Godsmack and Shinedown brought their co-headlining tour to Camden, New Jersey’s BB&T Pavilion on Sunday, August 26th for an evening of an explosive rock show. Godsmack headlining the evening, touring in support of their latest record, When Legends Rise and Shinedown performing earlier in the evening in support of their latest record, ATTENTION ATTENTION. Bringing along special guests Red Sun Rising to join the rockin’ party on this tour.
Launching the night was Red Sun Rising powering through their radio driven rock hits, including their latest singles “Veins” and “Deathwish” off of their latest record, Thread, but also including their singles that flooded the local radio stations like “Emotionless,” “The Otherside” and “Amnesia.” Their stage backdrop filled with sunflowers with eyes in the center of the flower which also is the cover of their new record, Thread. Red Sun Rising frontman, Mike Protich really knows how to keep the crowd entertained with his energetic, interactive, fun live stage presence as he sings to the great instrumentals from guitarists Ryan Williams and Dave McGarry, Bassist Ricky Miller, and of course the guy who glues the bands sound together and keeps it on pace, drummer Pat Gerasia. Overall, the band gives the energy of a headliner and impeccable performance for the unfortunately short 6-song set they are allotted.
Shinedown then demanding the crowds attention as their set begun behind a white curtain as exclamation marks flashed upon them before it screamed the “ATTENTION ATTENTION” intro at the crowd on the white curtain that fluttered to the ground unveiling the band to an explosion of fireworks and their single “Sound Of Madness,” off of their third studio album, The Sound Of Madness, which made for an instant sing-a-long. Shinedown’s vocalist Brent Smith is a very engaging, charismatic, interactive frontman that gives fans the rock show they want and deserve while also including them within the bands set pointing at fans, getting close to fans in the crowd, shaking/fist bumping fans and staff of the venue, and also one of the best vocalists in the rock scene singing vocals live at times sounding even more perfect then the record. All of the band including lead guitarist, backing vocalist Zach Myers, Bassist Eric Bass, and Drummer Barry Kerch leave all of their energy on stage making for an overall force to be reckoned with stage presence from the entire band. Not to mention their insanely awesome stage production which included their massive logo filling the center of the stage, lasers, fireworks, a ton of pyro, sparklers, and a huge ramp leading up and around the drum kit.
The only unfortunate part of their set was the lack of new music from their latest album, ATTENTION ATTENTION, only performing two songs from the album including “GET UP” and “DEVIL” and the ATTENTION ATTENTION introduction but not the full song. Forgetting to incorporate other new songs including their promotional single “THE HUMAN RADIO,” or “special,” “KILL YOUR CONSCIENCE,” or a person favorite “MONSTERS.” Their latest record, ATTENTION ATTENTION, was an impressive album and not to mention a No. 1 record, so why not incorporate more songs from the record in your set?
The band performing their multi-platinum smash hit, “Second Chance,” as an amazing laser light show was given for visuals during the song was a highlight of their set and always a fan favorite. Then frontman Smith and lead guitarist Zach Myers took to the crowd to join the fans during their impeccable acoustic cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man,” which is a fan favorite and ended as the crowd serenaded the guys back to the stage finishing out the song.
The bands 12-song setlist was full of hits, as Shinedown has an arsenal of No. 1 singles, actually 12 of them on the mainstream rock charts, in which the band played eight of them on this evening including, “Sound of Madness,” “Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom),” “Cut The Cord,” “Unity,” “Bully,” “State of My Head,” “Second Chance,” and their latest No. 1 addition “DEVIL.”
“We live on an incredible planet ladies and gentleman, but we live on this planet together. Everybody deserves a moment to be spoken to and inside of that every person, should also be given the time to speak for themselves.” My request is look inside of yourself tonight, when you leave this show, don’t be apart of the problem, be apart of the solution. No one may of ever told you this but I am going to tell you tonight, you are incredible just as you are because you are original. There is no one else like you, you and you alone. that is what makes us who we are. And for that we must all be color blind, don’t worry about religion, whether you’re a man or a woman or you’re younger or older. It doesn’t matter, it’s because were here together. Winston Churchill once said if you are going through hell, then keep going.” – Brent Smith of Shinedown
Godsmack then bursting onto the stage to the title track of their latest record, “When Legends Rise,” as Sully Erna and the band shredded on their guitars across the stage. But it wasn’t until song two when the pyro heated up the crowd and got them singing along to “1000hp.” Godsmack powered through 12-songs during their 1-hour, 15-minute set of hard rock. Including songs heavily from their debut self-titled album, and their latest record, When Legends Rise.
Sully Erna, Tony Rombola, bassist Robbie Merrill, and drummer Shannon Larkin were aggressively energetic on stage throughout their entire performance. Their stage filled with pyro, massive LCD video walls, and a group of insanely talented musicians.
A highlight of the bands set would definitely include the about 10-minute long drum off during “Batalla de Los Tambores” between drummer Shannon Larkin and frontman Sully Erna. It began with the song “Batalla de Los Tambores” and ending with a blend of segments from Metallica, Queen, The Beasties Boys, and Led Zeppelin in which they took turns soloing with and without drumsticks. Another highlight would be the bands performance of “Voodoo,” which was a nice break from the heaviness of the rest of their set.
Ending out their set with singles that fans adored including “Whatever,” “Bulletproof” and the anthemic “I Stand Alone.”
Check out an exclusive photo gallery of all of the band below, By @AWendowskiPhoto:
