Shinedown and Bush at Climate Pledge Arena

The moment I stepped into Climate Pledge Arena, I was immediately transported back to the passenger seat of my dad’s reasonably-sized truck driving through the streets in a small Midwest town as the sounds of Journey and other 80s and 90s songs played over the speakers as I waited for the show to kick off.

Morgan Wade was the first to take the stage. While she and the band were introduced with Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer,” possibly a fun nod to inspiration as well as an upcoming show at Climate Pledge Arena, Morgan is most often described as a country artist. With her newest album titled The Party is Over (recovered) that was released the first of this month [August], she has taken songs and demos from the last 11 years of her musical career and reworked them into something new. While the band mostly stuck to the main stage for their setlist, on her third song Morgan set down her guitar and walked out onto the extended stage towards the audience to sing her song “Meet Somebody.” Further into the set, she gave another nod to the 90s rock scene with a cover of “Creep” by Radiohead.

I would’ve never expected the energy and dance moves that multi-platinum Grammy-nominated Bush’s front runner Gavin Rossdale brought to this sprawling stage. Gavin had originally formed the band with ex-lead guitarist Nigel Pulsford back in 1992 in London, England. After a roughly 10 year break, Nigel decided not to join the band’s reunion in 2011. The band has since released 6 more albums, making a total of 10 albums across its lifetime. This tour marks the release of their 10th album, I Beat Loneliness, which was released on July 18th.

Starting off the setlist strong, Bush kicked off their part of the show with “Scars,” the opening track of their new album, followed by “Machinehead,” likely a core-memory song for many of the audience members filling the arena’s 17,000 seat capacity. This is where Rossdale’s energy shined(own) for me as he was running around the stage and giving the audience little dances on the sections that extended into the audience with one long lane that branched into 3 other lanes. While most of the show focused on songs from their latest album, which Gavin says “delivers 12 powerful tracks that explore heartbreak, identity, and the emotional battles often left unspoken,” the band also played “Glycerine,” another defining song of their history.

What came next is filled with drama, fireworks, and even fire itself. Shinedown’s intro started with two masked people dressed in all black escorting TV GUY to the center of the stage. TV GUY is the mascot for ‘The Dance, Kid, Dance Tour’, and looks exactly as a normal person would, but with an old tube-style television as a head. As TV GUY stood there, the large screen behind them matched exactly what was playing on TV GUYs screen, flipping through videos of old MTV slots, memories of Shinedown-past, old commercials, and even title screens of old TV shows like “I Love Lucy” shown in the photo. If you want to know more about TV GUY, he answered a bunch of questions on Shinedown’s Instagram shortly after the tour kicked off.

Remember my reference to hopping into my dad’s truck at the start? Shinedown’s show felt like we hopped on the country roads, cranked the windows down, and never dropped below 100 miles per hour. With their show starting off with one of their latest singles, and the tour’s title, “Dance, Kid, Dance” followed by other popular hits including “Devour,” and “Cut The Cord,” the energy of the arena was easily turned up to 11. Throughout each of these songs were sprinkles of loud bangs, fireworks rocketing off the sides of the stage, and fire blasting up from all along the extending stage, and down from the main stage, constantly enveloping the entire band in flames.

One great musical note from this tour is that $1 from each ticket goes towards the non-profit Musician On Call, who bring the healing power of music to patients, families and caregivers in healthcare environments. With Bush and Shinedown both being multi-platinum across the many years they’ve been putting out music, it was another thrilling musical night in Seattle reminding us that some bands never stop giving on and off stage. While you might have to wait a bit before Shinedown’s latest album hits shelves, you can hold yourself over with Bush’s I Beat Loneliness or Morgan Wade’s The Party is Over (recovered) until that time comes.