Well I am a tiny bit underwhelmed by the live Shinedown experience. Maybe I am just expecting too much but the record sounds so amazing that the live sound is bound to be a touch dissapointing. Not to say that the band are very good at what they do but I just didn't get that massive wow factor that I got from the record.
Brent Smith is an amiable and very crowd involving frontman but his 'save the world, stand up for what you believe in, unity in numbers, life is hard, we love you' rhetoric gets a little tiresome from the audiences point of view. Many times I was thinking just shut the fuck up dude and sing the songs will yer! When he did sing, Brent was in fine voice although again I can't say he sounds as good live as he does on the record. I don't know what he was on in the studio, but the live arena doesn't quite live up to that billing. He also has this mannerism where he pulls the mic away from his mouth at the end of lines and the note trails off under an avalanche of guitars and bass. It's a little bit annoying!
Anyhow it was an ok gig and plenty of people enjoyed it and I'm glad I went. The best songs where the ballads which allowed us to hear Brent's voice much better than the rockers. The Crow and the Butterfly was absolutely mesmeric as was If you only knew. I enjoyed Fly on the Inside and 45 from earlier albums.
The sound from where I was standing was sometimes really good and other times really quite muddy. Last time for the Edguy gig at the Islington Academy, the sound was pretty good. The sound could have been better for Shinedown though I am being a bit picky. Sometimes a band really comes to the fore in the live setting but I don't know if Shinedown really managed that last night. Although it was the first night of their first headlining European tour so you have to give them the benefit of the doubt. They are still a great band, emitting loads of pent up energy with anthemic, ballsy rock tunes and a great vocalist who in future might wanna talk a bit less in between the songs? :-P
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