Live Review and Photos: DG
In today’s Rock world, you would be hard-pressed to find better live acts than Floridians Shinedown. One of the more consistent outfits you will ever hear live and one that has in recent years released back-to-back great albums, manage to successfully build on a busy touring life and reach new heights and success around the world. The last time we had the guys live, they opened for Godsmack, and while I mean no disrespect whatsoever to the aforementioned, Shinedown was hands down the best band on the bill. The band toured relentlessly after their 2015 and highly successful album in “Threat To Survival” and again followed more recently by their 2018 “Attention Attention”.
Needless to say, it’s been a long two years without much live music due to the pandemic, most tours are finally picking up now in this post covid world we seem to be living in. It’s a great time to get a chance to hit an arena tour and watch the guys bring their fiery pyro set and visuals to the main stage.
But this night we have two openers led by Massachusetts native Diamante. While being somewhat familiar with her material while guesting her vocals on the Bad Wolves hit “Hear Me Now”, I was not too in tune with her solo stuff other than the Goo Goo Dolls’ cover of “Iris”. We set the tone early at Bridgestone with Diamante hitting the stage promptly at 7 pm. She comes onstage wearing a Nashville Predator hockey jersey, nicely done playing well to the locals in attendance. Opening this steamy night with “Ghost Myself” and “Haunted”, we hear an edgier rock/metal groove to Diamante’s sound. Playing true to her name, Diamante uncovers her diamond-crafted attire all in white and shiny and glossy as the bright lights of the main stage. The cover of “Iris” sounds great live and she does the original one well-deserved justice. Not a bad opening set, and good to see Diamante paving her way with her second album having been released last year. Look forward to hearing more from her in the future.
Next, we have The Pretty Reckless, featuring the ever enigmatic Taylor Momsen. Hard to imagine that TPR has been around since 2010 now when they released their first album “Light Me Up”. Not to be taken by Taylor’s obvious on-stage persona and antics from time to time, or the fact that she carried over some fanbase from her acting days “Gossip Girl” etc, I will pay my respect to the band to manage to keep sticking with their sound and governing their music respectfully. I want to mention that it was really good to see two female-fronted rock bands opening on this tour, something you don’t see all the time on big arena bills. Taylor comes on stage with the dark visuals of the arrow pointing down, and Momsen wearing stunning black leather, high boots, and a silky black dress. She opens her set with the Soundgarden cover of “Loud Love”, followed by “Since You’re Gone” and “Only Love Can Save Me Now”. A nice way to warm up the night transitions its way back to “Going To Hell” in what turns out to be a quick set for Taylor and the guys.
Shinedown gears up and readies to go soon thereafter. We were told before the show that press photos would only be allowed from the soundstage area, a worst-case scenario for most press togs. But thankfully venue organizers get confirmation we could shoot from the pit, with limitations in positioning and viewing area. The guys opened their set with some nostalgic imagery focusing on the long away time due to the pandemic, which we all can relate to. In the end, the guys come in a dark silhouette and the crowd is ready to rock heavy. They opened the night with “The Saints of Violence and Innuendo”, and quickly the pyro starts to scintillation and blistering heat. The “Devil” comes to play and the crowd goes wild, another favorite of many from the “Attention Attention” album. Even for new Shinedown fans, many will always remember their very early hit in “45”, as this is a concert staple of theirs for years, and that one usually gets the loud crowd beaming on a Hump Day evening. Also cool to hear the Foo Fighters cover of “Wheels’, rip Taylor Hawkins.
The night keeps rolling along nicely with more firepower and fan satisfaction in “Cut The Cord”, “Monster” and the Skynyrd cover of “Simple Man”. Finally, they end this majestic Wednesday with “Sound of Madness” leaving the Bridgestone crowd asking for more.
If you were lucky enough to have caught the guys already on tour, you know they deliver every night, and always a great sign of a band when they can turn over new fans or even people not into heavier music. The guys in Shinedown always do a great job with imagery, and positive messaging in their lyrics that deal with personal issues and things that we all have to tackle in our daily lives. They are doing something right, the show goes on!!!
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