Photos and Review by Jeff Palmucci
Shinedown Photos HERE
Nothing More Photos HERE
Hey, I’m going to let you in on one of the secrets of being a music journalist. OK, lean close; this is just between you, me, and the internet. How do you tell when a band is at the top of its game? It’s when you see their new stuff pop to the top of the list on their artist page on Spotify.
This is definitely the case with Shinedown and their new single Cut the Cord, which has the second spot in their already impressive collection of music. I have to admit that I may be responsible for at least some of this movement, because I’ve been playing the hell out of it in anticipation of their upcoming studio album release.
They played the Shubert last Monday with openers Nothing More. Nothing More frontman Jonny Hawkins put on a pretty hyper show jumping around on stage and joining in on a big kettle drum, showing his drummer roots. However, the dude refuses to put on a shirt. Sure, he’s in great shape, but it felt like I was editing porn when developing the photos for their set. So, if you are a girl, head over to the photo gallery to check out some pretty smokin’ photos. If you are a guy, don’t bother. It’ll just make you feel inadequate.
Shinedown was up next and performed a killer set. It’s pretty incredible how large a library of great songs these guys have. I think I went a little horse singing along.
At one point Shinedown lead Brent Smith introed Through the Ghost by talking about how they didn’t play that song live till now because he had trouble keeping it together. Digging a little deeper on Google, I found this excellent link describing the story behind this song.
It was pretty interesting going to a Shinedown show at the Shubert. It’s not your typical hard rock venue. There was only a small standing area at the front of the stage, with the rest of the area being seated. The décor is more geared toward classical music with ornate plasterwork and a huge chandelier. However, it worked ok. The 2 balconies meant that seating run up instead of back, meaning even the bad seats had a reasonable view of the band.
Since I had such a great time shooting one of my favorite bands last Monday, I’m going to let you in on another closely guarded secret of the music industry: how to get all the groupies to go nuts over you. Gene Simmons himself told me about this, and he swore me to secrecy, so lean close… just you, me, and the internet. The trick is… oh shit. I’m out of space. I’ll tell you next time.
Shinedown
Nothing More
Set List:
- Asking For It
- Crying Out
- Fly
- If You Only Knew
- Unity
- Crow
- Diamond Eyes
- I’ll Follow You
- Enemies
- I Dare You
- In Memory
- Through The Ghost
- Cut the Cord
- Devour
- 45
- Bully
- Second Chance
- Simple Man
- Sound of Madness