BREAKING BENJAMIN, CHEVELLE, (A Parent’s Perspective) SHOW REVIEW!

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Four bands, four different generations of heaviness, one hell of a Tuesday night at Star Lake.

Kami Kehoe brought the new blood, STARSET gave the bill its cinematic sci-fi pulse, Chevelle delivered that unmistakable low-tuned tension and then of course, Breaking Benjamin closed it with a catalog full of songs that have been living on rock radio, burned CDs, old playlists, and in our heads for more than two decades.

On September 15, 2026, the Fall Tour rolled into The Pavilion at Star Lake in Burgettstown, PA. I had seen Breaking Benjamin on this same stage in 2023 while they were supporting Disturbed, and I walked away calling them one of the best live acts I had seen. Three years later, they came back as the headliner with 90 minutes and 18 songs to make that case all over again.

This was not a subtle Tuesday night. It was a nearly five-hour trip through where modern hard rock has been, where it is now, and where it might be headed next.

I'll be honest, Kami Kehoe was the name on the bill I had to look up again after the show, that is not a knock at all, this is exactly what an opening slot is supposed to do, put somebody new in front of a much bigger crowd and give them half an hour to make sure people remember the name next time, and they fuckin' delivered.

Kehoe had just released LOVE IS A WEAPON on August 28, and five of her nine songs came from that record. She opened with “PSYCHO” and moved through “SOMETHING IN THE WATER,” “UR GONE,” “FADE OUT,” “DIRTY,” and “THE END.” The title track “Love Is a Weapon” led into “SLEEP WHEN IM DEAD,” with “DOPAMINE” closing the 30-minute introduction. Nine songs. No wasted time. Name remembered, absolutely remembered. This band had amazing energy on stage, and blew me away by their energy. Kami hopping on and off drums while singing was absolutely sick to watch, while the rest of the band had killer stage presence, and killer timing.

STARSET followed with a tight 45-minute set that covered the band's past and present without turning the support slot into a rushed greatest-hits dump. I had no clue going in what the hell STARSET was, but was an absolute fan by the end. The entire stage setup was insane with the band performed in Tron-looking outfits, playing everything from synth keyboards to violin and cello.

“p a r a d 0 x 1 c” opened the transmission before “Carnivore” reached back to Transmissions. “Brave New World,” “Monster,” and “SILOS” gave the middle of the set a mix of old hooks and the band's newest chapter. From there, “a n n 1 h 1 l a t 1 0 n” and “TokSik” pushed the newer material before STARSET ended exactly where plenty of fans probably expected: “My Demons.” Eight songs, several eras, one clean arc.

There was one obvious missed opportunity hanging over the entire night. With STARSET and Breaking Benjamin both in the building, their collaboration “Waiting on the Sky to Change” seemed like the natural crossover moment. It never happened. Damn shame. The set still worked, but that duet would have been one hell of a bridge between the two bands.

Chevelle hit at 7:55 p.m. They have been a band that I've been dying to see for years now, and it finally happened. They kicked off with “Family System,” which is a hell of a way to announce yourself. “Self Destructor” and “Vitamin R (Leading Us Along)” followed, immediately showing how easily the band can move between different eras without sanding down any of the edges.

Their 12-song set leaned hardest on Wonder What's Next, pulling “Family System,” “Send the Pain Below,” “Comfortable Liar,” and “The Red” from that record. The rest of the hour stretched across their catalog: “Pale Horse” represented the new Bright as Blasphemy era, while “An Island,” “Joyride (Omen),” “Face to the Floor,” and “The Clincher” kept the middle of the set moving through some of Chevelle's heaviest corners.

They could have ended with “The Red” and sent everybody home happy. Instead, Chevelle saved “Mars Simula” for last. That choice fit the night better: familiar enough to lock in the longtime fans, strange and heavy enough to leave the air unsettled for what came next.

At 9:30 p.m., Breaking Benjamin opened with an absolute throwback with a PC loading onto the internet, Limewire downloading a Breaking Ben song, Halo 2 opening up, and the music from it playing. Simple, nostalgic, perfect, then they kicked straight into “I Will Not Bow.” No slow build. No easing into it. From there came “Until the End,” “Evil Angel,” “Crawl,” and “Red Cold River,” a five-song opening stretch pulled from three different records and built almost entirely from songs designed to be screamed back at a stage.

The middle of the set dug all over the catalog. “Blow Me Away” led into “Follow,” “Angels Fall,” “You,” and “So Cold.” Then came “Polyamorous,” which remains one of my personal favorites from the band, followed by “Dear Agony.” It was the kind of sequencing that reminds you how many versions of Breaking Benjamin have existed without the band ever losing the thing that makes them immediately recognizable.

The closing run brought the newest material into the same room as the classics. “Something Wicked” and “Awaken” sat alongside “Breath” and “Failure,” before “Dance With the Devil” set up the only possible ending: “The Diary of Jane.” Eighteen songs later, Breaking Benjamin had gone from Saturate through the present without treating the early material like a museum piece or the new songs like an obligation.

The Parent's Perspective here is written into the years. “Polyamorous,” “The Red,” “So Cold,” and “The Diary of Jane” are all old enough to have been handed from one generation of rock fans to the next. I am not ready to call them oldies, because I do not need that kind of emotional damage. They survived because the hooks still land, the riffs still carry weight, and a Tuesday-night crowd of young and old fans that will still make room for the songs that got them through another part of their lives.

Kami Kehoe introduced the next chapter. STARSET looked toward the future. Chevelle kept the pressure locked down. Breaking Benjamin brought the whole timeline home, especially with that Halo 2 opening.

Check out the photo gallery below for shots from Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle, STARSET, and Kami Kehoe at The Pavilion at Star Lake!