Rain tormented North Carolina Saturday evening, yet somehow evaded the Red Hat Amphitheater. Although tickets to Shinedown’s “Carnival of Madness” tour read rain or shine, Zeus altered the thunderstorms’ trajectory and cleared the skies for the hard rock veterans. With a clear sky above and the moon’s vibrant light shining down, the foursome emerged from behind their plain black backdrop. Birthday boy Barry Kirch led the troops into their first song “Adrenaline” and exhilarated the crowd.
The audience stood tall and sang along lyric for lyric, even before Brent Smith asked the Red Hat Amphitheater if they’d brought their singing voices. The life-infused set asked for nothing less and both sides delivered.
Since Shinedown’s inception in 2003, they’ve had a knack for creating invigorating rock music. While they’ve endured a couple of member changes through the years, their sound has remained relatively the same and each album garners as much success as the last; a spot atop the U.S. hard rock rankings. The success Shinedown’s enjoyed spanning 13 years now creates an incredible set in 2016.
“Adrenaline” led into “Fly From The Inside” which introduced the heart-pounding “Diamond Eyes.” Shinedown exhausted four classics before performing their most recent track off Threat To Survival, “Asking For It.” There isn’t a song in Shinedown’s set that the audience doesn’t know word-for-word and the band became aware early on.
Smith took a sabbatical to thank the diehard fans the littered the pit. The vocalist requested a walkway and marched through the crowd, shaking the hand of every fan he came in contact with along the way. He brought the audience together as a cohesive unit and revealed that he and his crew were performing under a decibel cap. However, Smith urged the crowd the break that level as Shinedown entered into their final five songs.
Fan favorites “State Of My Head” and “Second Chance” echoed off the city’s convention center wall across the street and the green folding chairs in the venue vibrated. The vibe certainly enhanced as the feeling that the end was near drew closer. The lyrics to “Cut The Cord” rang through the Red Hat Amphitheater and nearly everyone in the venue off their feet dancing in some sort of way.
Shinedown’s cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man” hit home unlike the last time they performed in North Carolina, following the great Lynyrd Skynyrd themselves. Shinedown finished the night with a flawless rendition of “Sound of Madness” which had the audience pleading for an encore. Judging by the audience’s reaction, there’s few bands that are more welcomed than Shinedown.
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