Review of Shinedown at Rockfest 2009
About every other year, Rockfest has a band or two that come back and rock the masses. Tesla, Saliva and Jackyl are just a few for example, but Sunday evening brought a first time appearance from a band that hails from Jacksonville, FL. Their name is Shinedown.
Shinedown is one of those bands that weren’t slated as a headliner but easily could have closed one of the evenings. I was really pumped to see them, the radio has been playing songs non-stop supporting their latest effort, “The Sound of Madness“. Shinedown made sure we heard plenty off of the new album. But that wasn’t all, “Leave in a Whisper“, their debut album, gave us a couple of favorites during the set as well as their second album “Us and Them“, to give us a nice variety of material for the show.
Sometimes I have to admit I am a little partial to the younger bands. Nothing against older bands, but sometimes they don’t move around a whole lot. I like to be entertained. Shinedown was just the kind of band I wanted to see. Four guys on stage giving it their all for the fans.
An interesting thing occurred to me during the show. Vocalist Brent Smith came out on the opening number, “The Sound of Madness“, and my wife and I looked at each other and thought his voice sounded weak. It was perplexing because he is so young and hearing the songs on the radio with his powerful voice, I didn’t think it sounded like the same guy. Lucky for us, his voice just kept getting stronger and stronger as the show went on. I’ve heard singers whose voices start to drop off during a show but not get stronger! It really made for a great ending of the show as the band played “Second Chance” as 20,000 plus people sang along.
Lead singer Brent Smith spent some time out in the crowd during the show. He moved through the VIP section and got up on the sound tower. He sang from there for awhile and then made his way back through VIP to the stage. This seems to always get the crowd fired up!
I really can’t say enough about these guys. Their melodic style of hard rock is not only awesome to hear on the radio but riveting to hear live. I’m sure everyone who saw them that night will agree, feel free to be one of those bands that visits Rockfest every other year and rocks the house, or make it every year, we won’t complain.
Shinedown has several more dates in 2009. Go see them if you get the chance!
| Fri 09/11/09 | Richmond, Va w/Halestorm, Adelitas Way |
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| Mon 9/14/09 | Madison, WI | Tickets |
| Fri 09/18/09 | Boise, ID | Tickets |
| Sat 09/19/09 | Reno, NV | Tickets |
| Mon 09/21/09 | Medford, OR | Tickets |
| Tue 09/22/09 | Seattle, WA | Tickets |
| Mon 09/28/09 | Las Vegas, NV | Tickets |
| Tue 09/29/09 | Modesto, CA | Tickets |
| Wed 09/30/09 | San Diego, CA w/Sick Puppies, Cavo |
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| Sat. 10/03/09 | San Francisco, CA | Tickets |
| Sun 10/04/09 | Pomona, CA w/Puddle of Mudd, Saliva |
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| Wed. 10/07/09 | San Antonio, TX | Tickets |
| Fri 10/09/09 | Houston, TX | Tickets |
| Sun. 10/11/09 | Dallas, TX | Tickets |
| Tue 10/13/09 | Corpus Christi, TX | Tickets |
| Wed 10/14/09 | Little Rock, AR | Tickets |
| Fri 10/16/09 | Pensacola, FL | Tickets |
| Sat 10/17/09 | New Orleans, LA w/Sick Puppies, Cavo, Adelita’s Way |
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| Tue 10/20/09 | Myrtle Beach, SC | Tickets |
| Wed 10/21/09 | Orlando, FL | Tickets |
| Fri 10/23/09 | Nashville, TN | Tickets |
| Sat 10/24/09 | Charlotte, NC w/Sick Puppies, Adelitas Way |
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