SafetySuit
Opening for Daughtry
Convocation Center – Dekalb, IL
3/7/2012
All Photos by Paul Weber

SafetySuit is:
Douglas Brown – vocals, rhythm guitar
Dave Garofalo– guitar
Jeremy Henshaw– bass
Tate Cunningham– drums

SafetySuit is riding high with their sophomore album hitting the #1 spot on iTunes the week of its release.   This pop/rock band from Tennessee also is celebrating their current spot as opener for Daughtry on the Break the Spell 2012 tour.

Last night was the second stop opening for Daughtry as they hit the Convocation Center on the NIU campus.  The show took place in the arena that isn’t ideal for concerts.  Part of me feels pretty bad for SafetySuit as it took the crowd a while to warm up to them.  This is no knock to the band as they were amazing. I blame it more on the venue as the sound bounced around and made fans feel like they were in a less intimate space than they actually were.  I hope for future gigs on this tour the show gets a backdrop on the stage to help provide a solution to that sound problem, as the empty seats behind the stage only made the sound worse.  For that, I feel bad for the guys as it took the crowd to the tail end of their set to get off their feet and give back the energy the band was feeding the crowd.

SafetySuit’s “These Times” Music Video

The highlight of the set was their current single, “These Times,” where the music video is a compilation of fan submitted videos portraying their own hard times. The prelude to the song was Douglas sending out a message to those who are currently enduring tough circumstances, “These times are hard but they will pass.” Also a strong point of the night was the cover of “Hallelujah.”  It was after “Hallelujah” when Douglas jumped off stage and was in the pit serenading the front rows.  This is when the crowd started to get on their feet, as Douglas also reminded those in the arena that this was, in fact, a rock show.  It also didn’t take long for Douglas to leave the pit and greet fans with floor seats.  He really knows how to get the crowd pumped.

The set ended with “Stay,” one of the songs that helped launch their career.  It’s just too bad it took the crowd so long to catch the goodness SafetySuit was giving as the crowd was left wanting more.

Photos of SafetySuit’s set:

http://safetysuitband.tumblr.com
http://www.twitter.com/safetysuit
http://www.myspace.com/safetysuit
http://safetysuit.myshopify.com/