SHINEDOWN
HMV Forum, Kentish Town, London, UK - 11th November 2009
Line-up: Shinedown, SOiL + Counterpoint
Review by Jon Wilde, (crappy phone) pics by Jon Wilde
Last time I was at the HMV Forum it was to see heavy metal Bee Gees tribute act Tragedy (with A and The Wildhearts). It was a bit more full this time. Not sure if the gig was a sell out, but it sure looked liked it.
First act onstage were classic rockers Counterpoint. They hail from just down the road in Reading. As front man Jay Bartlett pointed out, this tour isn't hitting their home town so this was as close to a homecoming gig as they are going to get.
To be honest they didn't sound too bad. The vibe was retro in the extreme - bluesy hard rock of the sort any number of bands played in the late 1970's and early 1980's. The songs sounded okay-ish, perhaps not massively strong but certainly good enough to entertain. The only real problem with the band is that Jay is both a decent singer and excellent guitarist, and the rest of the band get lost in his shadow. They could perhaps do with working on becoming more of a cohesive unit. It's a small moan about a potentially (sometime in the future) great group though.
Next up was the band I was actually there to see, SOiL. Last time I saw them was not long after the release of their breakthrough album Scars. Back then they had the monstrously small, decibel-licious singer Ryan McCombs as front man. The man could knock down buildings with his voice, and songs like 'Halo' and 'Wide Open' made the live show an absolute beast.
Now, however, 8 years later the band have matured, lost one of their guitarists and gained a new singer in the shape of AJ Cavalier. If anything, judging by new album Picture Perfect, AJ is a more rounded vocalist. He isn't as potent, but he gives the band a greater depth of sound and lets them head down musical avenues they wouldn't have ventured along otherwise.
Hearing them live now, and comparing the new songs to old was an interesting experience. I'm not sure if it's simply AJ's different approach, or if it's a genuine increase in quality through the years, but the new material made the old stuff sound very dated. 'Halo' still came across as a cool track but, for me, 'Picture Perfect' and the other entries from the new album sounded a lot better. The sound quality wasn't that great in The Forum - not sure if it's fault of the acoustics or the guy at the soundboard - so it'll be interesting to here a proper comparison of new to old when they come back next year for a full headline tour.
The word 'headline' leads us onto the night's headline act, Shinedown. I really love their latest album The Sound Of Madness so I was expecting great things. F*ck me where did it go so wrong?! They played the title track of the new album - probably the strongest song for the live stage - first. What sort of band plays their best song first?! From there, the gig spiraled downwards very quickly.
Most of the set consisted of Brent Smith rabbiting on in self-indulgent fashion about heaven knows what. It was all so boring I couldn't be bothered listening. They managed only 3 or 4 songs in the first half hour of their set. SOiL played 8 in the same amount of time. Unusually for me I wasn't driving so I was able to neck a few beers. Even alcohol didn't make Shinedown sound any better. Alcohol normally makes even the worst acts sound vaguely enjoyable.
I stuck it out until halfway through the set before I'd had enough and left. The only way I would normally leave a gig early is if I had to catch a train or be somewhere else by a certain time. This is, I think, the first show I've ever left because it was crap.
On this evidence Shinedown don't deserve to headline a gig in my local garden centre, never mind a venue holding a couple of thousand people. I even listened again to their CD again this morning just to see if I'd got the review wrong. Nope. The album stills sounds brilliant. How are they so bad live?! I really have no idea.
SOiL were excellent and I'm looking forward to seeing them again. I'll be happy to see Counterpoint again at some point. Shinedown? I'd rather watch paint dry.
http://www.counterpointrock.com/
http://www.myspace.com/counterpointrock
http://www.myspace.com/shinedown
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