{"id":24813,"date":"2016-08-18T20:20:22","date_gmt":"2016-08-19T01:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/?p=24813"},"modified":"2016-08-19T06:43:46","modified_gmt":"2016-08-19T11:43:46","slug":"concert-review-shinedown-halestorm-black-stone-cherry-whiskey-myers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/concert-review-shinedown-halestorm-black-stone-cherry-whiskey-myers\/","title":{"rendered":"Concert Review: Shinedown with Halestorm, Black Stone Cherry and Whiskey Myers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shinedown with Halestorm, Black Stone Cherry and Whiskey Myers<\/strong>
\nCedar Park, Texas
\nJuly 31, 2016<\/p>\n

\"DSC_0619\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Carnival of Madness Tour<\/em> stopped in the Austin area at Cedar Park\u2019s H-E-B Center on the last day of July. It was a full lineup and a few thousand people were there to take in the rock-solid music for four hours.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever seen Almost Famous<\/em> and the fictitious band Sweetwater or a recent episode of the Showtime original Roadies<\/em> that highlighted a veteran\u2019s flashback to his days with Lynyrd Skynyrd, you might know what to expect with Whiskey Myers<\/strong>. I\u2019d never seen \u2018em before, but when I saw seven guys stroll out on stage and settle into a nice, laid-back but solid-as-a-rock groove, complete with piano and keys, I knew I was in for a Southern rock treat.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_0449\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With three guitars, two drummers, bass and keyboards, there\u2019s not much missing, but a sweet melody and a heaviness that rocked the house. While not possessing the hit that has yet to take America by storm, the band\u2019s overall sound hits on all cylinders. Perhaps their new Mud<\/em> album that drops on September 9 will wake up audiences to the magic they\u2019re laying down.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_0559\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It was fun watching the two drummers go at it, sometimes playing alongside each other and other times just adding percussion fills for the other. All the guitarists took their turns to riff and rhythm, while at times the frontman Cody Cannon just held the mic and sang.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_0568\"<\/a><\/p>\n

By the time they went into their 5th<\/sup> and 6th<\/sup> songs to end their short set, they had pretty much won over the crowd, which was swaying and jiggling to their blues rock boogie beat. Not bad for a big ole\u2019 band from Palestine, Texas.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_0182\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Black Stone Cherry<\/strong> came out and wasted no time laying down mean, heavy, modern metal meets old school Hollywood raunch n\u2019 roll meets straight-up rock. They very much could hold their own within an Ozzfest crowd as well as a billing like this one. Veterans of much touring and five studio albums, they didn\u2019t miss a note and brought the heavy and melodic on their own dirty, raw and fun terms.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_0307\"<\/a> \"DSC_0207\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Vocalist\/guitarist Chris Robertson is quite the lead player, rotating between rhythms with guitarist Ben Wells, all the while singing. He made it look natural, fun and easy.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_0126\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With songs like \u201cMe and Mary Jane,\u201d \u201cBlame it on the Boom Boom\u201d and \u201cSoul Machine,\u201d it\u2019s pretty apparent that these guys come from a rock pedigree that likes it hard and loose. They didn\u2019t sound too far away from the previous band (Whiskey Myers) with their brooding hit, \u201cLonely Train.\u201d They closed their set with some nice words of rock and roll philosophy from Lemmy and then a very rousing version of Motorhead’s \u201cAce of Spades.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DSC_0753\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Halestorm<\/strong> came on next to great anticipation from the crowd up front, many of them young ladies that wanted to see one of their inspirational role models shred like no one’s business on the guitar. Lizzy Hale does just that and she totally got after it once she took center stage (last, of course, after the rest of the band got the opening beat going) and she did not fail to impress. Her little brother Arejay Hale even did a nice, long drum solo with forays into classic hard rock later in the set. This four-piece is very tight and doesn\u2019t bother to let the crowd catch much of a breath between songs. Their intensity is very much heavy metal, mixing a little symphonic dynamics with a lot of power metal. Guitarist Joe Hottinger shares the guitar roles with Hale, also impressive with fast lead fills and staccato rhythms. Hale\u2019s vocals were outstanding, soaring high over the wall of sound and also hitting straight mid-range along to a rhythm.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_0031<\/a> \"DSC_0067<\/a> \"DSC_0072<\/a> \"DSC_0908\"<\/a><\/p>\n

