Chevelle, Breaking Benjamin – Victoria Warehouse, Manchester 16.07.2026
Chevelle, Breaking Benjamin
Victoria Warehouse, Manchester
16/07/26
Live Review by Oli Gonzalez
Things were hotting up in Manchester. In more ways than one. See, the city has seen some rare shows in recent times. Like the UK debut of the legendary Acid Bath only a few weeks prior! Tonight would showcase a rare UK show from Chevelle, almost 13 years since they last played in the city. In support were Breaking Benjamin who seldom come to the island (largely due to their frontman’s severe phobia of flying) meaning it was almost a decade since their last show here! No wonder the O2 Ritz sold out instantly (much like Acid Bath did) and needed to be relocated to the much larger Victoria Warehouse, which also sold out.
Even at 6.45pm, the unusually hot sun was beating down on Manchester – a statement as rare as a Chevelle UK appearance! The heat couldn’t be worse than that Acid Bath show though, right? We’ll see.
Myriad attendees were sporting black Breaking Benjamin and Chevelle tshirts, showing their support but also contributing to the inability to deal with the heat. Their own fault. What wasn’t their own fault was the painfully long entry process, with a seemingly never ending zig-zag of barrier to navigate before having to rely on a poorly designed Ticketmaster app that cannot work offline yet remains the single point of failure in obtaining access to the venue! Come one LiveNation, you need to do better!
25 minutes after doors, I was finally into the building and with minimal time to grab a pint and scurry as near to the front as possible, time was of the essence. Not long to settle in before the lights went down for the first time tonight…
Return To The Dust
A muddy start in all honesty, and the crowd was slow to warm. Though the brightness and sharpness of their instruments began to shine as the sound engineers seemingly sprinkled some magic dust on the soundboard. This melodic quality became more salient within the bounds of the unmistakable grungey southern rock sound. They became more confident and the guitarists each started peeling off aesthetic riffs after delightful licks! Their energy grew and the audience began warming.
“Any Outkast fans?”
A southern rock rendition of ‘Heyah’ woke the crowd up and wasn’t on our bingo cards! It was only a short 30 minute opening set, so the final song came just as they were building momentum.
“Can you jump Manchester?”
A few moments into the final song and with minimal engagement, the band were clearly not accepting. After a bit of verbal bashing, they started the song again and whilst there was visibly more movement and compliance, the crowd were saving their energy for later.
A better listening experience and aesthetic sound after a muddy start. Speaking of aesthetic; every one of the band sported an amazing head of hair! Either one could be a model for a Treseme advert! Jokes aside, they more than fulfilled their duty as opening act tonight
https://www.facebook.com/RETURNTODUSTofficial/
The short break meant some left for a hydration break, presenting me with a chance to move closer to the stage. I found a sweet sweet spot under the air con. Yes. A venue with air-con! I was going to need it!
Breaking Benjamin
“I Will Not Bow! I Will Not Break!”
It’s hard to think of a more infectious opener to this historic set, a crunching, groovy beginning to the set that got many a person bouncing! Everything sounded solid up there, including Benjamin’s vocals, which sounded pristine given the many years of battering his vocal chords must have taken!
“I’m feeling pretty good, how ‘bout you?”
He was a man of few words too. Showing his appearance, though nonetheless, and would rather let the music do the talking. Others to my right decided to show their appreciation in the form of a small pit. Very small. 2 people. 3 including one man who clearly did want to be anywhere near it and wanted to calmly enjoy this rare moment, shutting this down with a clear display of physical displeasure! Quickly moving on…
I come from a world of post, doom, and progressive metal, where any song less than 10 minutes is considered blasphemy! With Breaking Benjamin’s songs all hovering around the 3-minute mark, they were coming thick and fast, making it hard to keep a mental note. Though the 6th (or possibly 10th) song in ‘So Cold’ represented a set highlight, especially during the ambient segments which was an invitation for the Manchester to join in and sing along! It’s remarkable how deep Breaking Benjamin’s sound was despite only operating as a 3-piece. There was no room for error and there was barely any! Then it was over. Far too quickly! 40 minutes flew faster than 40 minutes should have passed! Still, it makes me feel genuinely privileged to have seen such a rare performance!
https://www.facebook.com/BreakingBenjamin/
Problem: Keeping people entertained during a rather lengthy 30-minute changeover
Solution; play some nu-metal bangers on the PA, resulting in a good ol’ fashion sing-along
Problem: Many MANY over 30s realising that some of these – like Linkin Park’s ‘In The End’ are now officially over 25 years old and we’re now very old too!
Solution: …
After a few minutes of facing existential dread, the lights went down for the final time, with a band from many of Manchester’s collective’s youth about to take to the stage…Chevelle
‘An Island’. Look in any direction, and you would see people blurring out the lyrics to this infectious chorus from this nu-metal spiced banger. You’d be forgiven for thinking it was a Saturday night, but it was a school night! The production had clearly taken a severe upgrade, in terms of lighting and sound quality (though they STILL had the Breaking Benjamin backdrop up there…come on now!). With 4 guitars on stage, this created a thick layer of sound which easily could have become muddy and sloppy. But nope, they remained tight. Mechanically tight. One of those guitarists was young Ben, son of frontman Peter. He sounded and looked like one of the superstars of tomorrow, playing with grace and charisma way beyond his age! More than I ever achieved musically at that age!
But yeah, production! Put a record on at the same time and you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the studio and live version being pumped out!
The energy and exciting was becoming overwhelming, and the roof was about to bkmjhyjm
Yes, that was me taking some notes at the gig and trying to write the ‘roof was about to be blown off’ before a pit erupted right behind me! Way more than that minuscule one we had earlier, no half-assed measures. More serious this time!
The hits kept coming, like ‘The Red’ and ‘Comfortable Liar’. I didn’t know the name of a single one. Yet I found myself singing along, showing how infectious and accessible the music was, and how immersed I had become! Is there a bigger compliment for a band?
https://www.facebook.com/chevelle/
What’s to say about tonight? A solid co-headlining show with two ‘I was there’ moments. When will they be back in the UK, if ever?
Venue:
https://victoriawarehouse.com/
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Oli Gonzalez and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
