Breaking Benjamin, Shinedown will perform Nov. 15 in Cape

The Show Me Center will host a rock 'n' roll doubleheader Nov. 15, when Breaking Benjamin and Shinedown take the stage.

Breaking Benjamin will open the show after the warm-up band, Sevendust, plays a few tunes.

"We elected to play first," said Benjamin Burnley, founder and lead singer. "We don't like to play last."

Breaking Benjamin will kick off the main show with the crowd-pleasing hard-rock sound for which the band is known.

"We like to see the audience jump around and have a good time, because it is a rock show," Burnley said.

Breaking Benjamin has seen many changes since 2002, when its first album was released.

Burnley said the musicians who make up the band now are the best yet, and they are friends first.

"It's basically like getting to hang out with my friends and play music," he said. "It's not a stale business relationship. It's a friendship, and that's what a band should be about. Business should be absolute last. Respect and friendship come first."

When the current band members got together about two years ago, Burnley said, he'd done almost all the writing for the music on the band's most recent album, "Dark Before Dawn."

"I'm the main writer in the band, and I've always been that," Burnley said.

But Burnley gave the new members the opportunity to do a little writing on the album.

"Whatever room was left, I gladly left the door open for the guys I'm playing with now to contribute to it, and they did," Burnley said. "They are spectacular."

Breaking Benjamin's music is hard to categorize, he said, because it's not heavy enough to be considered thrash-metal rock, but not light enough to be considered pop.

Burnley encourages audience participation and said he listens to those in the crowd when they yell out requests during a show, such as to have the music volume turned up.

"We like to have an interactive experience," he said. "I want the audience to sing every single word of every single song with us."

Shinedown will wrap up the show.

The band has a long rock history, having sold more than 6 million albums worldwide.

Shinedown has opened for Kiss and is responsible for the soundtrack to the film "The Avengers."

In June, the single "Cut the Cord" was released as a precursor to the "Threat to Survival" album, which was released in September.

The band made a few changes when recording the album, such as increasing production techniques, according to drummer Barry Kerch, one of the two remaining original members of the band.

For example, instead of being recorded in one studio by one producer, the band recorded separate parts of the album in separate studios, with different producers at different times.

Kerch said all the music has a common theme, which is that it all comes from the lives of the band members.

"They are true stories," he said. "We write what we live. The songs are a snapshot of our lives."

Kerch said the group is looking forward to coming back to Missouri, because the audiences are as energetic as the music the band plays.

"They are not afraid to cut loose and have a good time," he said.

Doors open at 6 p.m. with show starting at 7 p.m. Tickets are $45 for floor level, which is standing only, and $39.75 for stadium seating.

Pertinent address:

Show Me Center, Cape Girardeau, Mo.