Rockers gathered on tuesday night at RBC Echo Beach to see Shinedown along with supporting acts Badflower, Dinosaur Pile-Up and Broken Hands.

BadFlower guitarist Joey Morrow.

Although BadFlower hails from Los Angeles, frontman Josh Katz told the crowd he didn’t think as many people from Toronto would know of them let alone be able to sing their songs. He said it was exciting to know that their music travels far and wide.

These guys have been around since 2013. A young bunch with really high energy and a great stage presence. I was impressed with what they had to offer. Since I wasn’t overly aware of who Badflower was, after the show I looked them up on YouTube and found a song with healthy stats called “Ghost”. It’s an emotionally charged song about suicide and mental illness. I decided to look up another song and found “Promise Me”. I would describe this song as an emotional roller coaster. It’s ironic, because as I was photographing them, they were so up beat and forever smiling. I actually didn’t consider the magnitude of the lyrics and the stories they tell. Check them out and see for yourself. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCveBEE4SnxaQMgILEyVn8aQ

Shinedown performs at Budweiser Stage in Toronto photo Sue Hebert

Headliners, Jacksonville Florida natives Shinedown took to the stage. A kabuki dropped to reveal the guys, ready to perform the song Devil, their first single off their sixth studio album Attention Attention. This song unleashed the furry of pyro, lazers and incredible lighting that would continue throughout the evening.

During the third song, I think the photographers in the pit were taken aback a bit. Frontman Brent Smith knelt down and put his hand out to a photographer. I initially suspected he maybe wanted one of our cameras to take a crowd shot, however that wasn’t the case. He was motioning to us to come and shake his hand. I have never had this happen before, but speaking with others who have photographed the band before, it’s a regular occurrence. I thought that was pretty cool actually.

Shinedown performs at Budweiser Stage in Toronto photo Sue Hebert

At one point Brent spoke about their lighting guy, who had a truss fall on his foot and injure him a few weeks prior. He went to the hospital and although suffered broken bones, returned to work that night. Brent acknowledged the amazing team and their commitment to the production.

Guitarist Zach Myers sported a Toronto Raptors Jersey, much to the delight of the crowd after our home towns NBA Championship win.

Like many acts I’ve seen this year, they took the performance into the crowd to perform; Amaryllis, Misfits, If You Only knew and Second Chance. The crowd ate it up!

To mix things up, on the last part of their performance, they tossed in a sprinkle of Otis Redding song “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” and “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd.

The Shinedown show was such visual and auditory treat. An amazing show on so many accounts. Definitely worth seeing!

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