Shinedown at the Michigan State Fair

The Michigan State Fair is located at the state fair grounds, naturally, in the city of Highland Park, which is right outside of Detroit, Rock City. It is an annual event which lasts almost a week long. Each day there are different concerts scheduled.

This year, on Friday, August 24th Shinedown was scheduled to play with the band Operator opening up for them. The concert was scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. As we were pulling up to the state fair grounds around 6:30, a torrential downpour began along with a horrible thunderstorm accompanied by lightening and high winds. It was not looking good that this outdoor concert was going to happen. We waited out the storm for about 25 minutes in our car, in the parking lot. When the rain finally let up a bit, we ran inside the gates.

We couldn't get a straight answer from anyone as to whether or not the concert had been officially cancelled. The local rock radio station, WRIF, handed out ponchos to the lucky few that were standing near the concert stage. The concert was in the Bandshell area of the fairgrounds. All of the equipment was covered in plastic as was the sound check area. We stood under a canopy for over almost an hour. Then the band's spokesperson came out on stage and told the crowd of 300 or less, that was still waiting in anticipation, that Shinedown would be coming out to play an acoustic set around 8:30. Operator would not be performing though.

We had purchased our tickets off the internet so our seats were closer than those people who were just going to see the show as part of their general admission to the fair. We were in row four. They wasn't actual seats to sit in, more like benches, wooden at that. When the band hit the stage at 8:30, everyone was standing on the benches. Brent, the lead singer told everyone to move in closer as they were not going to be as loud as normal. The guitar player, Jasin and bass player, Brad each had a seat next to Brent's chair. Since it was acoustic, there was no need for drummer, Barry, to be in this show unfortunately. The band played only a handful of songs. It was an up close and personal setting.

It was like watching the band play in your living room. They sounded great, as always. Brent then announced he was going to go back stage and talk to some people and try to come out to the crowd and meet each and every one of us. After about a 15 minute wait, sure enough they came out along with some of the local police as body guards, out by the crowd. Everyone got in line and they signed autographs and took pictures with each and every one of us. This made up for the hours we all were waiting in the rain, puddles and only getting to hear a partial concert, all worth while. This band is truly amazing and has such great vocal range that even a raining night couldn't dampen the loyalty their Detroit fans have for them.