REVIEW: Concert whips up triple treat at Cellular Center

By Diana Nollen

CEDAR RAPIDS - Hard rockers filled the U.S. Cellular Center stage for four hours Saturday night, but the real stars were the sound technicians.

For the first time in more than 25 years of reviewing hard rock and heavy metal shows there, I understood virtually every lyric being sung. That's not an easy feat for any band playing in the cavernous arena - especially hard rock bands that tend to crank up the guitars, bass and drums and downplay the singers.

Saturday's triple header was a welcome anomaly, with great lead vocals and harmonies cutting through the instrumentals from Halestorm, Shinedown and Papa Roach. Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach said the concert was being taped for a live album, so that might account for auditory excellence.

Another welcome relief came in the polite way each band treated its audience. All the lead singers thanked their fans profusely for their support. And when the ones standing at the front of the arena floor were getting squished, frontmen Brent Smith from Shinedown and Shaddix stopped the music several times during their sets until everyone took four steps backward.

On top of all that, the music from each band was terrific, too, so the 5,000 or so fans were treated to one of the best hard rocking events at the venue in recent memory.

Halestorm unleashed its wild energy to launch the concert with a fury from Lzzy Hale and company, including her brother Arejay on drums. The siblings formed their band in 1998, when they were in middle school in Pennsylvania. They're riding high on their new self-titled debut album and wrapped their 30-minute set with the hard-driving hit “I Get Off,” where Lzzy rips loose with her best Joan Jett edge.

Shinedown could easily headline the evening, but instead played the second slot, showcasing the various styles that make the Florida band's new CD so interesting. From the fury of “The Sound of Madness” and the crunching guitars of “Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide” to the lovely harmonies on “If You Only Knew,” the sheer beauty of “The Crow & the Butterfly” and the headbanging metal edge of “Devour,” this is a band to watch.

California's Papa Roach had the hardest edge of the lineup, whipping through “Getting Away with Murder” and “Lifeline” before softening just a bit on “Tear My Heart Open.”

Papa Roach has a decade of albums to pull from, and gave the fans plenty of glimpses of the old along with the new from “Metamorphosis.”

The 2002 hit, “Born with Nothing, Die with Everything” was one of the biggest hits with the crowd, while one of the most fun moments came from the cheeky new cut, “Hollywood Whore.” “When you really read the lyrics, that song's about me,” Shaddix told his followers.

He's definitely a charismatic frontman who knows how to show his fans a good time.