Staind-Lincoln NE-5.5.24

Staind at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska on May 5th, 2024.

Photos and Review by The Pit Magazine Contributor, Bob DeHart Photography

Staind has been around since before 2000, and in most recent years has not toured or recorded together as much. I really thought my window to catch them live had passed. During their early success they had, I never had the opportunity to see them. Just one of those things that never worked out. I know they had a few shows together for special occasions or very short runs over the most recent years but nothing in the area that I could get to.

My biggest hope was to catch lead singer Aaron Lewis on one of his solo tours. Which, I was also running out of luck trying to catch that too. I actually got to the point where I associated Aaron Lewis more as a country artist and just kind of told myself that Staind would be one of those bands I would never see. So, imagine my surprise when I saw that they were touring again and not only that, they were coming to my city. I was not going to miss out this time. Staind did get together and release an album last year, “Confessions of the Fallen”.

It was a great show from start to finish. Staind played all the songs you would want them to play, plus a lot more. Aaron Lewis is a peculiar front man. He doesn’t look like the guy you say 20 years ago, not better not worse, just different. He looks like the guy who has been singing country songs for the past 10 years. But his voice…his voice is strong, raw, and powerful.

Aaron stands in front of the mic stand and is who he is. Not a pretentious rock and roll star, but a man who has been around the block and back. He know who is and what his role is. He is the voice of this powerful band and when he is needed to dig deep and give you a growl from the depth, there it is. I loved watching him because his demeanor never changed throughout the set. He stood and did his job proudly and seemed to enjoy every second of it.

The rest of Staind consists of guitarist Mike Mushok, bassist Johnny April, and drummer Sal Giancarelli.

As I said the setlist was everything you wanted plus more. Songs like “Fade”, Here and Now”, “Something to Remind You” were some highlights for me. And of course, the set ended with “It’s Been Awhile” and “Mudshovel”. Don’t miss out if you get the chance to see this tour. With these guys we just don’t know when the next one will be.