They played a nice cross-section from their catalog \u2013 from \u201cLove Bites\u201d to the frenetic \u201cMz. Hyde\u201d to \u201cApocalyptic\u201d and the sultry vocals of \u201cAmen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DSC_0052<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI Like It Heavy\u201d showed the band\u2019s allegiance to their sound, mixing soft and plodding with a loud and thumping chorus. This mixture of melody and power is the band\u2019s strength, of which they did not deviate too much from song to song. \u201cI Am the Fire,\u201d where Hale plays a double-neck guitar, \u201cI Get Off,\u201d \u201cFreak Like Me\u201d and \u201cMayhem\u201d all tore it up. It was easy to be impressed.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_0784<\/a><\/p>\n

Shinedown<\/strong> took the stage at about 9:30 and it was apparent that this crowd was glad to see \u2018em. They launched into the rocker, “Adrenaline,” with its cool rests and space between drums and the guitar riffs. Lead singer Brent Smith immediately made his way to the edge of the stage, attempting to make eye contact with everyone on perimeter around the stage as he took on the frenetic vocal delivery. The dude is the consummate frontman. He knows how to work an audience and seems like its his second nature to make new friends and reassure old ones. Guitarist Zach Myers and bassist Eric Bass are both well-versed in working the large stage, too. There probably wasn’t a spot on the entire stage that they didn’t occupy at some fast-paced point.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_0496<\/a> \"DSC_0632<\/a> \"DSC_0754<\/a><\/p>\n

They flew right into “Fly From the Inside” and “Diamond Eyes” as if they weren’t allowed to breathe except after three-song bursts.<\/p>\n

Smith’s voice is the highlight of this band, which relies on strong melodies and just plain old good songs to rock its audience. The instrumentation and sound mix was good, filling this big ice hockey arena in the middle of Texas. If Shinedown was in competition with Breaking Benjamin, Creed, Nickelback, Linkin Park and 30 Seconds to Mars, they would be right near the front of the pack. They hold their own, they rock with no apologies and they rock hard. What few breaks the audience got between songs was natural, never seemed forced and Smith was encouraging. It’s like he knows that the audience is his boss and he’s the employee. I think he even alluded to something like that during the show.<\/p>\n

They did a short piano segment midway through the show, which included a surprising cover of the Radiohead classic, “Creep.” The audience even sang the chorus on cue.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_0703<\/a> \"DSC_0774<\/a><\/p>\n

As the set wound down after a little more than a full hour of tunes, we knew their megahit, “Second Chance,” with its lyrical sightings of Haley’s Comet was going to appear. When it did, there were smiles all around the room. They played “Cut the Cord” next, with its cool chanting chorus and they had accomplished what everyone wanted \u2013 a full rock show. The encores were a given, but icing on the cake after a job well done. They did another surprising cover, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man,” which came after a couple of shout-outs to our military and those that serve our country. It shouldn’t have been too surprising that Shinedown would cover the legendary Southern rock band, even though they’re miles from them stylistically, because they’re both from the same hometown \u2013 Jacksonville, Florida. “Sound of Madness” fittingly ended the Carnival of Madness Tour<\/em> stop in the capitol city’s suburb. Its pounding drums did a great job of knocking out any unused units of energy in anyone inside the building.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_0717<\/a><\/p>\n

