“SHINEDOWN” And “ASKING ALEXANDRIA” In Concert London
SHINEDOWN with ASKING ALEXANDRIA
Live @ OVO Arena Wembley, London
[1st December 2022]
On a cold December night, we were lucky to get to experience 2 of the greatest rock bands performing live at the Wembley Arena.
On the fifth and last show of this UK tour (after Cardiff, Manchester, Nottingham and Glasgow) ASKING ALEXANDRIA brought their show to London in support of SHINEDOWN.
We saw Asking Alexandria in the past and we were never disappointed with their shows. Tonight it was no different from the past, as the band started immediately aggressive with their biggest hits Alone Again, The Violence and Into The Fire which were accompanied by a pyro-show that warmed up the audience straight away. Even though Asking Alexandria only played a short setlist (10 songs in total), the band owned the stage like they were playing a full show. It’s been nearly five years since Asking Alexandria played in the UK when they co-headlined with Black Veil Brides, but Danny Worsnop & Co. definitely made it up to their fans for the time lost, and the performances of Down To Hell, Run Free, Alone In A Room and Where Did It Go were the proof of their energy and commitment to their loyal army of fans. The show ended with the super hit Final Episode (Let’s Change the Channel) and quoting the first sentence of the song “Oh my God!” we can’t wait to see Asking Alexandria announcing a full UK headline tour soon!
SETLIST: Alone Again, The Violence, Into The Fire, Someone Somewhere, Down To Hell,
Run Free, Where Did It Go, Moving On, Alone In A Room, Finale Episode (Let’s Change The Channel)
It’s almost 9 o’clock at the Wembley Arena, and after the usual break between bands, the lights finally go down and you could tell by the screams that fans waited so long to see SHINEDOWN back in London. Almost 10 years later they played for the very first time at the Wembley Arena(as mentioned by Zach Myers during the show). Before having the 4 guys from Jacksonville fully
on stage, the audience experienced a cool intro with a video showing clips of the band’s last shows and backstage images before the pandemic hit everyone. As shown at the end of the intro, 584 days later Shinedown are finally back to where they belong, on a stage, this time promoting their 7th studio album Planet Zero (released this year). The band opens the show with their first single of the latest album The Saints Of Violence and Innuendo followed by Devil and Planet Zero. Fireworks, flames, flashing lights and whatnot are just the perfect frame for tonight’s live show and the crowd seems to be immediately pleased by the energy that the band brings on stage from the very first songs. There were some moments throughout the show where it was possible to physically see the synergy created between the band and the audience. One of these examples was the moment when the band introduced the song Daylight a powerful and touching speech by the frontman Brent Smith (with Eric Bass accompanying on the piano) that preceded the hit. And to quote a small part of Brent’s speech we really liked “All of you here tonight are meant to be on this planet” before the band asked the crowd to use the phones lights to create a wonderful atmosphere inside an almost sold-out Wembley Arena. The view from above is just breathtaking, with all the small lights helping the band out with this amazing song. Even the front rowers held papers with “You saved my life not once but twice”(which is part of the song’s lyrics). We simply loved that!
When a band is able to bring such a powerful show together, it is always hard to pick the highlights of the night, but we definitely liked the moment Brent Smith walked in the middle of the packed arena before asking the crowd to jump to the sound of the song Enemies absolutely fantastic (Earthquake!!).
Definitely worth mentioning the moment the band played the Oasis cover Don’t Look Back In Anger (apparently, one of Zach Myers’ favourite bands) with the whole Wembley Arena, obviously, singing along. The song was also followed by a moment of tribute for Fleetwood Mac’s vocalist Christine McVay that passed away only a few days before.
The show then continued with 3 more songs – one of the band’s classics Call Me, the cover version of Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd and the big finale with Sound of Madness.
Once the band exited the stage, the audience started leaving the venue with the notes of What You Wanted played in the background – some were trying to find some of the picks thrown and lost on the floor, some others were simply looking around adding a few more memories to a night that will surely be added to every Shinedown fans as one of their best.
We truly enjoyed the whole show and we hope to see Shinedown again in the UK next year (maybe a tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their debut album Leave A Whisper ?); in the meantime, to quote the band’s own words… “It’s never goodbye, it’s just ‘till next time”
SETLIST:
The Saints of Violence and Innuendo, Devil, Planet Zero, How Did You Love, 45,
Dysfunctional You, America Burning, Bully, Daylight, Enemies, Cut the Cord, Second Chance,
Unity, Monsters, Diamond Eyes, Don’t Look Back in Anger, Call Me, Simple Man, Sound of Madness.
Review and Pictures by Luca Viola
Special Thanks to Valeria Laghezza from Duff Press and Michelle Kerr from Cosa Nostra PR
Editor In Chief Maria Fernanda Capici
