Godsmack / Volbeat - Armory - Minneapolis MN - April 22nd 2019

93x and The Armory present Godsmack and Volbeat.

Unless you count a few festivals, I haven’t seen Godsmack since 2004. That was interesting because I somehow ended up backstage that night, so seeing them just in concert is a bit different. They came to The Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota on April 22 for the 93X Icebreaker, an event that hauled in a ton of people. For those who haven’t been to The Armory holds 8,400 people and it was packed that night. Those 93X events tend to really pull people in and you always can tell how the crowd is going to be.

The night opened with Stitched Up Heart, a band I hadn’t heard of until that night. They’re a hard rock, alt metal style band from Los Angeles headed by the Mixi Demner. In short, they rock. We posted photos of them and received so much great feedback from people loving the band. Mixi is a badass female front, constantly engaging with the crowd and extremely professional. You would think they had been doing this for far longer than they have.

Volbeat was next and played for a whole hour, a bit more than the typical opening band. Out of all the bands on the bill, Volbeat was my favorite that night. There’s something about their sound that I really enjoy, regardless of the fact that they can be severely overplayed on the radio at times. They are a really fun band and know what they are doing. Another cool thing about Volbeat? They don’t screw around on stage talking half the time. They just play their music, the music we all want to hear.

The difference between Godsmack that night and the previous times I have seen them is how happy Sully seemed. That was a serious downer in the past times I had seen them. Sully always seemed like such a jerk. At The Armory, he had a a good attitude and that really resounded through the act. With only fourteen songs in their set, it was a touch shorter than I imagined, but they pulled off all the singles as well as others people enjoy. Also, the Beatles cover of “Come Together” was amazing. That cover is always fun live.

In conclusion, I would like to make mention of the venue and the crowd. Getting out of The Armory after a show can be very difficult. We were behind someone in a wheelchair and people were shoving so hard to get out that she was stuck. People were terribly inconsiderate. Please take the moment to be nice to those around you when leaving a venue. Seeing people being rude to someone in a wheelchair like that was really upsetting. Hopefully The Armory can figure out ways to make this a bit better because there are going to be more sold out show.

Review Tracy Hansen photo Kyle Hansen