Shinedown Carnival of Madness Charter One Pavilion Review

Thursday, August 12, 2010
By Aaron Keker

CHARTER ONE PAVILION, Chicago – The Carnival of Madness passed through town at Charter One Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois on August 11, 2010.

Last evening, there were no masks, rides or freak shows like the smallest man or the bearded lady, but Mother Nature was right it the middle of this madness with a scorching temperature of 90º as the concert started.

For those individuals who watched the first carnival performance by 10 Years at 5:00 p.m., by sundown, they were all sizzling like bacon on a stove-top.

The Carnival of Madness was like a roller coaster ride that began with a slightly heavier rock sound in 10 Years, that combusted into a thrash metal ride of Sevendust, eased back into a slighter chill-down mode with Puddle of Mudd, then rose into an in-your-face with Chicago rockers Chevelle and finally concluded with the slightly toned down ring-leaders in Shinedown.

Shinedown continued the Carnival of Madness theme by opening with “Sound of Madness.” Brent Smith was dressed in Ring Master Attire wearing a long black tuxedo-type jacket with white stripes, a black top hat, sunglasses and he carried a cane.

The Ring Master embarked the pavilion on a journey that spanned from Leave a Whisper to The Sound of Madness. Shinedown performed songs like “45,” “Burning Bright,” “Fly from the Inside,” “Save Me,” “Devour,” “If You Only Knew,” “The Crow & the Butterfly” and “Second Chance.”

The journey continued with trips into Alice’s World with “Her Name is Alice” and South America in The Expendables with “Diamond Eyes.”

Brent Smith dazzled the audience about writing “Diamond Eyes” for Sylvester Stallone’s new movie and if Sly’s daughters’ disliked the song, Sly would put Brent in the movie and kill him off.

Phil Demmel from Machine Head joined the Carnival of Madness by adding his guitar expertise on “Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide,” “Cry for Help” and “Fly from the Inside.”

The Ring Master could have coerced any audience member to stick their head in a mouth of a lion or something else completely insane. Instead of risking a lawsuit or embarrassing someone, Brent Smith provoked the crowd to jump up and down on “Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide” and “Left Out.”

During “Left Out,” the Ring Master proceeded to walk down the ramp and enter the general admission area. Brent proceeded to start walking towards Section 314 and various individuals followed the Ring Master either to snap off a photograph or to record a quick 5 second video of him.

As the Ring Master approached Section 314, half a dozen individuals ran down the stairs like a bunch of circus animals. Brent continued to walk the outside perimeter of the general admission area near the other seated sections and finally sprung back onto the stage.

Besides Shinedown’s performance, Brent Smith’s actions will forever resonate with the audience because a majority of the individuals were watching Shinedown for their very first time. Those first-timers even got the opportunity to hear Shinedown perform a cover song of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man.”

Finally after six hours and near heat exhaustion, the Carnival of Madness closed with a roaring conclusion as Shinedown ended their set list with “Second Chance.” Mother Nature may not have been very cooperative with the scorching temperature that day; however the Carnival of Madness was my favorite carnival to date. Below is the set list for Shinedown’s performance at Charter One Pavilion on August 11, 2010.

Carnival of Madness Set List:

1. “Sound of Madness”
2. “Devour”
3. “I Dare You”
4. “Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide”
5. “If You Only Knew”
6. “Diamond Eyes”
7. “45”
8. “Burning Bright”
9. “Heroes”
10. “The Crow & the Butterfly”
11. “Her Name is Alice”
12. “Save Me”
13. “Cry for Help”
14. “Left Out”

Encore:

15. “Simple Man”
16. “Fly from the Inside”
17. “Second Chance”