DISTURBED's MIKE WENGREN On 'The Sickness' 25th-Anniversary Shows: It 'Will Be The Biggest Tour We've Ever Done'

In a new interview with Nikki Blakk of the San Francisco Bay Area radio station 107.7 The Bone, DISTURBED drummer Mike Wengren spoke about the band's upcoming 34-date "The Sickness 25th Anniversary Tour", which will kick off in Nampa, Idaho on February 25, 2025 and is produced by Live Nation. The tour celebrates 25 years of DISTURBED's seminal debut album which launched the band into public consciousness and is one of the most important and influential heavy metal albums of all time. Each night will feature two sets of music, opening with DISTURBED playing the five times platinum "The Sickness" in full, followed by a full set of greatest hits. The first half of the tour will feature support from special guests THREE DAYS GRACE, featuring the return of original singer Adam Gontier, and opener SEVENDUST, and the second half will feature special guests DAUGHTRY with opener NOTHING MORE.

Asked about the setlist for the upcoming tour, Mike said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We've already announced that basically it's gonna be two acts. The first act's going to be 'The Sickness' front to back, second act's gonna be greatest hits. [There will be] plenty of surprises, especially from a production standpoint. We're planning on producing the biggest tour we've ever done. Lots of fire, lots of lights, lots of toys and a lot of maybe some memorabilia, some stuff from back in the day."

Regarding how DISTURBED decided to bring DAUGHTRY out as one of the support acts on the tour, Mike said: "He [DAUGHTRY frontman Chris Daughtry] was the only one available and said 'yes.' No, no. [Laughs] No, just kidding. We know Chris. He's great. Last year he came out to one of the shows, Nashville or something, he came out onstage, did a song with us. It was fricking awesome. There was plenty of bands that submitted, but we wanted to figure, like, who fits us? Who's gonna bring other fans? Maybe we can win over [some of them]. He has more women in his audience. Maybe we can win some of them over… He brings the women over. Plus I wanna figure out how to get as big as shoulders as he does."

Wengren added: "It's actually also kind of funny. This didn't go into the decision making, but the way that it works out is so back in 2001, DISTURBED went overseas to Europe for one of our first times as main support to MARILYN MANSON and our original bass player at the time had an accident and was injured and couldn't make the trip over. So we had a guy that was a friend of ours back in the day fill in for us. His name is Marty O'Brien. And he currently plays bass for Chris now. He was with Lita Ford for quite a while. And he goes back to the original days of being in a band KILGORE that used to be on Giant Records, which is where we were signed to Giant Records. Yeah, so us and Marty toured Europe together in 2001."

Since "The Sickness" was released in 2000, the album was certified five times platinum by the RIAA, spent a total of 106 weeks on the US Billboard 200 chart, and Revolver named it one of "Top 25 Debut Hard Rock Albums." Billboard said of the title track upon release: "'Down With The Sickness' is, of course, the quintessential DISTURBED song, harnessing all the band's seethe and its now-famous tribal beat and guitar chug into three and a half minutes of alt-metal mayhem. It's menacing, it's rhythmic, it's rebellious."

Emerging out of Chicago at the turn of the century with an insidious, infectious, and inimitable vision without comparison, DISTURBED have quietly dominated hard rock on their own terms. They make the kind of music that pushes you to hold on tighter, fight harder, and persevere forever. It's why they've claimed a place at the forefront of 21st century rock with record-breaking success, sales of over 17 million-plus units, nearly 8 billion streams, and sold out shows around the globe. The band have six RIAA album certifications, and singles from all eight albums have reached the top ten of the Mainstream Rock chart.

The two-time Grammy Award-nominated quartet have notched five consecutive #1 debuts on the Billboard Top 200 for "Believe", "Ten Thousand Fists", "Indestructible" and "Asylum", occupying rarified air alongside METALLICA — the only other hard rock group to accomplish this feat. Since their influential five-times-platinum debut "The Sickness" in 2000, they have built a bulletproof catalog highlighted by a procession of smashes, including the platinum "Stupify", "Inside The Fire" and "Land of Confusion", two-times-platinum "Stricken", six-times-platinum "Down With The Sickness" and seven-times-platinum "The Sound Of Silence", to name a few. The latter notably received a Grammy Award nomination in the category of "Best Rock Performance" as the band earned "Best Rock Artist" at the 2017 iHeartRadioMusic Awards. Still, DISTURBED never stop, and their most recent 2022 album "Divisive" featured their 17th No. 1 at Rock Radio "Hey You", "Unstoppable" and more.