Tailgating with Staind, Seether, and Saint Asonia in Charleston

Staind brings their Tailgate Tour to North Charleston Coliseum

Who doesn’t love a good tailgate?! Especially one hosted by Staind! Charleston, SC played host to a stop on Staind’s Tailgate Tour featuring Seether and Saint Asonia. Staind are touring in the wake of their latest album Confessions of the Fallen , which was released this past September. This is the band’s 8th studio album and their first new release since their self-titled album in 2011.

Show time wasn’t until 6:30 pm but fans were lined up early outside the coliseum to get their spots at the rail and in the pit before doors opened. Luckily it was a relatively cooler day and people didn’t have to wait in the typical heat and humidity of Charleston. Regardless, people didn’t have to worry much about the weather due to the indoor venue… and the fact that it’s the home of the Charleston hockey team which kept the venue nice and cool.

The evening kicked off with Saint Asonia, led by lead singer Adam Gontier. He may be a familiar name with his history as the lead singer of Three Days Grace. Saint Asonia is a blend of key members of other bands, including bassist (and cousin to Adam) Cale Gontier, drummer Cody Watkins, and guitarist Tavis Stanley who were all previously with Art of Dying. Tavis Stanley is touring in place of guitarist Mike Mushok of Staind, who we will see later in the evening.

Saint Asonia opened with “Devastate” from their EP, Extrovert , which was released in pair with EP, Introvert in 2022. The short but sweet set blends songs from their full-length album releases, including “The Hunted,” and “Wolf” as well as famed Three Days Grace songs “Never Too Late,” “I Hate Everything About You,” and “Riot” which really got the audience on their feet. Adam is a pro on his custom-made skeleton arm mic and really captures the audience with his raspy vocals. The set also included a song that Adam did back in 2007 with Apocalyptica called “I Don’t Care”. They closed with “Let Me Live My Life” from their first album, leaving the audience on their feet and ready for the next band on the bill.

After a short break, Seethertakes the stage. It has been a long time since I’ve seen Seether, but they still absolutely killed it. The South African band has been around for a while and also are touring on a catalog of 8 full-length albums, with the latest album, Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum, released in 2020 and a deluxe version of the album released in 2022. With the extensive catalog of songs and the combination of a short set, their setlist was heavy with popular singles, which didn’t seem to be much of an issue as the crowd was able to sing every lyric back to the band.

The band opened with “Gasoline”, heavy with guitar distortion and riffs, and got the audience hyped again after the break. Frontman Shaun Morgan takes his place stage right while bassist Dale Stewart is center stage, John Humphrey is back on the drums, and touring guitarist, Corey Lowery is stage left. They follow with “Fine Again” and slow it down for “Broken”, truly showing off Morgan’s vocals. He pauses throughout the song for the audience to sing back and they don’t miss a beat. They continue to rage through the rest of their set and feature “Wasteland” and “Dangerous” from their latest album, and close with the crowd favorite, “Remedy”.

Finally, it was the headliner’s turn to take the stage. To really build anticipation, a large banner was dropped to cover the stage, with the Staindlogo printed on it. Having been a band for over 25 years, despite the break they took for frontman Aaron Lewisto pursue his solo career and for Mike Mushok to join Saint Asonia (see, I told you we would see him again later), they appeared as the Staind banner dropped and went right into their opener, “Lowest In Me” like the pros that they are. Staind is also Johnny April on bass and Sal Giancarelli on drums.

During their set, Lewis kept it casual, hanging out by the mic stand the majority of the show, but still effectively showcasing his vocal range, screaming like it was nothing for heavy hitters like “Eyes Wide Open,” “Not Again,” and “Wannabe”, which he dedicates to his haters, and slowing it down for “Right Here,” “Something to Remind You,” “Outside,” and “So Far Away.” Mushok was the one to watch as he rarely stood still and you could only occasionally get a glimpse of his face between headbanging his hair around while shredding on the guitar.

The audience took some time to warm up but by the end of the show, the majority was standing as Staind closed the show with encores “It’s Been Awhile,” and “Mudshovel.”

There are only a few shows left of the Tailgate Tour, but you can catch Staind at Sonic Templein Ohio in May, followed by their tour with Breaking Benjamin, Daughtry, and Lakeview that starts late summer in September and runs through the fall. These dates can be found on their website below!

See the full gallery of the night here!

If you happened to capture any shots of the night, feel free to tag us on social media at Shutter 16 Magazine and throw in #Shutter16 and #TwitFromThePit for the world to see.