Staind Livestream 5/8/21

This stream celebrated the 20th anniversary of the album Break The Cycle by having the band play the entire album front to back from a soundstage somewhere. This was another produced stream that combined the performance with interviews to give some context on what was happening with the band when the album was made, giving the stream a mini-documentary feel. Staind has never disappointed me throughout the many times I have seen them live and this was no exception. Aaron Lewis’ relative lack of physical movement during his performances are always more than offset by the nuances of his vocal performances and not being surrounded by a bunch of screaming sweaty rockers just helped me appreciate those nuances even more. Mike Mushok’s flawless guitar tone and note for note reproduction of the songs was impressive as was the rhythm section of bassist Johnny April and drummer Sal Giancarelli. My favorites on the album “Can’t Believe,” “Suffer” and “For You” were my favorites to hear on the stream but perhaps my favorite moment of the stream was unexpectedly a beautifully acoustic version of “Epiphany” performed solo by Aaron Lewis. In a musical landscape where bands come and go so often it is nice to be 20 years on and have this band and these songs still holding their own.