Afternoon everyone…..
So here it is…..
We stayed just outside of Hershey, in a Hampton Inn Suites by Hilton in a place named Hummelstown, Pennsylvania. It was only 2.4 miles from the Giant Center which is where the concert was being held.
My girlfriend took a half day at work so that we could leave early enough to check in and eat before the concert which began at 7:00pm.
It was just over a two hour ride from her house. So we arrived just after 3pm. Checked in and started searching for a nice non chain restaurant to eat dinner at. We decided on a place named 1762 which is a restaurant that took over a historical building that was originally “The Warwick Hotel”.
Hummelstown is a very old and historic town which was settled by German immigrants in the late 1600’s. In 1762 the land was bought and the name was changed to Hummelstown from the original name of Fredrickstown.
The restaurant had great reviews so we gave it a try. Jennifer decided on a wagu beef burger with caramelized onions, bacon and blue cheese served with hand cut french fries. I decided on a wagu beef cheesesteak with peppers, onions and a homemade aged cheddar cheese sauce also served with hand cut french fries.
They were both very good. The meat was very tender and flavorful. The fries were awesome, they tossed them with seasoning before plating them. It was a good start to the night.
Now onto the show…
The Giant Center was less than three miles away. But the parking area for the arena was not very close. Unfortunately it borders Hershey Park itself, so two sides of arena are roads which take you to the parks. The parking was actually on the other side of the highway with a walking bridge connecting it to the arena.
Neither of us had heard of the two opening acts, but we decided to give them a try. The first opening band was named “The Funeral Portrait”. They are a band from Georgia who formed in 2014 from my google search of them. We sat through it but neither of us enjoyed what they were playing.
The second act was a band named “I Prevail”. Well….. they are heavier than The Funeral Portrait and sounded better band wise. But not really anything I’d listen to. They did do a cover of Metallica’s Fade to Black which was done rather well. I’ll give them that.
The headliner which is why we were there was Three Days Grace!!!! Jennifer and I saw them as the opener for Breaking Benjamins last summer at the Prudential Center. They sounded great and with both lead singers was awesome.
In 2013 the original lead singer Adam Gontier left the band. I had liked there stuff back then. I had thought they broke up until I had heard a song Chalk Outline from them with the new singer Matt Walst, who is actually the brother of the bassist Brad Walst.
In 2024 Gontier returned to the band making them a duo vocal band. When we had seen them opening up for Breaking Benjamins we had no idea what to expect. The dual vocals really works for them and I personally think they sound better with both singing. We both said that we would see them again.
I want to say first off, they did a twenty two song set list. It was a very very good performance. They did a ten song set first, which led into an acoustic four song set which was not something I expected, but was very well done. They finished off with several of their heavy hitter songs. The place went nuts when they played “Painkiller”. They actually were told no encore was allowed due to time curfews. So the show ended roughly at 11:15 which was already 15 minutes past the curfew.
They rocked the place. Matt Walst was actually walking through the crowd singing for an entire song. Giving high fives, fist bumps and handshakes. He even came up to the first mezzanine which was quite unusual.
Now I know we were only three miles away to our hotel. But this was BY FAR!!!! The quickest exit I’ve ever had from a concert. Once we got to our vehicle we were back at the hotel within ten minutes. They had quite an assembly of people directing traffic out of the place. It was a great thing.
Now being so close to Hershey Park (which technically is not open yet). We had to see if their Chocolate World store was open. Which it was….. So before heading home we stopped and got a few things for our families as gifts. Hershey makes specialty items that are only available at chocolate world. We got all three of those items. First was a toffee chip truffle, a smoked salted caramel, and the last was a toasted almond and toasted coconut milk chocolate. If I get any feedback I will share.
