I had to write an entry about this gig; it was, as per usual, an excellent performance by Shinedown- this time at the 02 Apollo.
Not to mention this time I was able to meet them. (Moment of heart-busting excitement!)
Yes this is art related, because it includes some of my VERY amateur photography (in this case it wasn't really for artwork's purposes, given that I was limited to my camera phone and waiting to take photographs at rare still moments!)
Anyway, I took a few photographs which weren't the best quality but they capture the essence of the atmosphere in the arena. [ N.B - I remembered a camera, but forgot the memory card, which reduced me to the use of my phone. This was devastating, because in the end the dim lighting and poor quality led to a photograph with the band that I had to edit in Photoshop to get it vaguely clear ]
BUT - I met them, and they were such friendly guys! Surprised by how short they all were, barely taller than my measly 5'6, but such a humble group of men. Bit of banter over my phone because they saw my password when I tried to get to the camera mode. Shinedown - you could steal my phone any-day (just so long as you gave it back!)
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| The band and I! Not the best quality picture, but one is better than none at all! |
It was simply amazing. A pretty much packed out venue, with nearly four thousand people - which is quite impressive for a band that has only really recently taken off over here in the United Kingdom. Bear in mind, that's only one venue out of many that they have been playing at throughout their UK tour.
They had a slightly different set-list this time, which I wasn't complaining about. They played pretty much most of my favourite songs, as always! One of the best moments had to be during the encore, the performance of Simple Man:
Hearing the crowd singing over the top of Brent was incredible and chill-inducing all at once:
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| Excuse the steward in the corner! But yes, I was close :P |
Later I may return to this post and update the pictures with slightly edited, sharper focus and better contrasted versions - just so to make the quality somewhat better! But you can see enough from these for now ;)
I digress.
Before Simple Man came Devour, and boy does that always go down well! I love this song and I always sing my heart out when it inevitably comes about during their performance!
Taking a photo of the guitarist at this point above (obviously!) and to get a smile of recognition from the earlier Meet & Greet filled me with butterflies. Zach is such a lovely man - well, as are they all.
These photographs may be swamped with light, but I hope you can see the energy in them. The very exposed light is partly due to the strobe lights, partly due to the poor equipment being used to take the photographs - as earlier stated! :P
Every one of the songs played were amazing. I've never been disappointed by a performance by Shinedown - and I've seen them three times this year already. Many more of their gigs for me to attend, I expect! Okay, so the support bands were questionable, the second most definitely better than the first, but in the end it wasn't them I went to see. It was Shinedown, and once again they delivered.
There was an intriguing moment, when Brent stopped the whole show because of some commotion going on not too far to my right. Perhaps someone had been hurt, and he wasn't going to carry on playing until he made sure everyone was all-right. It turned out that a girl had lost her Iphone. Well, darling, don't take such an expensive phone to a gig where it would potentially get lost or damaged! You interrupted everyone else's show. Other than that little five minutes of amusement, a flawless show. It perhaps topped their performance at Download this year... maybe. ;D
Meeting them was almost dream-like, and I'd pay for it again! (Although I didn't pay for it this time, it was a birthday gift!)
If only I had remembered my memory card for the worthwhile, 14 mp camera I had with me...
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