Downtown Orlando, Florida appeared to be quiet on just another Saturday night in the City Beautiful. But, that was before the masses assaulted the Amway Center for a kick ass night of rock n roll from the outstanding lineup of From Ashes To New, Three Days Grace, and headliner, Shinedown. The Revolutions Live Tour made it’s stop and was welcomed by a near sold out arena. The weather outside was perfect. The temperatures were in the high eighties with medium humidity and a slight chance of showers possibly later while coming out of the show.
Inside the Amway Center the general admission floor crowd was rowdy and impatient to get the show underway, but they were behaving as the adults they were. This wasn’t a night of moshing and crowd surfing, but security was in large numbers in front of the stage ready for anything and everything.
Ashes to New led off the night with the high energy; it’s what they are know for. Their set started with three songs from their upcoming album release of Blackout, due out July 28, 2023. The songs “Nightmare”, “Heartache”, and “Hate Me Too,” from the album have all been released as singles and have videos published on their YouTube channel. From the start, the energy was on tilt, as vocalists Danny Chase and Matt Brandyberry rushed around the stage with in your face delivering powerful vocals. The rest of the band was prescribing to the same formula as they performed their seven song set. It was like they were shot out of a cannon!
Band:
Danny Case – Lead Vocals
Matt Brandyberry – Rap Vocals, Keyboards, Synthesizers, Programming Bass, Rhythm Guitar
Lance Dowdle – Lead Guitar, Bass
Mat Madiro – Drums, Percussion
Setlist:
1.) Nightmare
2.) Heartache
3.) Hate Me Too
4.) My Name
5.) Panic
6.) Crazy
7.) Through It All
Three Days Grace knew how to get this Florida crowd into the show before they even hit the stage by playing Jump Around by House of Pain! But, there are always those unexpected circumstances and when they came on stage and started their set, the PA system seemed to be off and there was no sound for 30 seconds or so. It got corrected, and they started over and I am sure half the crowd didn’t even catch it!
Their set started on fire with opening with “So Called Life” off their latest album Explosions. Then they played one of my all time favorites, “Animal I Have Become” off One-X released back in 2006. When the song ended, Brad Walst commented how great the Florida weather is compared to his home in Canada, and asked if it would be alright if he and the band relocated to Florida? Of coarse this brought a roar from the packed arena.
Three Days Grace is like a machine. They are a very tight band which is because the core of the band has been together 25 years. They ended their set with “I Hate Everything About You” off their self titled album that was released in 2003, “Never Too Late” and “Riot” off One-X. Ending the show with “Riot” had the arena singing word for word and Bard Walst even left the stage to go down to the barrier, up close and personal with the Orlando fans.
Three Days Grace has had 17 number one songs on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart making them the number three artist of all time on the Billboard Mainstream Rock most played list. They are very entertaining as most people can sing along with all of their songs and the audience did just that for their entire performance.
Band:
Brad Walst –Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals
Neil Sanderson – drums/Backing Vocals\ Keyboards
Barry Stock −Lead Guitar/Rhythm Guitar
Matt Walst − Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar
Setlist:
1.) So Called Life
2.) Animal I Have Become
3.) Home
4.) Pain
5.) Break
6.) The Mountain
7.) Painkiller
8.) I Hate Everything About You
9.) Never Too Late
10.) Riot
So many hits and so little time. Shinedown’s shows are never long enough and the fans in attendance leave satisfied but always wanting more. With seven studio albums and sales over 10 million, no one gets disappointed as they come to hear their favorites and Shinedown always delivers. From the third song “I’ll Follow You”, with Eric Bass on the grand piano that descended to the stage from the sky, to the last song “Cut The Cord” with beams of light blasting through the stage floor, explosions and other pyrotechnics, the party was one nobody wanted to end.
I saw Shinedown last year in Greenville, South Carolina on May 6th. Brent Smith stopped after four songs and asked the audience for help as he was loosing his voice. The entire Bon Secours Arena left their seats and got on their feet for the rest of the show and didn’t miss a note. To date it was the most incredible show of support and compassion I have ever witnessed at a rock concert, until now.
Brent and Zach Meyers on acoustic guitar, stood alone at the end of the runway and played “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, a song they play every night. I even saw them perform it last year in South Carolina. But, on this night they dedicated it to the late Gary Rossington, the last surviving member of Lynyrd Skynyrd from Jacksonville, Florida who died on march 5, 2023. Jacksonville is also Shinedown’s hometown, so I am positive they feel the sadness of the loss of Saliva‘s lead guitar player Wayne Swinny who also died in March while he was on tour.
The crowd joined in and sang “Simple Man” with Brent until the very end when he turned it over to them to bring home the last verse of the song. This was an equaling touching moment for me that I won’t soon forget. The volume of the voices in the arena were deafening.
Shinedown leads the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts with 18 number one singles. Also, all of their released singles have reached the top 5 on the chart. Billboard ranks Shinedown number one on the Greatest of All Time Mainstreams Rock Artists. Not just great music and a great stage show, Shinedown also tugs at your emotions as you get totally invested in their performance. Shinedown always packs a punch with a great show. This is a great band!
Band:
Brent Smith – Lead Vocals
Barry Kerch – Drums
Zach Myers – Guitar/Bass/Piano/Backing Vocals
Eric Bass – Bass/Guitar/Piano/Backing Vocals
Setlist:
1.) Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom)
2.) Dead Don’t Die
3.) I’ll Follow You
4.) Bully
5.) Unity
6.) If You Only Knew
7.) State of My Head
8.) Enemies
9.) A Symptom of Being Human
10.) Sound of Madness
11.) Planet Zero
12.) 45
13.) Devil
14.) Second Chance
15.) Nobody Knows
16.) Daylight / Get Up
17.) Simple Man (Lynyrd Skynyrd cover)
18.) Monsters
19.) Cut the Cord
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Photographer and Editor/Founder of AllMusicMagazine.com. My love of live music has taken me to incredible experiences with the top bands of all time in stadium shows to the smallest venues with equally inspiring musicians. Using the medium of photography and my publication, these memories will last forever.
