My point being that I didn’t know whether or not I would really enjoy this show or not. Pleasant surprise, I did! Both bands were heavier in concert than they are on the radio. I blame this on the record companies. I think they coerce bands into toning down the heavy so they will appeal to a larger radio audience. But I’m no expert; this is just my theory.
Anyway, we got there and the first person I saw was the singer from Structure out working it, passing out flyers in the parking lot. And since he went to the trouble, here’s the flyer (not a great scan, sorry). Great band, go check ‘em out.
We got in and to the side bar just in time for Shinedown to start. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures of them because I’m a photo pass rookie and it looked like the area behind the barricade was blocked by band equipment and I didn’t know how I was supposed to get back there. It wasn’t until I saw a professional photographer coming out of there that I realized that there was a gap in the equipment to squeeze through. Of course, that was at the end of their 3rd song, and you’re only allowed to take press photos during the first three songs, so I missed my window.
I won’t go into setlist details, etc., because I don’t really know all the names of the songs, although, as I said, I was familiar with several of them (Save Me, 45, Burning Bright, Heroes, etc.). The singer really has a great voice and a lot of stage presence. He was very into talking to the audience, asking their opinions...they ended up playing, I dunno, 6 or 7 encores? Highlights: 1) when they played their cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man” in tribute to Dimebag Darrell. That was awesome. 2) When they played a song live for the 1st time and it was (IMO) the best song of their set.
Seether was also good, although they didn’t have the stage presence and audience connection that Shinedown had. I did get a few pics though:
And I ran into Suzi of Suzi’s Rock Page, out there supporting, which was nice.
Highlights: Amy Lee of Evanescence joining them to sing “Broken,” Shaun Morgan doing some flame-shooting with a bottle of something (Everclear?) - some damn impressive distance! and breaking into Pantera’s “Walk” in the middle of a song. Of course I didn’t get any pictures of Amy Lee or the fire thing due to the 1st-three-songs rule. Sorry!
OK NOTE: That was the singer from Halestorm singing the Amy Lee part. I told Staci that if that was Amy Lee, she sure looked different, but she swore it was. That clears that up!
Anyway, great show, pleasant surprise. And Sunset Station, as always, one of the most pleasant of the larger venues in town. Drinks aren’t way overpriced; you can lean on the bar and watch the show if you’re not the type to jump in the moshpit, etc. And good job of drawing a large crowd on a Wednesday with Aerosmith playing in town the same night. I wasn’t sure they could pull it, but they did!