Breaking Benjamin & Chevelle review: ‘A cathartic hard-rock experience’
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After nearly a decade away, Breaking Benjamin returned to Manchester on Thursday night, accompanied by Chicago three-piece Chevelle, and treated 3,500 fans to a cathartic, hard-rock experience.
The UK leg of Breaking Benjamin’s 2026 tour, which began at Birmingham’s O2 Academy on July 10th, marks the band’s first trip across the Atlantic since 2017, making the current dates highly sought after. So much so, the band were forced to upgrade venues for several of their dates, switching from the O2 Ritz to the aforementioned Victoria Warehouse in Manchester. Trips across the Atlantic are a rarity for the band, due to Benjamin Burnley’s fear of flying, leaving opportunities to see Breaking Benjamin in the flesh few and far between.
To further add to the weight of the occasion inside the Victoria Warehouse, the five-piece were accompanied by Burnley’s son, Ben Jr, for the date in Manchester, providing an unexpected but welcome surprise as they opened their set with a riotous rendition of ‘I Will Not Bow’ to set the tone for the evening. ‘Until The End’ saw the younger Burnley urge the crowd to sing along, and the 3,500-strong audience duly delivered.
A superb drum solo from Brian Medeiros paved the way for ‘Evil Angel’, with its heavy barrage of guitars and Aaron Bruch’s low-end bass lines. ‘Crawl’ saw father-and-son combine on lead vocals, a touching and incredibly cool moment that both Burnleys will have enjoyed. ‘Red Cold River’ was backed by crunchy guitars, a thick bass line and Medeiros’ powerhouse drumming. ‘Blow Me Away’ did exactly as the title suggested, so much so that the excited elder Burnley stopped to ask, "Are you having a good time out there?”
‘Follow’ was backed by a barrage of distorted guitars and hard-hitting drums. ‘Angels Fall’ was an anthemic experience that resonated deeply with the 3,500-strong audience, with the heavy guitar riffs filling out the wall of sound without overpowering the emotional intensity of Burnley Sr’s vocals. The soaring chorus of ‘You’ was belted back to the six-piece; the heavy drop-tuned guitars and dark, atmospheric bass of ‘So Cold’ were notable highlights, as was the tight musicianship of ‘Polyamorous’.
“You guys are so awesome. You put a smile on my son’s face,” Burnley Sr declared before harmonising with his son on a stadium-shaking rendition of ‘Dear Agony’. There’s certainly a focus on the future for the six-piece as Burnley Sr announced they’d finished recording their highly anticipated follow-up to ‘Ember’, confirming Ben Jr had featured on every single track before a rendition of the recently released ‘Something Wicked’, providing a taste of what is to come.
As the evening wound down, the six-piece wrapped up the performance with renditions of ‘Breath’, ‘Awaken’, ‘Failure’, ‘Dance With The Devil’ and ‘The Diary Of Jane’, not before expressing their desire to return to the UK with more regularity in the future. Judging by the looks of the reaction at the O2 Victoria Warehouse, I think everyone would unanimously welcome Breaking Benjamin's break with welcome arms.
Chevelle
Meanwhile, earlier in the evening, the 3,500-strong audience were given a taste of Chevelle’s hard-hitting sound. The three-piece, fronted by Pete Loeffler, whose brother Sam is on drums, released their tenth studio album ‘Bright as Blasphemy’ in 2025 and treated the audience to an excellent eight-song set.
‘An Island’, which included a chugging guitar and driving bass from touring bassist Kemble Walters, was an early highlight. “It’s getting spicy in here,” Pete joked before a rendition of ‘Self Destructor’, powered by a hard-hitting wall of sound and the powerful drumming of Sam, which anchored the arrangement.
Renditions of ‘Family System’ and ‘Send The Pain Below’ followed before Pete asked if there was anyone who remembered the year 2002? Judging by the reaction, a sizable amount did before Pete launched what was initially a solo rendition of ‘The Red’ before Walters and Sam crept into the arrangement with the bass and drums. Renditions of ‘Comfortable Liar’ and ‘Mars Simula’ provided the exclamation point on a terrific 40-minute set from the Chicago three-piece.