Shinedown Concert Review with guests Beartooth and Morgan Wade
May 9, 2025
Peoria Civic Center
Peoria, Illinois
Shinedown.
Shinedown returns to the river city with Beartooth and Morgan Wade. Shinedown is a favorite of mine and Peoria, Illinois. Peoria is a rock city that hosts some of the biggest acts in rock in the world. Shinedown is traveling in support of their upcoming eighth studio album
Dance Kid, Dance to be released in July or August 2025. Shinedown is donating $1 for every ticket sold on this tour to Musician on Call. Musicians on Call provide live music to hospitals. Their latest single “Three Six Five” is a poignant song about death and loss. Eric Bass revealed all the losses he had in his life, his father, his sister-in-law, his aunt and his mentor all passed away recently and he and Brent Smith wrote about it in their music.
Shinedown brings country artist, Morgan Wade and Beartooth along with them to Peoria. On the thirty date tour, Bush also joins them on select dates. Listening to Morgan Wade prior to the show. Her sound is similar to Shinedown so I am sure she will gain new fans on this tour.
Morgan Wade says “I realized the more authentic you are and the more you pour yourself into your songs, and most importantly if you’re being honest, people will connect to that,” Wade explains of her highly personal motivation when crafting Psychopath, her second full-length studio album, due on Aug. 25 via Sony Music Nashville.
Morgan Wade kicked things off and she is a talented musician however her performance was a bit lackluster. I have seen livelier karaoke but hopefully she was just having an off night. Her music is still solid and her song “Last Cigarette” was pretty catchy. And the complete juxtaposition of how dynamic and energy filled both the sets by Beartooth and Shinedown may have skewed my view of Morgan Wade. Plus she is primarily a country artist and I am not an avid fan of country.
Morgan Wade.
Morgan Wade.
Morgan Wade.
Beartooth was formed in Ohio by Caleb Shomo in 2013 as a side project while Shomo was in the band Attack Attack!. He turned his depression into expression with music. He played every instrument initially. As he matures, his music has been one of anger to one of resiliency and loving yourself. I first saw Beartooth on Vans Warped Tour in Chicago in 2017. They were impressive then with an energy that the crowd loved. In Peoria, the feeling was amplified as the energy of the band and their interaction with the crowd really impressed me. Beartooth’s setlist contained more recent releases. Songs “The Past is Dead”, “I Was Alive”, “Might Love Myself” and “In Between” got the crowd warmed up for Shinedown. Caleb Shomo has completed metamorphosis from a depressed kid to a man who wants to spread the word to live life to the fullest. Beartooth is a band with a refreshing, positive message in heavy music. Their performance tonight introduced them to new fans and reiterated their appeal to existing fans. Soon they will be the ones selling out arenas.
Beartooth
Beartooth
Beartooth
Beartooth
Shinedown had a sold out show tonight at Peoria Civic Center. Dare I say it was the best one yet? The stage was backdropped by three LED screens that went continuously across the back of the stage. The main stage was across the entire floor and then smaller catwalk stage to a landing pad that then split into a Y with small stages at the end. The LED screens with lit up for parts of the show with pre-arranged content and there were two cameramen working the show with live shots of the band and crowd. In addition, there were static cameras on drummer, Barry Kerch, and bassist/keyboardist, Eric Bass.
A person wearing a television head came out to start the show and danced. The head only had static portrayed on it. The LED screens had openings for shows over the past fifty years. I felt nostalgic for my childhood with shows like Sanford & Sons, The Jeffersons, A-Team, and up to semi-modern shows like Breaking Bad. Shinedown came out and vocalist Brent Smith walked to the middle of the catwalk and bassist Eric Bass went to catwalk right and guitarist Zach Myers went catwalk left.
Shinedown has really doubled down on their live performances by increasing the video portion, the pyrotechnics and the percussive fireworks. You would not think that a big a** disco ball would add anything to a hard rock concert. But Shinedown’s disco ball placed twinkle lights on the entire arena crowd and created magical moments during “Three Six Five” and “Simple Man”. Both Brent Smith and Eric Bass were sporting mullets. Drummer Barry Kerch had his standard dreadlocks. Now vampire, Zach Myers looked timeless sporting the same looks with a backwards hat and fun sweatshirt and sneakers. I had a hard time seeing what kicks he was wearing tonight. I wonder if he has a trailer just for his shoes.
The setlist for the evening:
Dance, Kid, Dance
Devour
Cut the Cord
If You Only Knew
Devil
Three Six Five
Enemies
Call Me
Burning Bright
Misfits
Save Me
Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom)
A Symptom of Being Human
Planet Zero
Simple Man (cover Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Monsters
Sound of Madness
Second Chance
@bestrocklist.com
If you get a chance, you must see Shinedown on this tour as the show is better than ever and they have taken great care to add songs into the setlist that have not been performed live in a while or ever. Find out where they are next here:
Shinedown Tour
Shinedown
Shinedown
Shinedown
Shinedown