Disturbed, is currently on tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of the album that made them a household name. And, since they were playing at Portland’s Moda Center on the actual release date of the album, we knew that we had to be on hand to re-live The Sickness all over again.
Released on March 7th, 2000, The Sickness catapulted the band into stardom, eventually peaking at 20th on the Billboard music charts. Lead singer David Draiman’s staccato lyrical delivery combined with punishing guitar riffs and socially introspective subject matter helped lure in listeners from the post-grunge and thrash sub-genres, helping secure Disturbed’s position amonst the Nu-Metal titans of the early 2000’s.
Since their debut, Disturbed have gone on to release seven more albums, several of which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts.
Opening acts at the Moda Center included Daughtry and Nothing More.
Returning to the early days of Disturbed’s live performances, the band pulled out all the stops both theatrically and pyrotechnically. The set was broken down into two sections, with the first being the complete Sickness album in it’s entirety. The Sickness was played track for track, note for note, just as it was released 25 years ago. After a 20 minute intermission, the show resumed with a smattering of Disturbed’s greatest hits. Noteably absent from the song selection was “Hold on to Memories”, “Liberate”, “Just Stop” and “Prayer”, which have all become staples of Disturbed live performances. Overall, the set was an incredible 20 songs long and was a fitting homage to the album that introduced us all to Disturbed. And, with as much fire as was employed during the performance, a longer setlist would have most certainly put drummer Mike Wengren at risk.
For those that purchased merch from the gig, be sure to scan the embedded NFC tag for your chance to win a signed guitar.
Disturbed have just a few more dates here stateside before spending time sharing the Sickness again with our European bretheren. With new music from Disturbed just around the corner, I would expect them to be hitting the road again here in the states in early 2026. We’ll keep you posted.
We
All
Are …
Disturbed
