other but instead they've created a vocal duo that is unmatched in rock and roll.

Three Days Grace performed for a solid two hours. Pulling out all of their past hits, new releases, surprise acoustic jams and a tribute to late 3 Doors Down singer, Brad Arnold.

The set started with Dominate from their newest release Alienation and ended with their classic Riot. Not one song was a miss from So Called Life, Break, I Hate Everything About You, I Am Machine, Mayday, Painkiller and Never Too Late, the hits just kept coming. The fans sung their hearts out all night long.

The biggest surprise of the night was during their mini living room acoustic set, Matt pulled out Porn Star Dancing from My Darkest Days. The entire audience was stunned. Matt had not performed this song in years. It was their breakout and biggest hit. I will miss that band; they were so good. I have hopes that they will reunite someday even just for a nostalgic show or two.

Another surprise but on a more somber and depressing note Adam started the second set with an Acapella solo version of 3 Doors Down, Here Without You, as a tribute to their singer Brad Arnold who recently passed away from a pretty long battle with cancer. There wasn't a dry eye in the house.

Three Days Grace absolutely puts on a show that is unmatched in energy and talent. They've showed that you can change things up, members can come and go, and you can end up with something extremely special. This band will be around until they are rolled out in wheelchairs. As a fan I truly believe that they've created something that cannot be duplicated and I look forward to whatever they cook up next.

This tour package continues across the nation all the way until November, so you have plenty of time to grab a ticket and have some fun.