Black Stone Cherry/Shinedown/Halestorm Wembley Arena 04-02-16



My usual start line is first up but tonight due to the joys of the M40 and an hour and half without moving I managed to miss Highly Suspect and as I ran up the stairs to my seat Halestorm were waving good night.

Brilliant.I am told by a friend Halestorm were fantastic and here is what they played.

Apocalyptic
Love Bites(So Do I)
Amen
Scream
I Am The Fire
Drum solo
Mayhem
Freak Like Me
I Miss The Misery

So first band on the day for me was Shinedown who to a full house played a a 50 minute set that felt like we were watching the headliners due to the confidence displayed by them and the crowd reaction too.

Here is what they played

Black Cadillac
Diamond Eyes
Second Chance
Cut The Cord
Enemies
I'll Follow You
State Of Mind
Simple Man(Lynyrd Skynyrd cover)
Sound Of Madness

Opening with Black Cadillac from recent album Threat To Survival and Brent Smith on vocals stands centre stage with stage swopping bass from Eric Bass and guitar from Zach Myers as the crowd goes nuts.

Second Chance from The Sound Of Madness is greeted like a long lost friend and sees the floor bounce from front to back as it does for Cut The Cord from Threat To Survival too.

They also strip it right back with an acoustic cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's of Simple Man that has the whole place singing at the top of their voices before Sound Of Madness leaves us all wanting more and an imminent return to these shores as headliners please.

On the 24th of June 2007 in a tent at Hyde Park at Hyde Park supporting Aerosmith 4 young guys from Kentucky made their UK bow.I was fortunate enough to be there and saw enough that day to expect greatness.

Now on their second arena UK tour Black Stone Cherry in 17 months they can even do this without releasing new material with new album Kentucky due out on the 1st of April.

Here is what they played in an 80 minute set.

Me And Mary Jane
Rain Wizard
Blind Man
In My Blood
Ghost Of Floyd Collins
Yeah Man
Holding On To Letting Go
Soulcreek
In Our Dreams
Drum solo
Things My Father Said(Chris acoustic)
The Rambler(Chris and Ben on acoustic)
Peace Is Free(with Lzzy Hale)
White Trash Millionaire
Blame It On The Boom Boom
Encores of
Lonely Train
Ace Of Spades(Motorhead cover)

From behind a huge curtain the band come out on stage and it drops to the sounds of Me And Mary Jane and the crowd respond accordingly before Rain Wizard rips London a new one with it's chorus being hollered by 10000 people.

What I love about the band is there is no gimmicks.It is and has always been about the music and they deliver time and time again.

Chris Robertson on guitar and vocals is centre stage and his bluesy howl just gets better and better and his fiery guitar solo's are a perfect match to the material.To his left and right and back are Ben Wells on guitar and Jon Lawhon on bass who never stop moving and trade sides at will.At the back John Fred Young is one of the best in the business.Always a great watch and he hits so hard and he leaves nothing behind every night.

Ghost Of Floyd Collins was a surprise inclusion in the set but was joyously received by the long term fans.

New album Kentucky was represented by first single In Our Dreams which is a balls to the wall monster and the acoustically played The Rambler which shows the band have lost nothing in their song craft and ability to write songs that mean such a lot.

Things My Father Said was just Chris on an acoustic and 10000 voices and enough cell phone lights that made Wembley light up like a Christmas tree.A truly moving moment that touched many heart strings as the Wembley choir sang.Beautiful.

As a big Halestorm fan and after missing them earlier it was great to see Lzzy join the band for a romp through Peace Is Free with Lzzy and Chris making a perfect vocal match.

White Trash Millionaire and a fantastic Blame It On The Boom Boom ended the main set before they returned.

Lonely Train is a modern classic and draws what energy the crowd have left before a great touch with a quick one verse and chorus of Motorhead's Ace Of Spades in tribute to the recently departed Lemmy.

Black Stone Cherry's star continues to ascend and I look forward to a return visit after Kentucky's release.

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