On Saturday WMMR, the longtime rock radio staple of Philadelphia, hosted their annual concert festival at Freedom Mortgage Pavilion just across the river in Camden, NJ. The all-day festival featured such bands as Vixen77, Tigercub, Finger Eleven, Dirty Honey, Ayron Jones, Larkin Poe, Billy Idol, and headlined by Shinedown.

Shinedown’s line up of Brent Smith (lead vocals), Barry Kerch (drums), Zach Myers (guitar), and Eric Bass (bass and piano) put on a tremendous performance filled with their classic hard charging sound and a stunning pyrotechnics display.

Since their debut album “Leave a Whisper” landed in 2003 Shinedown has continued to produce hard hitting rock hits for the past twenty years. Their portion of the show started with “Diamond Eyes”, “Dead Don’t Die”, and “I’ll Follow You”, but when the explosions and fire shot out during “Enemies” the audience, from the front of the pit to the back of the lawn, started jumping around during the entire song.

Towards the end of their set and to the delight of the crowd they covered “The Middle” by Jimmy Eat World and “Simple Man” by Lynard Skynyrd. Both songs have become staples during their live shows.

The show ended with fan favorites “Monsters” from their 2018 “Attention Attention” album and “Cut the Cord” a hit from their 2015 release “Threat to Survival”. Although this show was meant to be a collective “thank you” to the fans from the bands and the radio station, it was evident from the impassioned crowd participation that they were the one giving thanks. If you have never experienced Shinedown live add it to your band bucket list. Their performances are exactly what you want in a hard rock show.

Review and Photography by: Craig Eidell