On August 7^th, the DTE Energy Music Theater was taken over by the Carnival of Madness, a touring alt-rock show featuring 10 Years, Sevendust, Puddle of Mudd, Chevelle, and Shinedown. While it didn’t sell out like the preceding Mayhem Festival, the majority of tickets were sold with over 10,000 people in attendance before the end of the night.

The star-studded line-up didn’t disappoint the energetic crowd. Sevendust, who can demand a massive crowd on their own, was the second to go on for the night. It was the first time I had seen any of these bands live, and Sevendust was probably the band I was most surprised about. Lead singer Lajon Witherspoon is an incredible performer and he connected really well with his audience.

Puddle of Mudd came on next. Opening with their first top-40 hit “Control” from their 2001 album, Come Clean, they worked their way through the hits and ended with the crowd-pleasing “She Hates Me”. There’s nothing like 10,000 people screaming and singing the verse “She f*cking hates me” in unison.

Chevelle was the last band before Shinedown and chose to open with their lesser-known song “The Clincher” from the 2004 album This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In). They played a variety of songs from throughout their career. It was refreshing to hear those that didn’t make the top-40 list, which I think shows the otherwise unknown musical range of a band.

The headliner for the night, Shinedown, played an hour and almost every hit they had. For being an alt-rock band, the crowd was rather rough and there were some impressive mosh pits. Security was overheard commenting that they had more problems that night than they did the night before with the metal, screamo and goth crowd at the Mayhem Festival

The highlight of Shinedown for me was also the crowd-favorite: “45″ from their 2003 album Leave a Whisper. Shinedown’s latest album, The Sound of Madness, had five top-40 singles and they played each and every one, opening with “The Sound of Madness” and ending with “Second Chance”. 

The Carnival of Madness may not be an annual tour, but after seeing what they had to offer this time around, I hope to see something similar next year.

Check out SHEI’s coverage of the Mayhem Festival, the Land of Nod Experiment (and here), and the Vans Warped Tour and keep an eye out for new and upcoming concerts here on the blog.

More highlights below…