With a single American flag pole placed to the side, Mississippi rockers 3 Doors Down graced the Little Caesars Arena stage on Wednesday, November 20, 2024.
With the outcome of the United States Presidential election still fresh in the minds of many in the audience, Brad Arnold, the lead singer for the band, didn’t use his time behind the microphone to make any political speeches.
Instead, the frontman focused on the music for the majority of the show, but did provide an inspirational monologue for the crowd.
“As you can see, I don’t talk a whole lot in our shows,” Arnold told the crowd.
“I don’t really have a whole lot to say usually. But there’s something that I would like to share with you tonight, and I think it is the most important thing that I can ever share with you from where I’m standing.”
Arnold added: “I know that in the bottom of my heart and it’s based on this next song, Away From The Sun which is the title track off our second record. That song is probably one of my favorite songs we’ve ever done because I can identify with it more than any song that we’ve ever done, I believe.”
Arnold described an analogy that everyone, including him, is always climbing up a hill.
“Clawing up this hill, toward the light, just like we all are,” he said.
“I slide back down and sometimes I fall back down, sometimes it kicks me back down, sometimes I jump back down. But you know, we’re always going for that light and we’re always trying to be enough, and we’re surrounded by a world, especially these phones in our hands all the time and they’re constantly telling us that you’re not enough. You’ll never be rich enough, never be strong enough, never be pretty enough, whatever it is, that you’ll never be enough.”
Arnold added: “I just simply want to tell you my friends, that is an absolute lie, because you are enough, you’ve always been enough and you’ll always be enough. And you’ll always be enough for one reason, if not for no other reason at all, you’ll always be enough because Jesus Christ loves you. He loves you. He loves you so much that he made you just the way that you are standing there right now. He also loves you enough, to not leave you because we’re all a work in progress, but we’re all loved.”
He said one of his favorite things, whenever he reads the Bible, is looking back at Jesus’ disciples.
“Who really, all in all, back in the day, were his buddies,” Arnold said.
“They trusted this man that they had just met, and John, one of the disciples, he described himself, he said, I am the one that Jesus loved and it wasn’t because he was the greatest, it was actually was just in spite of that. He said I’m the one that Jesus loves, even though I fail every day and I’ll fail again and I’m broken, but I’m the one Jesus loves. We are all, at the end of the day my friends, we’re all just like John. We’re broken and we fail every day, but we’re all loved.”
Arnold proceeded to encourage the audience to repeat a “very powerful blessing” when he asked the crowd to say “I am the one that Jesus loves.”
“Thank-you so much my brothers and sisters. God bless you. I love you,” Arnold added.
Throughout their set, the audience would roar with approval when the band performed one of their countless hits from the early 2000’s, many of which appeared on hundreds of burned CD’s back in the day, including ‘Loser’, ‘Kryptonite’ and ‘Here Without You’.
The band also performed a new song in their set called ‘Never Look Down’.
“Do you want to hear a new song?” Arnold asked the crowd.
“I don’t get to ask that question very much. We don’t write that many songs. So it’s nice when I do get to ask it. My favor is this, when we play this new song, let us know if you like it alright?”
The lyrics to the song were complimentary of his previous speech, including: “take off those chains; keep your eyes up, never look down; it’s not where you’ve been, it’s where you are now.”
The subtle patriotic theme to the evening became a standout focal point for the band’s encore performance of ‘When I’m Gone’.
The lone flagpole on the stage was accompanied by the band’s American flag themes logo on the large backdrop video screen, while American flags graphics were displayed on the video screen behind the band on stage and on the drum riser, along with video footage from what appeared to be Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
“God bless America,” Arnold said, before leaving the stage.
Here is the full setlist:
1. Train
2. It’s Not My Time
3. Loser
4. Duck and Run
5. Here Without You
6. Let Me Go
7. Away From the Sun
8. The Road I’m On
9. Never Look Down (new song)
10. Landing in London
11. Kryptonite
12. When I’m Gone (encore)
3 Doors Down will perform five more shows to wrap-up their tour this fall with Creed, before performing at a few festivals next year, including at Welcome to ROckville in Daytona Beach, Florida on May 15, 2024.
Follow the band at https://3doorsdown.com/.