Thursday evening in Helsinki Icehall, on January 22nd, 2026, turned out to be a genuine live music bonanza as three American acts, each with an awe-inspiring powerhouse vocalist, rocked the Blackbox stage, traversing the rougher sonic terrain somewhere between hard rock and metal. The concert marked the Finnish leg of ALTER BRIDGE‘s ongoing What Lies Within Tour, and, as if this wasn’t sweet enough, the two support acts were of no less caliber, with the Atlanta nu-metal veterans, SEVENDUST, setting things in motion, and North Carolina four-piece DAUGHTRY adding more fuel to the fire. I don’t think I could have had a better start to this year, in terms of live concerts: three bands of headliner-caliber for the price of one! This evening also marked the first time SEVENDUST visited Finland, and I certainly wish we could be treated to their sonic wizardry again, soon. Then, as I was only vaguely familiar with a couple of those balladeering hits from yesteryear, DAUGHTRY‘s performance caught me off guard entirely. I’m not sure what I expected from the band, but it sure as hell wasn’t anything like the kick-ass show I witnessed. The headliner, ALTER BRIDGE, was on fire, of course, but that was kind of expected. So, each band delivered a criminally good show – I mean, in that “Three strikes and you’re out” kind of way.
Picking an intro tape for a live show is an art form in and of itself; typically, bands opt for some well-known, classical motif, or some resonant movie reference. Yeah, they usually do the trick, but SEVENDUST‘s choice of intro music was something completely different. When the lights went dim and the 1970 CARPENTERS hit, “We’ve Only Just Begun,” started playing, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the irony of it all: this nu-metal five-piece was founded in 1997 already! Just the other day, they also announced their fifteenth(!) studio album to be released in May 2026! (Keep your eyes peeled for that one, my friends…) For some reason, at least on this side of the Atlantic, they have remained the unsung heroes of the nu-metal movement, which really makes no sense, considering how their back catalog is comprised exclusively of great albums. This probably explains why the venue was far from packed when the band started, but the crowd that had bothered to show up early was treated to something very special. On occasion, the guitars sounded a bit muddy, but that’s just a feature of the venue: the acoustics of the Helsinki Icehall are notoriously unforgiving for loud bands. Plus, it didn’t really matter that much since the band was firing on all cylinders – their vocalist, Lajon Witherspoon, has such an amazing voice! The setlist was comprised of the biggest bangers from their first four albums. Sure, it was a shame not to be able to hear anything from their latest album, “Truth Killer,” from 2023, for instance, but I reckon it was safer to play only the hits for their first time here. The fact is, we need to get this band back in Finland as a headliner, the sooner the better – and when that happens, you can bet your ass that it will be something you don’t want to miss. (With any luck and a longer set, they might play a couple of bangers from “Kill the Flaw,” too…)
If I overheard correctly at the venue, the last time DAUGHTRY played in Helsinki was in 2022, and, apparently, their performance had convinced quite a few Finns to come and see the band on stage again. When this North Carolina band kicked off their set, the venue was remarkably more packed than an hour before. At first, I must admit to having had doubts about the band being a good fit for the evening. You see, the idea of listening to power ballads in between SEVENDUST‘s alternative metal and ALTER BRIDGE‘s kick-ass hard rock didn’t exactly sit right with me. Of course, I could have checked out their music on Spotify before the gig, but I’ve learned that it’s better to have the option of being completely blown away by surprise. That’s exactly what happened with their fellow countrymen, NOTHING MORE, at Tuska Festival, last year, and, peculiar enough, while writing this article, I just learned that DAUGHTRY has collaborated with those guys. It figures; the a priori odds were in the band’s favor to pull the same stunt.
DAUGHTRY‘s eponymous debut is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and those aforementioned ballads from this album were obviously included in the set, but otherwise, the setlist leaned more toward the band’s achievements in the 2020’s. To my pleasant surprise, not only did these achievements have very little to do with balladeering, but DAUGHTRY‘s ass-kicking hard-rock performance was also the best-sounding of the three acts. Maybe it had something to do with the band featuring a keyboardist instead of a second guitarist, contrary to the other two bands. Not once did the band sound muddy, nor did the bass overpower the rest of the band at any point. Then, as it turned out to be the theme of the evening, vocalist Chris Daughtry was simply amazing. I mean, he commanded a hallful of people like a king with the acoustic solo performance of “Home” – yeah, a ballad! Can you believe it?! Other high points in the set were the cover rendition of JOURNEY‘s old classic “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” and the anthemic banger, “Heavy Is the Crown,” from 2021. As the nu-metal-tinged “Artificial” brought the show to a close, I made a solemn promise to myself to explore the band’s music in depth – I probably should have done that a long time ago.
