Last Friday night, rock’s scrappiest heavy weights kicked off their national tour for a sold of crowd at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell. About 7,000 people packed the venue to pump their fists to the guitar crunching sounds of Breaking Benjamin, Seether and Three Days Grace.

A dozen fortunate fans, got to take in an intimate performance before the show in the Club Room at the arena. Members of Three Days Grace along with Seether’s front man, Shaun Morgan, and drummer, John Humphrey, played an acoustic set of four songs as part of a contest rock radio station WAAF hosted.

“It was great,” said Tsongas Arena general manager, Craig Gates. “To kick off their tour to a sold out crowd and get about $10 a head for merch, they were thrilled.”

Gates spotted the band’s tour busses parked near the DoubleTree Hotel in Lowell a couple days before the show. No word yet if they frequented any of downtown’s many watering holes.

The arena announced yesterday that Jimmy Eat World and Paramor will play there April 30. Tickets are $30 and go on sale this Saturday, Feb. 23 at 10 a.m.