Ayron Jones With a Side of Shinedown February 2, 2022 Part 2 Shinedown

 

Just before the next band came on, the couple on the other side of our small table arrived.  They had driven about 60 miles to see Shinedown.  We chatted for a little bit and they, like us, have three children, but their youngest is about 10 years younger than ours.  They are Shinedown fans and this is the sixth or seventh time seeing them.  I showed off my Seether Vicennial hoody and the lady was enthusiastic about Seether as well.  I began to think I should have become familiar with Shinedown.  They have the energy and camaraderie of Ayron Jones and The Way, but are much more polished and the staging elaborate in comparison.  The drum set is certainly more complex.  Sort of comparing the Starship Enterprise to a shuttlecraft.  The shuttlecraft works wonderfully but isn't as fancy. (No offense meant Mr. Jimmi!)  But they have been playing together since 2001 and the 2022 version Ayron Jones and The Way had been together only since December of 2021.  Not that they haven't been working on their craft for a lot longer than that.  Mr. Jones has been performing at clubs since 2005.

So, Shinedown began their set and to my surprise, I had heard about half the songs.  They were good.  Really, really good.  Brent Smith knows how to make a connection with the audience and is quite a performer.   Zach Myers (lead guitar) and Eric Bass (bass/piano) are not as outgoing but connected with the audience and each other.  Sadly, the view from our little table did not include very much of the drummer Barry Kerch, but we certainly could hear his playing and were grateful for it.  Got some glimpses of him at times and admired his drum set and his fantastic hair and beard, but not a single picture to show you.  Now the band, particularly Brent Smith, looked rather neat and well dressed.  Being use to Seether in flannel and denim Shinedown looked a little tidy to be rockers.  OK, the full sleeve tattoos are probably a giveaway, but they have been playing as long as Seether and did some touring with Seether and Three Doors Down as early as 2003.  Their setlists back then consisted of 45 and Fly From the Inside.  I have a feeling that their set may have been more than two songs, but that's the information I have.  Despite Brent's tattooed business casual, this is how they looked just ten years ago in this photo by Lunchbox LP - https://www.flickr.com/photos/lunchboxstudios/7133490359/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31529614. On the Shinedown Wikipedia entry.

They look properly rock-casual here.  As Led Zeppelin said, "The song remains the same."  Shorter hair and nicer outfits certainly doesn't affect the quality of the music and the singing.  These guys know what they are doing and I loved the songs and the performance.  My table mate was right.  I can see why they went to see Shinedown seven times.  Added to 45, which found its way to my Spotify list as a "Seether ancillary" along with Papa Roach, Staind, Stone Sour, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, Thrice and others are Monsters, Sound of Madness, Simple Man, Second Chance, If You Only Knew and others.  My journey with Seether has not only enriched my life with their music, following their path of touring with other bands and covering other musicians songs, like Black Honey by Thrice and Creep by Stone, Temple Pilots, have brought me a world of new music that I now love and so many songs that I hardly have time to play them all.

I, being a somewhat/not much talented musician with performance anxiety and a lack of interest in traveling have often wondered why these musicians put themselves through the boredom, loneliness and hassle of being professional musicians.  I've listened to many interviews and have not really understood when they talked about the hour performance being the best thing and what they get from playing in front of/to/with an audience.  They talk connection and energy.  I think about singing and playing in front of a group of strangers and feel down right scared and a little ill.  I'm not great in crowds of strangers as it is.  And yet.

Somehow as one Seether concert went on to two and then four, by the time I started this year with Ayron Jones and Shinedown, I felt a part of a group of friends, happy to be sharing music they loved.  Something magic happened with Shinedown culminating in the last song, Get Up.  Three thousand people with their phones held up in flashlight mode swaying back and forth singing all the words with the band.  I felt lifted to the sky, looking across at the points of light, each connected to a soul that made up this galaxy of individuals that were connected with the music and with each other.  To be authors of that music and have your words, written in private, sung by this marvelous collection of individuals must be overwhelming.  I finally understood, just a little, what the musicians were talking about. Wow.  

That will be my favorite Shinedown song because of the feelings I get remembering how I heard it at their concert.  Flying in the air with a thousand souls of this earth.  We are all important, individually and together in this light.

EM

PS:  Happy Anniversary to drummer Barry Kerch who wished his wife of over 20 years Happy Anniversary over a cell phone while he was working.  Are you guys sure it's worth it? Kudos to the spouses who hold down the fort at home.  There's a lot to put up with on both sides of this career.