By now, ALTER BRIDGE has become something of a synonym for hard-hitting brilliance. I’m not sure whether the venue was sold out or not, but judging from my sweet spot near the mixing console, it damn well looked like it. I believe the last time this Florida four-piece played in Helsinki was in 2019, although for me, this was the first time I saw them in action. The band is kind of like FOO FIGHTERS with a metal edge: the band’s songwriting duo, vocalist-guitarist Myles Kennedy and guitarist Mark Tremonti, have a knack for writing diabolically catchy songs just like Dave Grohl, and as a vocalist, Kennedy puts the final icing on the cake even more forcefully. Here and there, Mark Tremonti did both lead and backing vocals, and it must be said he is not only a brilliant guitarist, but a world-class vocalist, too. I guess it’s easy to write bangers when you have such vocal power in your band. Sure, the band is not likely to ignite a sonic revolution of any sort in the foreseeable future, but they’re so good at what they do that it’s insane; their back catalog is so full of earworms and beefy riffers that filling an almost 2-hour set with only hits is no biggie with this bunch.
Speaking of which, the show kicked off with their latest single, “Silent Divide,” off their new, eponymous album released earlier this month. Even though the song was as fresh-out-of-the-oven as you could have, it blended right in with the band’s old killers with its killer riffs. I guess the song must have been written to function as a show opener, because as such it was a perfect ten. Otherwise, the setlist offered us a nice cross-section of the band’s career, right from their 2004 debut to the latest studio affair. Not only was the hit-infested debut visited by four songs, but the band’s 2013 affair, “Fortress,” had also given four songs to the setlist. At some point, Kennedy confessed that it’s the album that the band members themselves like the most. The title track was a particular treat for us. From the new album, two more songs made it to the setlist, while the other albums were paid a visit by a song or two. It’s pretty hard to mention any particular highlights in a setlist like this – of pure bangers! – but “Wouldn’t You Rather” sounded every bit as punchy as it did on the 2019 album, “Walk the Sky.” Then, the last song before the encore, “Metalingus,” kicked some serious ass, too, before the band left the stage.
Of course, these metal rogues returned for a couple more songs, with the title track from the band’s 2007 endeavor, “Blackbird,” kicking off with a cool reference to THE BEATLES’ hit by the same name. Finally, the evening was brought to a close with “Isolation” from the band’s third album, dating back some 15 years. So, whether you were a newbie converted to the parish of die-hard ALTER BRIDGE fanboys by their most recent albums or a seasoned veteran, I’m sure the show did not leave anything more to hope for. What can I say? The band has been on my radar for quite a few years already, but for some reason, I had never bothered to haul my ass to check out their stage antics before this evening. The new album had got me pretty hyped up about this concert, however, and the chance to see SEVENDUST was the ultimate deal breaker for me. I must say, ALTER BRIDGE delivered up to specs, for sure! The fact that neither of the support acts was any less impressive only made this evening that much more spectacular – it truly felt like seeing three headliners for the price of one. What a great way to start this year!
Written by Jani Lehtinen
Sevendust Setlist:
- Black
- Denial
- Enemy
- Praise
- Crucified
- Face to Face
Daughtry Setlist:
- Divided
- The Bottom
- The Day I Die
- Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)
- It’s Not Over
- Home (acoustic)
- Antidote
- Pieces
- The Dam
- Heavy Is the Crown
- Artificial
Alter Bridge Setlist:
- Silent Divide
- Addicted to Pain
- Cry of Achilles
- Wouldn’t You Rather
- Fortress
- Burn It Down
- What Lies Within
- Open Your Eyes
- Tested and Able
- Broken Wings
- Watch Over You
- Silver Tongue
- Rise Today
- Metalingus
ENCORE:
- Blackbird
- Isolation
