Shinedown Packs Showare Center

The band that seems that it is always perpetually on the road, Shinedown, brought their ATTENTION ATTENTION Tour to the Accesso Showare Center in Kent WA. It was a sunny and hot summer evening, and there was a huge crowd who were ready to get their rock and roll fix in attendance.  

Kicking the evening off were Broken Hands, who are based out of Canterbury, UK. They performed a pretty quick set which won them over some new fans.

Next up were Dinosaur Pile-Up, who are based out of England. Their grungy alt-rock sound was a bit heavier and that got some excitement from the early evening crowd.

In direct support were Los Angeles, CA based Badflower. Judging by the crowd reaction when the band made their way to the stage, many in attendance already knew who Badflower were. They put on a killer, high energy set that left many wanting for more.

While 80s rock music was played through the sound system, one couldn’t help to notice that Shinedown had brought their full stage production, as well as a mini-stage setup towards the opposite end of the arena.

With the theme song from the Indiana Jones movies playing through the sound system, a large white curtain covered the front of the main stage. “The Entrance” which kicks off their latest album ATTENTION ATTENTION, was coming through the sound system as the house lights went down and then: BOOM!! pyro and concussion bombs went off, the curtain dropped, and Brent Smith (vocals), Zack Meyers (guitar), Eric Bass (bass / keys) and Berry Kerch (drums) hit the stage, opening the evening with “Devil.” They then went right into “Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom)”. Smith took time to shake hands with everyone in the front area – the security personnel and the photographers.

With a similar amount of pyro, concussion bombs and random flames which were being set off from around Kerch’s drum riser, the band performed “Enemies,” and everyone was jumping and singing, especially during “Monsters” and “Black Soul” off of ATTENTION ATTENTION.

The band performed “Bully” and at its conclusion, the band left the stage and then made their way through the crowd to the mini-stage that had been set up prior to the band’s set. “Just because you’re in the back doesn’t mean you can’t be up front,” explained Meyers as he pointed to the area of the arena that was furthest from the main stage.

The band performed “Amaryllis,” “Call Me,” “How Do You Love” and “Second Chance,” which saw the entire arena illuminated with lighting from everyone’s cell phones as they sang along with Smith.

The band then made their way back to the front of the arena as Linkin Park’s “Numb” was played through the sound system along with a montage of images of the late singer from Linkin Park, Chester Bennington, which were displayed on the large LCD screens at the backside of the main stage. With only Smith and Meyers on stage, they proceeded to play an acoustic rendition of Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” which featured images of Soundgarden’s late singer, Chris Cornell as well as Bennington at the conclusion of “Black Hole Sun”. That brought an emotional response from anyone who was in attendance who were also fans of both Linkin Park and Soundgarden.

This was a perfect segue to the band performing a cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man.” How Smith is able to perform this flawlessly after a long evening of singing on top of months of non-stop touring is a pure feat in itself.

The band closed out the evening with the ever popular “Cut the Cord,” followed by “Get Up,” “The Sound of Madness,” and “Brilliant” – which was a fitting song to end a nearly perfect performance.

Shinedown has always produced a great show and this one was no exception. If you haven’t had the opportunity to witness Shinedown live, you need to do yourself a favor and do so.

Setlist
Devil
Diamond Eyes (boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom)
Enemies
Monsters
Black Soul
I’ll Follow You
Unity
45
Bully
Amaryllis
Call Me
If You Only Knew
How Do You Love
Second Chance
Numb (Linkin Park – song from tape)
Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden cover)
Simple Man (Lynyrd Skynyrd cover)
Cut The Cord
Get Up
Sound of Madness
Brilliant