Winterfest 2010 - January 21, 2010
Dunkin Donuts Arena, Providence, RI
Shinedown (headliner)
Puddle of Mud
Skillet
A raucous crowd of approximately 4500 was in attendance for the opening night of Shinedown's tour called Winterfest 2010 here. Mainly an eastern seaboard tour for right now it opened with a 30-minute performance by Skillet which had the crowd cheering and pumping fists although most in attendance did not know their music. They are a former Contemporary Christian band who has crossed over to mainstream and are very talented in their genre. Hard guitar licks, heavy bass playing and an awesome female drummer who is also vocalist (lead & backup). And for a couple of songs they added both and electric fiddle and electric violin. They finished with their hit song "Believe" which plays on both regular radio and Christian stations.Great opening act!
After a short changeover, Puddle of Mud came out for a 45-minute set. They actually outperformed Skillet but got less crowd response mainly due to the fact their music is not quite as bold in style. But they definitely had some fans in attendance which helped out a lot. Their biggest cheer of the night was for a cover song of ACDC when they played TNT ("It's Dynamite!"). The 2nd biggest cheer was for their final song "She Frackin' Hates Me" (doo doo doo doo). They had some announced "Sound Challenges" and more than once the Bass guitar went out during songs along with a couple instances of having to swap out a lead guitar to get one that was picking up the amps correctly. The lead singer made a comment about this happening to him "about 100 times now!".
But to be honest Shinedown WAS THE SHOW!!! They got on stage about 9:30 PM and played about 90 minutes. My favorite song from them is on the 3rd album and with 1/2 the t-shirts all saying "The Mouth of Madness Tour" that is exactly what they opened with. I just about pulled a rib pumping my fists and singing along and compare it to some of those Rob Zombie Aerobic dance songs (he has many!) The stage was quite impressive as I counted over 25 strobe lights (the expensive $$$ computer controlled ones $2K each) along with some occasional fog and some nice walkways on each side to perform for the side crowds. I was GA (General Admission) on the floor and stood only about 10 feet from stage with virtually no pushing (or mosh pits, thank goodness). They alternated between fast and slow songs most of the night but the lead singer, Brent Smith, had a GREAT rapport with the fans. He could not thank them enough for putting Shinedown on the map and to be honest they make GREAT headliners. After a curtain call they came back for the Skynerd song, "Simple Man", followed by their biggest hit "Second Chance". I call that a multi-generational song because the lyrics mention "Tell my Mother, Tell my Father, I've Done the Best I Can" which has great meaning to me, but will mean something entirely different when my son sees them live. He even mentioned that he has all three bands songs on his Ipod and the crowd age was what you would expect for modern bands, 20 somethings, 30 somethings, and a few in MY age range. Good concerts seems to attract all ages to be honest and this was a GOOD concert.
I wished I had set lists but the guy in a wheelchair right in front of me got the Shinedown setlist and said he has collected many during his travels. I just shook his hand and said "Good Job". I did see the final list and it was about 15 songs total.
A nice way to start off 2010. A great time was had by all.