Shinedown Live in Concert at The Complex

Exactly one week ago tonight Shinedown brought their “Shinedown Live in Concert Tour” through Utah with a stop at The Complex in Salt Lake City.  Shinedown is touring to support their upcoming album Planet Zero which will mark their seventh studio album and is their follow up too their latest album Attention Attention. Band member Eric Bass (who coincidentally plays the bass) is producing this album and also produced Attention Attention. Joining Shinedown was up and coming rock band Ayron Jones.  Ayron Jones is a band based out of Seattle, WA who has been gaining a lot of recognition lately and rightly so.  Fans that have seen them on this tour will have one of those “I saw them when they opened” stories, as they won’t be openers for too much longer. 
Ayron Jones opened the show up with their electric blend of music which includes influences from many genres but is a total rock show.  He played hits from his debut project “Child of the State” including “Mercy” which hit number one on Billboard’s mainstream rock airplay charts last year.  The band performed like seasoned professionals working the entire stage and engaging the fans.  Jones displayed his guitar skills in a few solos and even playing the guitar with his drummer’s drumstick at one point.  At the end of their set Jones was slinging away on his guitar before turning and jumping right into his drummer “Big Sexy’s” drum kit while the guitarists finished off the song on one of the highest notes, I have seen of an opening band in quite some time. 
In between sets the room filled to the brim as people crowded in for the sold-out show. Once the lights went black the crowd erupted into a cheer as Shinedown walked out onto the stage.  They went right into their opening number “Cut the Cord” displaying the energy that would be on full display through the night.  Guitarist Zach Myers and Bassist Eric Bass worked the stage throughout the song playing up for the audience and multiple times jumping past each other giving the concert photogs some incredible scenes. Vocalist Brent Smith displayed his powerful vocals through the night and held the audience’s attention.  Smith is one of the top performers not only in rock but in all of music out there right now.  His voice and the amazing talent of the band members has grown a large following for Shinedown through the years and has propelled the band to have 16 number one Billboard Mainstream rock hits.  Plenty of which they performed during their two-hour set.  They also played their new song “Planet Zero” the title track to the upcoming album. Although it was a new song the audience sang along with it knowing the words and showing it’s only a matter of time until Shinedown has their 17th number one hit. Throughout the night Smith would take the time to talk to the audience asking everyone to look at the people around them and shake hands and put their arms around each other.  He told the audience no matter our differences we were all there for the same thing and that this is our community.  In one of the highlights of the evening Smith took the time to call up drummer Barry Kerch’s wife on facetime.   It was their anniversary this night and although they couldn’t be together Smith wanted to make the night special for them and had the audience wish them both a Happy Anniversary while she was on facetime seeing the crowd.  Fans had a great time singing along to hits such as “45” “Second Chance” and “Get UP” and then they sang along with the encore performances of “Simple Man” and “The Sound of Madness.”
Shinedown will continue on the road with their upcoming “Revolutions” tour with The Pretty Reckless and Diamante. Be sure to check out dates near you. 
You can also see Shinedown’s film for their acclaimed album Attention Attention.  The film is a riveting companion piece to their album and deals with the strength of the human spirit and weaves the sings from the album into an incredible feature film.