This was a decent show. Shinedown definitely has a loyal fan base, puts on a big production, and has a ton of radio songs. But personally, unlike the bulk of the crowd, I was there to see the opening bands. So back to Mohegan Sun for the 2nd time this week.
I saw From Ashes to New last May and loved them. Got to meet them after that show too. For their set tonight I knew all the songs except the opener New Disease which guess somehow I just missed this whole time? These dudes have been together 10 years and are starting to break onto the scene more. They have 2 lead vocalists to create mixture of vocal sounds I dig.
I don’t think their sound was as tight tonight, but in all fairness, we were sitting to the far said of the stage so we got half the of mix. The best sound will always be center stage, close to the mixing board. They still sounded good but I really enjoyed the first time I saw the more. Nightmares, Heartache, Drag Me, Barely Breathing (a fav of mine since it shows off the vocals), Die for You, and Panic completed the set. Just 7 songs.
Coheed and Cambria were next and were the main draw for me and my friend Kyle. He’s hardcore having seen and met ye band multiple times. This was my inaugural viewing. They came right out with one of their “hits” A Favor House Atlantic, a song I’ve heard many times, but had to ask Kyle the name of. Looking up their previous shows, this was a big change to the setlist to use as an opener.
I first heard this band when their first album came out some time in 2002. My friend Dan during our radio days was a huge progressive rock/metal fan and into “concept albums” which is what these dude do. They’re a cool band from NY, making unique sounds, with a vocal style that I would describe as perhaps an updated Geddy Lee. Their albums are meant to be listened to from start to finish and tell a story or have a common theme versus just a bunch one off songs.
They have graphic novels (aka really cool, thick comic books) that inspire the music or vice versa. They write and illustrate these novels themselves as well. Just a bunch of talented nerds. I’d love to see them again sometime. They did sound 10 songs, though I can’t tell you the titles. It must be online somewhere. Somehow I just never owed an album of theirs and didn’t follow the lore. But since they came out when I was still buying CDs, if Dan owned an album, I usually didn’t so that we could combine our collection for a most excellent, radio show.
They closed with their biggest song Welcome Home which involved a double neck guitar. Always a delight to see these. Lots of energy in the show, minimal talking with a tight set but, still a few moments of thanks. If you’re unfamiliar with these dudes, at least listen to Welcome Home. Here’s the intro:
Shinedown was next and I just don’t know. When I’m driving down the road listening to Spotify, SiriusXM, good ole FM radio and Shinedown comes on, I give it a listen. But song after song after Shinedown song…I don’t know.
I will reiterate that they put on a hell of a production. Big main stage, several screens, a stage runway that connects too a smaller stage in the middle of the arena, and a couple more branches off of that. This was cool. Also, I’ve been to the Mohegan Sun arena many times and to my recollection have not seen pyrotechnics in use. Maybe smoke machines. This was a full on pyrotechnic assault. There were flames, explosions, and pyros on both stages. The smell of gasoline or whatever the use was pretty noticeable at some points. We left during the “thanks” and taking a bow portion of the show when it was over but as we were leaving there were about 10 explosions of more indoor fireworks. So while I didn’t capture those, I put together this little medley:
Individually they have some great songs. They opened with Safe and Sound that I wasn’t super familiar with followed by Fly From the Inside and Diamond Eyes. When they got to If You Only Knew, I don’t know if it was an alternate version, or if the band wasn’t in sync or if the sound was just shitty. But I was hearing the lyrics and knew the song, but nothing else about it sounded right to me. Maybe those pesky side stage seats again? A few more tunes and then they moved the whole show to the smaller middle stage. While the singer and guitarists can easily move between stages, this was the full band including drummer.
While doing some deeper cuts from the smaller stage, they introduced their touring bassist since the actual dude is sitting this tour out. So they gave props to current dude for learning 45 songs “in four days.” The drummer is also apparently experiencing a bunch of back pain, but still drumming while medicated and “higher than an eagle’s dick” which got good laughs. The drummer also was wearing a Nine Inch Nails t-shirt and had long dreads…clearly the coolest member of the band.
When they got back to the main stage, they played Bully which I don’t see on a lot of the other shows so that was cool. A couple bangers like Monster, Cut the Cord, and Sound of Madness. A song called Young Again was played and pretty wussy. They had a lot of wussy songs though out the night really. Ballad-type soft songs.
We also got a 5 minute ‘sermon’ at one point (yes timed it) with calls to bow heads, reflect, shake neighbors hands (I flipped off Kyle instead), and more. Way too preachy. Just sing dude! Then we got another preachy sermon later on before A Symptoms of Being Human which brought the annoying chick in front of me to tears. Whatever, you do you, but I came for music not speeches and thought it was lame.
When they got to Simple Man, he did the thing I hate most at concerts…he held the mic out for the crowd when it got to the best part. I stopped recording and taking pictures at that point. Pisses me off. “Hey! I know you paid to hear me sing our songs, but listen to the out of tune shitty drunk chicks around you instead.”
So a fun night overall but I enjoyed Coheed more. The last time I saw Shinedown, they had an “up and coming” artist opening for them. Some guy named Jelly Roll…who six months after the show was taking over the music world. Well, he ended up being my favorite act of that night too. Kudos for picking great openers on tour.
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