Black Stone Cherry wails hard in Wyandotte, Michigan with Saint Asonia

District 142 opened as a new venue in Wyandotte, Michigan not even one year ago and has already held one of the most energetic shows! The three bands who played on February 25th definitely brought the heat and made the venue more memorable.

Any Given Sin started off strong, with their guitarist Mike Conner automatically stealing the show. He banged his head the entire set. For being the first band, Mike set the bar by the amount of energy he put into playing his drums. Victor Ritchie’s vocals were solid and the amount of distortion the guitar in general made me love them instantly. If you’re into old school Shinedown, you’ll definitely like this band.

After doing two legs of the Rock Resurrection Tour last year, Saint Asonia hasn’t skipped a beat in 2024.

This tour, the band is co-headlining which meant a longer setlist. They started off with their original songs “Above it All” and “Better Place” to get the crowd warmed up. Adam Gontier (former lead singer of Three Days Grace) then brought back some fan-favorites, including “Never Too Late”, “I Hate Everything About You”, and the addition of “Riot” to help jog everyone’s memories of who Saint Asonia is. As these songs were played, everyone’s phones came out to capture some nostalgic moments of Three Days Grace songs sung by Adam himself. All it took for me was listening to a full setlist of Saint Asonia for them to bring out the edgy teenage girl from 2011 I used to be.

Black Stone Cherry ended the night with a bang.

There wasn’t a single moment where Ben Wells, their rhythm guitarist, didn’t jump and throw his entire body into the music. There wasn’t a single moment where their bassist, Steve Jewell, didn’t bang his head. There wasn’t even a single moment when their drummer, John Fred Young, didn’t give every hit his all (he even had a fan blowing in his face, making him look more majestic than he already was). To top it off, singer Chris Wellington shredded his heart out on every solo. Black Stone Cherry is the most energetic band I have ever seen to date. If you happen to catch their show for this tour, look out for the little Michael Myers bobblehead sitting on Ben’s pedalboard!

Photography by Kayla N. Rising

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