'Some Of Us Are More Vocal Than Others': Disturbed’s Dan Donegan On ‘The Sickness’ Anniversary Tour And Protests In Europe

Disturbed reflect on 25 years of 'The Sickness', their break from touring, being inspired by watching other artists live, and protests and cancellations in Europe.

Disturbed Profile

Multi-platinum rock band Disturbed are returning for an Australian and New Zealand headline tour for the first time in over a decade.

The band will perform two sets each night, the band’s breakthrough album The Sickness from start to finish and a second set of greatest hits. The two-part set features a short intermission due to the scale of the arena-built moving-part production.

The Sickness was one of the first albums and a gateway for a generation of metalheads with the lead single Down With The Sickness being a defining anthem of an era. The album was released in 2000 and went on to be certified five times Platinum via the RIAA and spent a total of 106 weeks on the US Billboard 200 chart as well as peaking at No. 30 on the ARIA Charts.

In 2026, Disturbed played only two shows and had a much-needed break after a long North America and Europe tour for these 25th anniversary shows. 2027 will see the band return to live shows with guitarist and founding member Dan Donegan revealing that they’ll also be touring Japan and Southeast Asia, with those dates yet to be announced.

“I don't think we've ever [played The Sickness in full] until this anniversary tour,” Donegan shares from his home in Chicago. He is self admittedly getting a little stir-crazy after his break from touring and has the itch to get out and play shows again.

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“So for us to do it from start to finish the way the album is, is a first for us. It's been exciting, because it kind of brings me back to 1999, when we were in the studio recording the album. So, in one way, it kind of feels like yesterday.”

Donegan is from a generation that listened to albums from start to finish and feels like this show gives that similar opportunity to die-hard fans who grew up listening to The Sickness.

“I look back at it when I was a kid, and there was those certain albums, whether it was, AC/DC Back In Black or Appetite For Destruction [Guns ‘N’ Roses], or something where you knew the order, because that's how we listened to albums back then,” he recalls. “I know it's a different day and age now.

“Unfortunately, that's the one thing I hate about today's day and age is a lot of people don't get to listen to it in the sequence, they don't have to, because they're just downloading songs and their favourites. But for me, as that kid in me, I always liked remembering those certain albums from start to finish.”

When Donegan reflects on writing and recording The Sickness, he knew the band was confident in what they were doing but he had no idea how big the album would become.

Even before they had a record deal, movement rapidly increased with local venues having to turn away people at the door as they outgrew each venue they played.

“I knew it was connecting in a way, because then we started seeing local fans were already getting tattoos of the band and our mascot, our logo of the guy. I'm like, ‘Wow, this is bizarre,’ because people are doing this, and we don't even have an album out, we just have a demo tape.”

Disturbed’s European tour in 2025 was met by protests and criticism after vocalist David Draiman posted his visit to the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) in June 2024 and signing an artillery shell with the words “Fuck Hamas” on Instagram.

The Brussels Times reported that Disturbed’s October 15th, 2025 show in Belgium was cancelled due to a police risk assessment warning that the appearance of Draiman could heighten tensions.

With the possibility of counter-demonstrations and protests that might have escalated, the decision was also influenced by an already strained security situation with a national strike planned for October 14th and an ongoing prison staff strike requiring significant police presence.

“It's just, I try not to get too involved in it,” Donegan reflects. “It's just a sad environment to see so much division around the world, especially here in the US too. What we see here on TV in America, it just seems like they pushed the agenda for so much division too. And we didn't see much of that,.

“Even going over to Europe to play, the only cancellation we had was Belgium, and that was more so their decision on their end, not just because of us, but because there were other issues going on in Belgium at the same time unrelated to this. There were other protests going on, and they felt just not a good time to come do that.

“So, everywhere else we came through, we had no problems at all,” Donegan adds. “The fans showed up, we were packing arenas everywhere we played, we had Megadeth out with us, it was an amazing, amazing tour to have the two of us together and we've done stuff with Dave Mustaine before; he's a great guy, great musician.

“It was our biggest shows that we've played in our career over there on that headlining run of packing these arenas, so I didn't really see a problem with it, because I'd walk into a packed house every night.”

Metallica’s James Hetfield recently stated at their Las Vegas Sphere show that "Metallica is not here, like some other entertainers, to influence you with their bullsh*t, OK?"

Hatfield’s statement has since been interpreted by some as a criticism to other performers who do bring politics into their music, with the most notable reference at the time being Macklemore’s pro-Palestine statements and controversial removal from Ed Sheeran’s tour.

Does Disturbed share a similar ethos to Metallica, then? “Yeah, definitely,” Donegan answers.

“I mean, when we come to our show, we all have our opinions,” he explains. “Some of us are more vocal than others outside of the venue and on the stage and everybody's got a right to their opinion. And you're never going to bring everybody together. There's always just going to be some debate, it doesn't necessarily have to be division. You could debate friendly and educate each other on it.

“But as far as bringing it to the shows, I feel that is the time to escape the outside world. It's a time for all walks of life to walk into that room and forget about their day jobs, or forget about whatever stresses they may have in life, to escape and music is the biggest thing of unity. It brings people together.

“And no matter what colour your skin, whatever religion you believe, whatever race you are, whatever your sexuality is, it doesn't matter,” Donegan expresses. “We all come together and it's just the common bond, it's just a powerful thing what music can do. When we bring it into that room, we try to leave all that outside bullshit out there.”

During this year break, Disturbed were able to return to the studio and create new music, however it’s unclear what form these new creations will take.

“We definitely have some stuff in the vault [that’s] ready to go that we're really excited about,” he teases. “We’ve got a bunch of material that's already recorded that we plan on putting out sometime next year as well.”

Within this downtime, Donegan was able to go back to being a fan of live music instead of being the one on stage.

“I was basically living up at the outdoor amphitheatre near my house,” he enthuses. “It's about 25 minutes from home, and I was up there every week, almost a couple times a week, just watching every concert that rolled through town. From Iron Maiden to Megadeth, Five Finger Death Punch, all the way to John Mellencamp, and everything in between.

“Kid Rock and Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle, Creed, Limp Bizkit, everything that came through town. I was just going in there being that kid in the crowd again, sitting out in the seats with the fans, just being inspired. So, I still love live music. I go every week, if I'm not at a big show, I'm at a local bar watching a bar band just play, because I love it.

“It's in my blood and I always look for constant inspiration.”

He even had time to fly to the Sphere in Las Vegas to see Metallica at their residency shows.

“I went there last weekend to see them in Vegas and they're playing a different set every show they're doing,” he recalls. “I think as soon as I flew back home, I went straight to my guitar, just back on it. I definitely get inspired still seeing all the such great talent and bands that I grew up to.

“That's what I did as a kid. I would go to a concert, I'd rush back home to pick up my guitar and just start playing, because the adrenaline is still going.”

So with new music on the horizon, will Australia hear anything new by the time the band touches down in May 2027?

“I can't make a promise,” he admits. “I'm speaking a little too soon, because I'm excited about releasing this new music. I think fans are going to love where we're headed with it. So, it's definitely been something that we said, collectively, that we would like to maybe introduce something new coming your way.”

Tickets to Disturbed’s Australian tour are on sale this week.