Carnival of Madness w/ Shinedown, Chevelle, Puddle of Mudd, Sevendust and 10 Years
Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
July 24, 2010
The Deal: Carnival of Madness Tour hits hot amphitheatre for six hours of music without the carnival atmosphere.
The Good: The day got started around 5 p.m. with a 30-minute set by 10 Years. Singer Jesse Hasek, wearing a jacket and with “Country Roads Take Me Home” written down his torso in black ink, did his best to warm up the crowd. They performed like they were the headliners, throwing everything they had into the set.
Up next was a 40-minute set from Sevendust who had the crowd jacked up and singing along. After opening with “Splinter,” the band tore into “Praise.” Despite the short set, the band found time to slow things down for “Angel Son.” They appeared to just be hitting their peak when rolling into the set closer “Face to Face,” leaving a lot in the amphitheatre craving more from the Atlanta rockers.
Puddle of Mudd appeared to have a blast on stage as they rumbled through a 45-minute set that included a cover of AC/DC’s “T.N.T.” Singer Wes Scantlin, who mooned the Charlotte crowd a couple years ago when opening for Nickelback, was in better spirits this time around.
While most bands had large banners or some kind of signage behind them, Chevelle had the stage stripped down to its bare minimum for their 50-minute set. Not much for the flash and glitter of other bands, the trio stuck to the music and ripped through song after song with a toned-down intensity.
Shinedown hit the stage for a one-hour-and-45-minute set full of hits and two soundtrack songs, “Diamond Eyes,” written for the new movie The Expendables and “Her Name is Alice” from Alice in Wonderland. Singer Brent Smith, with top hat, tails and a cane, looked like a circus ringleader as his vocals were clearly the focus of the band’s music. He’s got a great voice, but if I’m being honest, there’s a bit of Nickelback-ness to their music that sounds overly-commercial and generic.
The Bad: It’s only bad that more bands don’t follow the lead of Witherspoon, who was seen wandering around shaking hands, talking with fans and taking pictures during Chevelle’s set.
The heat was rough, but overcast skies sure did help. I stuck around for as much as I could handle of Shinedown’s set, but had to bail about one-third of the way through. I’ll admit, I was more interested in seeing Sevendust and Chevelle than the headliner.
The Verdict: A bit of a roller coaster with ups and downs as the day went on. Labeled as the “Carnival of Madness,” the only thing “carny” about it was Shineown’s Smith’s jacket and top hat. I would have rather had more balanced set times instead of what amounted to be a headlining set by Shinedown and brief sets by the others — it should have just been called “Shinedown’s Tour with special guests.”
Sevendust setlist
Splinter
Praise
Pieces
Angel Son
Driven
Unraveling
Face to Face
Puddle of Mudd setlist
Control
Borrowed Time
Stoned
Spaceship
Blurry
T.N.T. (AC/DC Cover)
Psycho
She Hates Me
Chevelle setlist
The Clincher
Still Running
Jars
Well Enough Alone
Send the Pain
Sleep Apnea
Comfortable Liar
The Red
Family System
Letter From A Thief
I Get It
Shinedown setlist
Sound
Devour
I Dare You
Cyanide
If You Only Knew
Diamond
45
Heros
Left Out
Crow and Butterfly
Alice
Save Me
Son of Sam
Encore
Simple Man
Fly
Second Chance
This article appears in Jul 20-26, 2010.
Good shit. I’ll be reviewing and interviewing this Wednesday.
I am not sure if I fully agree with you Jeff on the review. Yes the only thing I can agree on is the heat. I have seen All these bands before and look forward to Shinedown. They had the crowd engaged.. recognized them and even went out in the crowd. they are and will always be about the fans and acknowledge them for making them who they are.
As far as the others.. By Far SevenDust should have been playing before Shinedown and not second because POM were horrible, and for a short set playing a cover song? c’mon. Cheville didn’t even impress me except a a song or 2 but overall SD were the ones who really got the crowd energetic and gave an outstanding performance.
I have seen a lot of shows and finally a strong rock show comes to town, and every time Shinedown performs in Charlotte , it has NEVER been a let down..
Stick to your country music if that is the case
Thanks for your review. I was looking for set times/duration and the order of the bands playing. I got that and more from your post.
Just saw the show in VA Beach. The heat wasn’t so bad and there was a full moon. The Sevendust drummer impressed me with his talented proformance but the rest left me wishing I’d stayed in the bar until time for Shinedown. Their vocals are far more than just screaming and they do more than just bang on their instruments. I thought they rocked and was glad I stayed for the whole show.
The setlist for Puddle of Mudd is incorrect and you must have missed the set, if you missed how high he seemed as well. They never did “She Hates Me” and a horrible elevator music version of it played as they set up for Chevelle. Puddle of Mudd was terrible..
Sevendust showed the most energy and talent on the tour, and should have the spot Chevelle holds on the tour with an expanded setlist. Chevelle was a let down, even for friends I knew that came just to see them. They barely looked up…
Shinedown has toned down their music over the years, but they did play some of their hardest hitting songs during this tour. I personally thought they were better when they played the Uptown Amphithetre in October, but the fans seemed to love them anyway, esp. when he ventured on the lawn for Simple Man.
So many tours have fun things outside the venue to do. Since this was called “Carnival of Madness”, I expected a few rides, maybe sideshow type performers walking around. There were only T-shirts..
Shinedown as the headliner? I gave them a chance but after a few songs, I was over it and left. By far, Sevendust should have been the headliner and it was quite embarrassing to see them play at 5:50 and not later. They were the only ones to get the crowd going and seemed to have more fans than anyone else, Chevelle was a close second. The lead singer of Shinedown seemed to talk too much, we don’t want to hear you talk, we want rock music!
The setlist for Puddle of Mudd is the setlist the band had on the stage – I guess they left off “She Hates Me” for time…
Shinedown? Lajohn and Co would piss on them
What no….
Alpha
Deathstar
Hero
Pieces
Black
Bitch
Enemy
Waffle?
Guess I’ll enjoy this Sat then will look forward to seeing Serj at the end of Sept