By Renee Clark Quade and Rebecca Clark
There are some concert lineups that make you feel old in the best possible way. Staind’s Break the Cycle 25th Anniversary Tour was definitely one of those nights.
On Saturday, September 19, Hinder, Hoobastank, Seether and Staind took over a sold-out Darien Lake Amphitheater on a chilly early fall night, bringing together four bands that have been part of the rock landscape for more than two decades.
For us, the night had an extra bit of nostalgia attached to it. We saw Seether tour with Staind almost 20 years ago when both bands were playing much smaller venues. Seeing them together again, this time in a sold-out amphitheater, was one of those moments that really makes you realize just how much time has passed.
Hinder got the night started in the early 6 p.m. slot with a shorter set that kept things moving. They didn’t have a ton of time, but they made the most of it, playing a punchy set while constantly interacting with the crowd. There were plenty of waves, smiles and guitar picks making their way into the audience, and they seemed genuinely happy to be up there.
Hoobastank came next and wasted no time getting the crowd moving, opening with “Just One” before going into “Born to Lead” and “Running Away.”
They also gave us one of the more unexpected moments of the night when bassist Jesse Charland’s three-year-old son came out onstage with a tiny guitar for the beginning of the set. Doug Robb joked about where the kid could possibly go from there, considering he’d apparently already peaked at the age of three.
Robb spent the rest of the set making a pretty convincing argument that he wasn’t ready to slow down either. He was all over the stage, running from one side to the other and eventually jumping down onto the monitors to shake hands and fist bump fans in the front row.
Seether’s set wasn’t what you’d expect from a package tour. Instead of stacking it with radio hits, they pulled from all over their catalog: “Pride,” “Lost Control,” “Rise Above This,” “Fine Again,” “Dangerous,” “Fake It” and “Remedy.” It played like a set for longtime fans, and a few of the older songs are ones that don’t usually make the cut when the band has a shorter slot. During “Rise Above This,” a tribute to Eugene, Shaun Morgan’s late brother, appeared on the screen behind the band. Eugene was a big part of Seether’s early days, and the moment was a touching reminder that his presence hasn’t been forgotten by the band or the fans who have been there since the beginning.
Morgan was his usual self, locked in on guitar and vocals and posted up stage right for most of the set rather than front and center. Between songs he mostly just thanked the crowd and gave some love to the other bands on the bill. That was plenty.
We always end up watching John Humphrey when Seether plays. As far as we’re concerned, he’s the heartbeat of that band. He hits hard without any showboating, and you can feel it from out in the crowd. Cory Lowery and Dale Stewart were moving around the stage all night, which gave the set a lot of its energy while Morgan stayed focused on playing.
Before Staind came out, the lights went down and the screens started rolling footage from the Break the Cycle sessions, studio clips and behind-the-scenes stuff from when the album was being made. It was a nice way to set up a night built around that record.
They opened with “Open Your Eyes,” then “Warm Safe Place” and “Fade.”
Aaron Lewis has never been a run-around-the-stage kind of frontman, and he wasn’t about to start now. He mostly stayed put. But his voice was the best part of the whole set. He leaned hard into the mic on the heavier songs and threw in some screams and vocal changes that aren’t on the records, and a few songs came out rawer than the album versions because of it.
Before “When I’m Gone,” Lewis talked about people the band had met over the years and lost along the way, naming Wayne Static, Dimebag Darrell, Chester Bennington, Chris Cornell and Scott Weiland, among others, and dedicated the song to them. It’s already a heavy song. That intro made it heavier.
It’s a song that already carries plenty of weight, but hearing Lewis introduce it that way gave it another layer.
He called “Outside” the song that changed the band’s lives, and as soon as it started, phones went up across the entire amphitheater. We were somewhere in the middle of the crowd, and that sea of lights is going to stick with us for a while. It must have looked unreal from the stage.
From there they worked through “For You” and “It’s Been Awhile” and closed the 15-song set with “Mudshovel.” It covered a lot of ground without feeling like they were racing through a checklist of hits.
The music was great, but what we’ll remember most is that all four bands actually seemed happy to be there. Anyone who’s been to enough package tours knows what it looks like when bands are just clocking in, and this was the opposite. They kept shouting each other out from the stage and seemed to genuinely like being on the same tour.
Maybe that comes with 20-plus years in the business. Nobody up there was trying to relive 2001. These bands came up around the same time, watched each other get older and ended up on the same stage again decades later.
If you grew up on this music, standing in a sold-out amphitheater with Hinder, Hoobastank, Seether and Staind all on one bill was pretty damn cool. And getting to see Seether and Staind together again, nearly 20 years after the first time, felt like things had come full circle.
Photo Gallery – Staind – Darien Lake Amphitheater – 9/16/2026
Photo Gallery – Seether – Darien Lake Amphitheater – 9/16/2026
Photo Gallery – Hoobastank – Darien Lake Amphitheater – 9/16/2026
