Sounds of Madness

Unlike some people, I don't have an iPod, and still listen to the radio when I drive around town. It used to be that I'd hear a good song on the radio and think "cool, I have this CD!" The more I got to concerts, however, I've changed my thoughts to "wow, there's another song I've heard live in person!" This thought was especially true after attending a fantastic sold-out Shinedown concert this past Tuesday night at the Northern Lights Casino in Walker, MN.

I drove up to Walker on a beautiful sunny afternoon. After walking around the town, having lunch and making my usual stop at Reed's Sporting Goods, I got to my hotel in time for a pre-concert snooze. I awoke feeling refreshed, and made it to the casino in time to enjoy a hearty buffet before the concert doors opened. Eating my meal, I noticed people who I'd later learn were part of Shinedown's road crew enjoying the buffet as well.

I had just enough time to finish my meal and walk around the casino floor a little bit before the show doors opened. I found my seat in the third row, and had barely began to talk to people around me who had come to the show before the opening act Sick Puppies, a three-piece rock band from Sydney, Australia began their set. Frontman/guitarist Shimon Moore, bassist Emma Anzai, and drummer Mark Goodwin did a great job of warming up the crowd playing 10 songs from their first two albums, closing with their current single "You're Going Down" from the 2009 album Tri-Polar. I picked up their new album about a month ago, and thought the band sounded a little bit like Hoobastank, but they were better than I expected. I also give them bonus points for keeping the crowd occupied while the technical crew fixed a temporary power loss to their guitars early in the set by announcing a concert to win one of their guitars used during the show (no, I didn't win).

After a quick set change, the members of Shinedown hit the stage one person at a time, before launching into a powerful rendition of the title cut from last year's album Sound of Madness. Shinedown played about half of the songs from this album during their set, as well as reaching back into their catalog to play favorites "45," "Fly From the Inside," "Burning Bright," "Save Me," and "Heroes" from their albums Leave A Whisper and Us and Them, respectively.

Frontman Brent Smith took a fair amount of time talking to the crowd during the show, inviting us to welcome the people sitting around us, and even encouraging everyone in the auditorium to get up on the chairs the casino had provided, and then get down and start jumping to the beat of one of their songs.

After Smith had walked around the outside of the concert hall and back during the song "Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide," Shinedown finished their song and then departed the stage. While a few concert-goers like myself didn't get to hear their version of Lynyrd Skynyrd's classic "Simple Man" during the encore, singer Brent Smith, guitarist Zach Myers, bassist/keyboardist Eric Bass and drummer Barry Kerch returned for a two song encore: Sound of Madness singles "Second Chance" and the hard-rocking "Devour" to close the show.

This was my third concert at Northern Lights Casino in Walker this year, and it's really hard for me to compare the shows, because they were all equally excellent! I'm also really glad that I can add Shinedown and Sick Puppies to my list of bands that I can hear on the radio and be instantly reminded of another amazing concert experience.