Photos and story by: Jess Kelly
FULL PHOTO GALLERY HERE.
It was a gorgeous day at the Budweiser Events Center on March 20th. People were lined up at the doors, gaining entry for what to be one amazing show. Shinedown was heading their current world tour with support from Papa Roach and Asking Alexandria. When I first arrived, it wasn’t at full capacity but that quickly changed.
Asking Alexandria was up first. Now, for me, I have been personally listening to them since their debut album back in 2009. Their music has definitely changed, but I found myself enjoying it. The band kicked things off with ‘Into the Fire’ which got the crowd cheering, and they played mostly songs off their newest self-titled album. With fog blasting into the air, and the lights changing from different shades of red, the crowd was starting to get wild. They continued their set with an older song ‘The Death of Me’ which I recognized as the band’s older material.
With Papa Roach next, I was incredibly excited. Being in my mid 20s now, I was listening to Papa Roach in high school as an angsty teenager. As they emerged, the crowd was cheering as they started off with one of their more recognizable songs from back in the day ‘Last Resort’. Everyone was singing along, screaming, “Cut my life into pieces.” As they played a few more songs, mosh pits started to emerge. Ending up in the bleachers, Jacoby Shaddix jumped off the stage and was walking towards the right side of the arena with a security member of their team. He was making his way into the crowd, singing to people and taking pictures with them. After that, they played a few more songs and finished off with ‘Scars,’ and ‘To Be Loved.’
Lastly, it was Shinedown’s turn to rock the arena. I had never seen Shinedown live but have listened to their older music in high school, so I was excited for what was to come. There was a curtain in front of the stage so you couldn’t see behind it, and everyone was talking about how the band was going to have a pyrotechnic show with loud explosions. Then, the house music stopped and the arena went dark. Lights were coming from the stage and the curtain dropped as Shinedown emerged, and the crowd was at their loudest. They started with ‘Devil’ off their newest album Attention Attention. The fire explosions happened, and it was beyond awesome. The lights were going all over the place with reds and blues, and laser beams shooting around the arena.
After playing a mix of newer songs from their latest album, they moved their setup to the second stage, situated in the crowd for a more intimate setting for ‘45,’ ‘Second Chance,’ and ‘Simple Man.’ After a few songs there, they headed back to the main stage and finished off the night, ending with ‘Sound of Madness,’ with more pyrotechnic explosions, and lastly ‘Brilliant.’
If you wanted to rock your face off at a concert, this was the show to do so at.