Shinedown was a rather new experience for us, having only been lightly introduced to the band in the past by friends who really like them. Now, as they were playing Copenhell, we figured, what the hell, let’s see what all the fuzz is about.

So, Shinedown is in the lighter scale of what we usually review here at Metalmoments, what with them being closer to rock, than the more wicked sides of metal, and likewise, they were definitely in the light end of the scale of what was playing here at Copenhell. In fact, them ending up here in the first place surprised me.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying this to put anyone down, as this does in no way need to mean that there’s something wrong with it. I’m merely trying to make sure everyone knows what we’re getting into here, so there’ll be no complaining later on about, where’s the corpse-paint, where’s the raining blood. That’s not what this is about.
What Shinedown was about, it would turn out, was partying. It would also turn out that they had a great big support from the Copenhell crowd, although possibly mainly the female part of it.

When it was time for Shinedown to enter the Hades stage, there was already a very large body of audience crowding up the place, calling for the American quartet to come on. Let’s just be honest here, and admit that the praising shouts didn’t exactly die down as they took the stage.
The band took it all in good stride however, and showed that the 15 years of history they had on them, had not been in vain. They opened the show with one of the singles from Threat To Survival, their latest album. The single was Asking For it, a sing-along friendly piece with a good drive, perfect for this kind of occasion.
Brent Smith (vocals) proved himself to be a god frontman, engaging the audience from the get-go. He requested that everyone look to their left, and to their right, and say hello to the persons next to you, something he immediately followed by jumping down to the security fence himself, greeting people left and right. All the while, the aptly named Eric Bass (bass) was wreaking hell on stage, and Zach Myers (guitar) did his best impression of a mopey teenager, with his baseball cap pulled down so far, the only thing stopping it from covering his entire head were those large sunglasses he’d stolen from the ‘Eighties.
Anyway, Smith kept things going nicely with a secure grip on the situation, leading the fans into sing-alongs and all kinds of other games. During Unity, he got the crowd to divide into two halves down the middle, after which he casually walked all the way down to the sound tower and back again. During State Of My Head, he asked everyone to dance, and even though I hardly think the man knows what dancing is, judging from his subsequent behaviour, he still managed to create a nice side-to-side wave in the audience. There was also the Lynyrd Skynyrd cover, Simple Man, which was performed only by himself, and Myers on an acoustic guitar, in which he let the crowd take over completely on vocals at several points.

Yeah, Shinedown really managed to get Copenhell on their feet. Literally so. I was actually impressed to see even the people on the hill standing up as they rocked along to the concert.
Admittedly, musically I didn’t completely catch on, but I can’t deny the high level of technicality the band displayed, and even more so the level of energy that they brought themselves, and managed to pull from the crowd. On this last day of Copenhell, we were now up to two for two on concerts that I didn’t expect much from in the form of audience participation, but was positively surprised.
Shinedown did bring a party. That was exactly what they promised, and they delivered.

Setlist:

Asking For it
Diamond Eyes (Boom-lay Boom-lay Boom)
If You Only Knew
Unity
Enemies
Devour
State Of My Head
Cut The Chord
Second Chance
Simple Man (Lynyrd Skynyrd cover)
Sound Of Madness