Written by Abel Carmona
Dec 08, 2010 at 08:00 AM
ImageTonight brought us the second show in 94.5 The Buzz’s Buzzfestivus, as we saw  the Smashing Pumpkins earlier this week for night 1. Tonight we got Shinedown  and Ten Years both stripped down and acoustic. Now as I have always said acoustic shows are hit and miss and can really bring out a bands talent or showcase their lack of.
I have seen Shinedown a number of times before seeing tonight’s acoustic set,  and they have always been one to throw in a raw cut or two into their set, so I had no doubt they could pull it off, but still its always a wonder to me on how a band will pull off some of their more hard and heavy with a softer touch.
As I walked in there was a single guy onstage performing, have no idea who he was but he was just about hitting his last song as I sat down. Then came Ten Years, a band I have also seen a few times at different festivals and summer  tours. They have had a few singles that have caught my attention but never anything really ear grabbing.

They rolled through their set touching on some of their bigger cuts, ones that stayed to mind were “Beautiful”, “Shoot it up” and “Wasteland”. All were done well and kept it as real as acoustic can be, with all on acoustic guitars and drums being mostly replaced with sambas and bongos.

Next up was a band I have followed since the beginning, that’s right boys and girls Shinedown. I have always liked what I have heard from the guys when they did a song or two acoustically or their tours, and their killer cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man” is what really drew me to the band in the first place. So when the show was announced as an acoustic set I was pretty stoked.

As the lights went dark band members begin coming on stage along with a few back up musicians. As each would come out with their instrument they started playing a little instrumental number until front man Brent Smith walked out grabbed the mic and said “Hero’s” and with that Shinedown went in to one of the heavier numbers and killed it.

From the opening guitar strums to the last drum beat, it was just a taste of what the night was to bring. As the song ended Smith spoke to the crowd, as he is one to do…a lot. But tonight was a little different, he talked about why this tour was bring done and that it would give the band a chance to explain their songs and not only what they mean, but more about where they came from.

ImageSo it kind of gave the night the feel of an episode of MTV’s Unplugged or VH1’s story tellers. I have never been one to enjoy to much talking at a show but another part of me also does enjoy knowing a songs background and how it came to be. It really makes you understand a song so much more, cause you can get ten people to listen to a song and all ten will have their own perception of what the songs about. It’s almost like reading the bible, people will only hear and get what they want it to mean out of it.

As the night went on we told of how a trip to Iraq triggered the song “Devour” How a bad dream about a mother losing a child brought us “The Crow and the Butterfly” and how the news of becoming a father gave us the song “If You Only Knew”. One of the more touching stories was that of a “friend” who had such a bleak look on life and who’s attempt at committing suicide brought forth the hit “45”.

Shinedown even threw in a cover from what was referred to as ‘a friend of ours, Dave Grohl has this band called the Foo Fighters that we all love so we wanted to do a song for yall” and with that Shinedown did a sweet cover of “Times Like These”. The rest of the night was filled with nothing but more awesomeness from the guys, every song sounded great as if it were meant to be played this way.

Few others that come to mind were “Sound of Madness”, “Call Me” and “I Dare You”. Although to me the song of the night has to go to “Shed Some Light” I have loved this song since the first time I heard it. Brent went on to say it was a song his father always gravitated to, and that it reminded his father of his own father who had passed years ago. Even as that adds a somber note to it, I still found this to be a bright spot in my night.

The night was ended with what people had been screaming for all night, in between almost every song you would get the fan yelling out “Simple Man”, almost as bad as people yelling for “Free Bird” at shows. But alas Smith and the guys finally gave them what they wanted and fulfilled the fans night…