Shinedown delivered as promised \u2013 melody and rock \u2013 just the emotions a fan that’s listened to their feel-good rock would expect.
\n\u2014Photos and review by Doug Van Pelt (except for those awesome photos of Shinedown, those were shot by Teresa). Edited by Teresa Turnage-Simon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shinedown with Halestorm, Black Stone Cherry and Whiskey Myers Cedar Park, Texas July 31, 2016 The Carnival of Madness Tour stopped in the Austin area at Cedar Park\u2019s H-E-B Center on the last day of July. It was a full lineup and a few thousand people were there to take in the rock-solid music for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":24838,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[4002,499,729,4000,1755,1888,3999,3998,4001],"class_list":["post-24813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-black-stone-cherry","tag-buckcherry","tag-creed","tag-halestorm","tag-korn","tag-lynyrd-skynyrd","tag-nickelback","tag-shinedown","tag-whiskey-myers","cat-17-id"],"yoast_head":"\nConcert Review: Shinedown with Halestorm, Black Stone Cherry and Whiskey Myers - The Original Heaven's Metal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/concert-review-shinedown-halestorm-black-stone-cherry-whiskey-myers\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Doug Van Pelt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/concert-review-shinedown-halestorm-black-stone-cherry-whiskey-myers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/concert-review-shinedown-halestorm-black-stone-cherry-whiskey-myers\/\",\"name\":\"Concert Review: Shinedown with Halestorm, Black Stone Cherry and Whiskey Myers - The Original Heaven's Metal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/concert-review-shinedown-halestorm-black-stone-cherry-whiskey-myers\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/concert-review-shinedown-halestorm-black-stone-cherry-whiskey-myers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/DSC_0476-1-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-19T01:20:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-19T11:43:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/#\/schema\/person\/b155afeb7086c8182b3bb3b435e68c4b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/concert-review-shinedown-halestorm-black-stone-cherry-whiskey-myers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/concert-review-shinedown-halestorm-black-stone-cherry-whiskey-myers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/concert-review-shinedown-halestorm-black-stone-cherry-whiskey-myers\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/DSC_0476-1-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/DSC_0476-1-1.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":472},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/concert-review-shinedown-halestorm-black-stone-cherry-whiskey-myers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Concert Review: Shinedown with Halestorm, Black Stone Cherry and Whiskey Myers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/\",\"name\":\"The Original Heaven's Metal\",\"description\":\"Former Editor-in-Chief. Father of two.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/#\/schema\/person\/b155afeb7086c8182b3bb3b435e68c4b\",\"name\":\"Doug Van Pelt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a6e5fbc8d4b9e9a45060e7a01f247f8902255f65ad258857113bfbeae38235bb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a6e5fbc8d4b9e9a45060e7a01f247f8902255f65ad258857113bfbeae38235bb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Doug Van Pelt\"},\"description\":\"Doug Van Pelt is the founding editor of HM Magazine. He is also the author of three books, Desert High, and Rock Stars on God, Volumes I and II. He is also the lead singer of Lust Control. But that is not who he truly is; he is a follower of Christ. Be on the lookout for three new books in the future.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hm.magazine\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/http:\/\/twitter.com\/dooglar\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/author\/dvanpelt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Concert Review: Shinedown with Halestorm, Black Stone Cherry and Whiskey Myers - The Original Heaven's Metal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/concert-review-shinedown-halestorm-black-stone-cherry-whiskey-myers\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Doug Van Pelt","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/concert-review-shinedown-halestorm-black-stone-cherry-whiskey-myers\/","url":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/concert-review-shinedown-halestorm-black-stone-cherry-whiskey-myers\/","name":"Concert Review: Shinedown with Halestorm, Black Stone Cherry and Whiskey Myers - The Original Heaven's Metal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/concert-review-shinedown-halestorm-black-stone-cherry-whiskey-myers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/concert-review-shinedown-halestorm-black-stone-cherry-whiskey-myers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/DSC_0476-1-1.jpg","datePublished":"2016-08-19T01:20:22+00:00","dateModified":"2016-08-19T11:43:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/#\/schema\/person\/b155afeb7086c8182b3bb3b435e68c4b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/concert-review-shinedown-halestorm-black-stone-cherry-whiskey-myers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/concert-review-shinedown-halestorm-black-stone-cherry-whiskey-myers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/concert-review-shinedown-halestorm-black-stone-cherry-whiskey-myers\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/DSC_0476-1-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/DSC_0476-1-1.jpg","width":800,"height":472},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/concert-review-shinedown-halestorm-black-stone-cherry-whiskey-myers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Concert Review: Shinedown with Halestorm, Black Stone Cherry and Whiskey Myers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/#website","url":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/","name":"The Original Heaven's Metal","description":"Former Editor-in-Chief. Father of two.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/#\/schema\/person\/b155afeb7086c8182b3bb3b435e68c4b","name":"Doug Van Pelt","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a6e5fbc8d4b9e9a45060e7a01f247f8902255f65ad258857113bfbeae38235bb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a6e5fbc8d4b9e9a45060e7a01f247f8902255f65ad258857113bfbeae38235bb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Doug Van Pelt"},"description":"Doug Van Pelt is the founding editor of HM Magazine. He is also the author of three books, Desert High, and Rock Stars on God, Volumes I and II. He is also the lead singer of Lust Control. But that is not who he truly is; he is a follower of Christ. Be on the lookout for three new books in the future.","sameAs":["http:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hm.magazine","https:\/\/x.com\/http:\/\/twitter.com\/dooglar"],"url":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/author\/dvanpelt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24813"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24844,"href":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24813\/revisions\/24844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}