Staind:
A stimulating night of rock
STAIND (Live
Photos)
SHINEDOWN (Live Photos)
CHEVELLE (Live Photos)
HALESTORM (Live Photos)
Merriweather Post Pavilion
Columbia, Maryland
July 9, 2009
By GREG MAKI
The Stimulate This! Tour is a good idea in these hard economic times—two headline-level bands, plus a couple others, with the tickets for the best seats held to about $40 apiece. Of course, after they’ve run through the Ticketmaster machine, there is another $10 or $12 per ticket coming out of your wallet. Oh well, it’s the thought that counts, right?
Though listed on the bill, Lo-Pro was a no-show, leaving Halestorm to kick off the evening’s music at 7 p.m. I’ve watched this band develop during the last few years—usually opening for Shinedown—and this was my first time seeing them on a big stage. Led by dynamic frontwoman Lzzy Hale, they owned it throughout their 25-minute set, which began with Hale’s a capella intro to “It’s Not You.” Lzzy inevitably drew most of the eyes in the audience, but her younger brother, drummer Arejay, was the biggest showman, hamming it up, tossing sticks and playfully interacting with the crowd. Guitarist Joe Hottinger was a bundle of energy himself over on stage right, while on the opposite side, Josh Smith had the cool, somewhat aloof bassist act down pat.
“I Get Off,” which is starting to make some headway at rock radio, predictably closed Halestorm’s too-brief set. I’m rooting for the band to succeed. They have worked hard for several years, and written and recorded a superb debut album. After seeing this performance—and the crowd’s overwhelmingly favorable reaction—I am more convinced than ever that they have what they need to take it to the next level.
HALESTORM SET LIST:
It’s Not You, Dirty Work, Bet U Wish U Had Me Back, Drums, Nothing to Do with Love, I Get Off
Chevelle, which has a new album due out later this year (Sci-Fi Crimes, Sept. 1) but has been a bit under the radar since their 2002 breakthrough Wonder What’s Next, took the stage next. It wasn’t until they played a trio of songs from their hit record—“Send the Pain Below,” “Comfortable Liar” and “The Red”—that the audience perked up. Chevelle writes decent songs, but the energy just wasn’t there. They also had the difficult task of playing between the up-and-coming Halestorm and the red-hot Shinedown.
Based on current excitement levels from music fans, Shinedown probably should be headlining this tour. Nothing against Staind—Shinedown’s popularity has grown with each album, and now they have their first true Top 40 success (“Second Chance”) and yet another rock radio hit (“Sound of Madness”).
Shinedown’s nearly-hour-long set provided a good mix of hits and material from their third album, The Sound of Madness, now just over a year old. Opening with the title track, the band, led by charismatic frontman Brent Smith, grabbed hold of the audience from the start and refused to let go, following it with crowd-pleasers “Save Me” and “.45.” After “Heroes,” Smith, with a hint of disgust in his voice, said, “I’ve been up here long enough.” But all was well, as he made his way around the entire venue, leading a crowd sing-along.
The band’s first-ever single, “Fly from the Inside” greeted Smith’s return to the stage. Then the set went back to the new album, highlighted by “Call Me,” a showcase for Smith’s stellar pipes featuring bassist Eric Bass on piano. The expected enthusiastic response and sing-along greeted “Second Chance,” and any new fans who found the band through that song must have been taken aback by the aggression of songs like “Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide” and the set closer, “Devour.”
Shinedown has played the Baltimore area many, many times in the last five years, but it has been at venues like the Recher Theatre and Rams Head Live to, at most, a couple thousand people at a time. I got the feeling that this was the first live Shinedown experience for many of the fans in this audience. Judging from their reaction, it won’t be the last.
SHINEDOWN SET LIST:
Sound of Madness, Save Me, .45, Heroes, Fly from the Inside, If You Only Knew, Call Me, Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide, Second Chance, Devour
Staind had a tough act to follow, but they are a seasoned band with an impressive catalog of hits. They’ve come a long way from the metal band I saw open for Sevendust a decade ago at the 9:30 Club down in Washington , D.C.
You won’t get much energy out of frontman Aaron Lewis. When he wasn’t playing guitar, which wasn’t often, he slowly walked around the stage. Otherwise, he stood behind his microphone, looking sad and droopy. You just want to go up there, give him a pat on the back and tell him it’ll be OK. For all you photographers out there, good luck getting a photo of him smiling; I’m happy just to have a gotten a few with his eyes open. Maybe he had been smoking weed all day. Or maybe it was guitarist Mike Mushok sucking the life out of his bandmates. He was the one to watch, an always-in-motion ball of energy and a striking contrast to Lewis and bassist Johnny April.
The 70-minute set included most of the band’s many well-known songs (“Mudshovel,” “For You,” “So Far Away,” “Right Here”). The highlights shined a spotlight on diversity—the monstrous “Spleen” from Dysfunction (1999) and a pair of monster hits performed acoustically by Lewis on a stool at the soundboard (“It’s Been Awhile” and “Outside”). The acoustic portion was the moment of a night shared by two of today’s leading hard rock bands. |
