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REVIEW: SHINEDOWN, THREE DAYS GRACE, & P.O.D. 3/25/2013
Gweedo
1stBank Center hosted an awesome concert featuring Shinedown, Three Days Grace, and P.O.D. There were very few people to start out, but it was a fairly early concert. It also is not the best drive for most people. It is a nice brother venue to Pepsi Center, but it is out of the way. There was a lot of merchandise at the show for all the bands. The highlight though was Shinedown selling their latest CD, Amaryllis, plus a Meet & Greet after the show for $20. It is a great price for a great CD, if you did not already have it, when you marry it with meeting the band. Three Days Grace had a Meet & Greet before the show that I heard was very rushed and ran late.
Gweedo
1stBank Center hosted an awesome concert featuring Shinedown, Three Days Grace, and P.O.D. There were very few people to start out, but it was a fairly early concert. It also is not the best drive for most people. It is a nice brother venue to Pepsi Center, but it is out of the way. There was a lot of merchandise at the show for all the bands. The highlight though was Shinedown selling their latest CD, Amaryllis, plus a Meet & Greet after the show for $20. It is a great price for a great CD, if you did not already have it, when you marry it with meeting the band. Three Days Grace had a Meet & Greet before the show that I heard was very rushed and ran late.
Sonny Sandoval
P.O.D. christened the stage and entertained the masses. The crowd was slowly trickling in from the Three Days Grace Meet & Greet, work, and traffic. P.O.D. cheered everyone up with some upbeat positive metal. The floor went from half to three quarters full during their set. Seating took on a similar increase going from sparse to half full. As expected, their sound and performance was awesome. From start to finish, positive energy just poured off the stage. Their stage looked cool with a giant P.O.D. banner in the back and the drums on a big podium. The crowd really loved the variety of songs they played. Zach Myers of Shinedown came out and played guitar for one song. The energy escalated throughout the set and left everyone energized for Three Days Grace.
Neil Sanderson
Lighting up the stage next was Three Days Grace. These boys brought the pyro. It was cool having pillars of fire coming out of biohazard barrels. Their stage seemed to have a post-apocalyptic Las Vegas theme. It had to be pretty warm on stage because you could feel the heat in the crowd. The audience was very receptive. There was a big mosh pit for the entire performance. The energy definitely turned angrier, which fueled the mosh pit. They had crowd surfers and girls in the crowd were literally being flung through the air. I am not sure how they didn’t get hurt, since no one was aware that they were supposed to be caught. Three Days Grace and stand-in lead singer Matt Walst did an excellent job. He was brought in by his brother Brad, who helms the bass, when Adam Gontier took a sudden and unplanned departure from the band. Matt’s vocal range is impressive as he has a high tone for My Darkest Days but sang lower to take on the Three Days Grace melodies. He had excellent stage presence, and I would say that if you were ignorant to the whole situation you wouldn’t know the difference. That being said, the songs weren’t exactly the same, as in you could tell that it was slightly different from the radio but not at all bad. The crowd had no problem accompanying Matt though as there were a lot of people singing along. Around the middle of their set, there was a drum and keyboard duet that had a very “Lord of The Dance” feel. It was cool to mix it up. Also, Neil Sanderson did a great drum solo. He’s a very talented musician to be able to play and provide backing vocals at the same time on various songs. Towards the end, they had a guest singer come out and did a fantastic cover of “Break Stuff” by Limb Bizkit.
Brent Smith & Zach Myers
With much excitement from all, the curtain finally dropped, and Shinedown started kicking everyone’s ass. To the surprise of most, singer Brent Smith and guitarist Zach Myers started out the show in the middle of the floor, on a stage by the sound booth. During the opening song, they ventured to the main stage to finish. Their main stage had a lot of space and a giant screen behind them. It was multi leveled and reminded me of the stage Def Leppard runs with. Myers often travelled all over it singing from various microphones. They had the best looking production of the bands that played. Their pyro included firework booms and flares. The band was outstandingly dressed with ties, jackets, and vests. Only the jackets were ditched throughout until the end. They had a great sound and Smith brought some amazing, strong vocals. Their performance was the best I’ve seen from them. They absolutely stepped it up on this tour. Their energy was on par with Three Days Grace, except it was very positive. I didn’t see any mosh pits and saw but one lone crowd surfer. The crowd sang along quite a bit. Shinedown appreciated all the fans that came out on a Monday night. I never saw the seats fully fill in and the floor stayed about three quarters full. Bassist Eric Bass and Myers played acoustic guitar a couple times and sounded awesome. Bass is a talented musician. His primary instrument was the bass, but at various times, he would switch to acoustic guitar and keyboard. Unfortunately for him, during this performance, he was in a boot due to a leg injury. Bass really wanted to move but was forced to sit the entire time and rocked as hard as he could. They played all the hits from their catalogue. A la Foo Fighters, Smith and Myers brought the show to the fans in the back during the encore. The band loosened up a bit to t-shirts. Myers showcased his skills beyond the Shinedown songs and played a humorous medley of anthems from the past decades, which lead up to an acoustic set of “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. This was fantastic because it is a great rendition, and I’ve never seen them play it live. They finished the song on the main stage then ended the night with “Bully”.
Shinedown
From start to finish, awesome. Leaving the show, you felt appreciated by all the bands. I felt that it was very uplifting overall. You got a lot of rock for the price. The augmented Three Days Grace was good. I think, with that situation, I wouldn’t mind seeing Matt Walst and the rest of them form a separate band. Their chemistry was great, and Walst could just have My Darkest Days and this side project. Then, Three Days Grace could find a new lead singer and also work down that path. That is just my opinion, though. Another show for the books and three more bands I’d highly recommend seeing live.
Matt Walst of My Darkest Days
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