It’s not unusual for us at OnStagePress to get excited when a rock show rolls through town. Afterall, we have a deep passion for music. But when Shinedown makes a stop in our city, it’s an “all hands on deck” type of situation. So, on August 7th, we made sure to drop everything and make way to the Moda Center to spend time with roughly sixteen thousand fellow rock and roll fans as well as what might be the greatest stage production currently on tour.
Country-Pop singer Morgan Wade kicked the show off with roughly a half-dozen tracks which included a well-done cover of Radiohead’s “Creep”. They even closed out their set with a quick snip of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man”. Wade’s raspy, almost folk sound seems a bit like Janis Joplin meets Billie Eilish. Regardless, she made a great argument on why she was chosen to be the opener for a massive arena rock show.
Bush was also on hand to keep the show going. You’d almost think that Bush was headlining by the way Gavin Rossdale put it all out on stage. Bush released a new album just a couple of weeks ago titled I Beat Loneliness and three tracks from that new album made the set. It’s not uncommon for Rossdale to sing from the crowd so, he did just that. Climbing over the barricade, while singing “Flowers On A Grave” he made his way through the pit and up into the 100 and 200 levels of the Moda Center. He shook hands, gave hugs, and took selfies during his foray into the crowd, all while not missing a beat. Before performing “Glycerine”, he made a small statement about how much the song has done for the band; how big the song has become. “It’s not even my song anymore, it belongs to all of you” he went on to say. Bush sounded incredible.
The set change after Bush seemed to take forever. I’m sure it was just the anticipation of Shinedown about to take the stage. Maybe not?
The wait was well worth it. The stage was unique. They have it set up in a typical “end stage” configuration with a “Y” shaped thrust. There was a smaller stage at the vertex of the “Y” with platforms at each of the ends. This allowed for the band to get out into the arena to interact with far more fans. There really wasn’t a bad seat in the house. The set list was a full eighteen songs, starting with “Dance, Kid, Dance”. Roughly mid-way through the set, the band all convened on the smaller, center stage for a four song deep dive into the Shinedown catalog. During “Thick as Thieves”, Brent forgot the lyrics and had to frantically scroll through the lyrics on his “janky iPad”. The band all had a good laugh. In fact, they all seemed to be having a great time. It was drummer Barry Kerch’s birthday so they were all laughing and celebrating it while doing their show in Portland.
“We all know that the power of music is extremely healing”, Brent said. So, during both legs of this tour, Shinedown is donating one dollar from every ticket to Musicians on Call. Brent went on to explain that Musicians on Call goes into hospitals across the nation, bringing instruments to patients to play music with them. Hopefully, these Musicians on Call are playing some Shinedown while they’re out there.
Simple Man, the Lynyrd Skynyrd classic, has become a staple of the Shinedown set list. In what has been somewhat of a tradition now, Brent asks the crowd to sing the last verse. “Not to pander, but Ozzy Osbourne recently passed. He was an originator. He gave us a wealth of entertainment; a wealth of music. Let’s sing this one for him” he went on to say. Thinking back over Ozzy’s career and public persona, “simple” wasn’t the first word that came to mind. But he lived his life on his terms, focused his talent and delivered a lifetime of incredible performances. If that’s not simple, I don’t know what is.
The production of the show is completely over the top. The fire, fireworks, lighting… these are all elements we’ve seen at Shinedown as well as other stage performances. But, the way these elements are used throughout the show on this tour make you feel like you’re seeing them for the first time. The concussions punctuate verses, the fire amplifies the vocal intensity. Just incredible.
Brent had talked about Shinedown’s history of performances in Portland as well as what the next 20 years might look like. We’ll be holding our breath for your return.
