Three Days Grace Storms Boardwalk Rock

By Dave Parsons

On the evening of May 18, 2025, dusk descended onto the inlet beach of Ocean City, Maryland, and there were but two acts left to play the last day of the inaugural Boardwalk Rock festival.  Half of the 50,000 fans on the sand that evening were camped in front of the Bolt stage, one of the two mammoth stages that anchored the ends of the festival.  They waited for one thing: the Canadian post-grunge titans known as Three Days Grace.

Formed in 1997 in Norwood, Ontario, Three Days Grace broke onto the international scene with their self-titled debut in 2003, with a CD filled with grim, relatable anthems like I Hate Everything About You and Just Like You.   The next decade saw two more top-charting albums, internal battles, and an eventual lineup change in front men.  Fast forward to 2025, and they are touring to support their 2022 album Explosives, and this show is not as a legacy act, but as a band still ready to expand and grow.

Three Days Grace took the stage to a crowd ready to party. Matt Walst and original lead singer,  Adam Gontier, took turns bringing the goods. The band drew the crowd in from the start, locking eyes with fans during Animal I Have Become, giving it that growl. On So Called Life, he hit verses with thoughtful scorn: This is who I am… this is how I feel. The crowd roared in agreement.

Guitar player, Barry Stock, brought riffs like a sculptor carves. On Break, his guitar roared with distortion, while the solos on Chalk Outline soared into the night. Brad Walst, Matt’s brother, was all over the bass. He brought the good stuff on songs like The Mountain.  He joined his brother, singing harmonies on Painkiller, and more than held his own, taking some of the vocal spotlight and cementing his place in the band.

As a band, Three Days Grace knows how to excite an audience.  The sand transformed into a rally of sweaty, angry defiance. Kids in their teens screamed beside guys pushing 60. There was unity in these collective protest songs, and it didn’t feel performative. It felt needed.  By the time they got to the moment everyone had been waiting for, it landed like thunder.

I Hate Everything About You wasn’t just sung, but in addition was shouted, sobbed, and howled.  From the VIP section to the mosh pit, everyone knew every word. This led to an interesting collaboration as a young vocalist named Veda joined in for the anthemic Just Like You.  They ended up just holding the mic out and letting the ocean of voices do the work. This set the stage for the double-play threat of the night.

Pain turned the beach into a sanctuary of shared scars. People screamed along to I’d rather feel pain than nothing at all.  No line better exemplifies Three Days Grace.  Time of Dying elevated things further. It’s a song about choosing life in the face of death, and it took things up another notch.

Then came the song Never Too Late……Even if I say it’ll be alright…

They all sang together…..all 50,000 voices….. and one shared wound.

Then came Riot.  The band launched into the riff like they were crashing a fence. The crowd was following right behind them.  The line was yelled  If you feel so empty… and the entire crowd jumped as one. In a world always begging us to be quiet, to be polite, to pretend, and there was something pure in this crowd.  Something loud, broken, honest, and real.  It never stopped until the last note rang out….. The waves of the water softly released them to move on when the lights went out, but for 75 minutes, they weren’t alone.  They were understood and heard. They saw Grace.

Setlist – Three Days Grace, May 18, 2025, Boardwalk Rock, Ocean City, MD

1. Animal I Have Become
2. So Called Life
3. Break
4. Home
5. The Mountain
6. Chalk Outline
7. Mayday
8. I Hate Everything About You
9. I Am Machine
10. Just Like You (feat. Veda J)
11. Pain
12. Time of Dying
13. The Good Life
14. Painkiller
15. Never Too Late
16. Riot