Good triple bill last night featuring Seether, with opening acts State of Shock & Ashes Divide, at a nearly sold-out show at Columbus’ Newport Music Hall.  Here’s how it went;

State of Shock was first up, a pop aware alt-rock band out of Vancouver.  They reminded me of Hinder so if you like that style, these folks are for you.  They’re also notable for having a pretty hot female bass player (“The only one of us who could get her guns across the border”) & a very capable lead singer.  Had many listenable songs including a decent ballad ‘Best I Ever Had’ and the EXTREMELY catchy ‘Money Honey’.  I think they’ll grow to be a lot bigger in the States.

Next up was Ashes divide (intentional little ‘d’, per their logo), who quite frankly were a mismatch on this bill.  Ashes Divide is more experimental & brooding, which makes sense when you realize frontman Billy Howerdel is also a founding member of A Perfect Circle.  Thus, they’d be a welcome fit to open for Tool or perhaps Nine Inch Nails but kind of out of place amongst these current, more radio friendly bands.  Still, they put on a good show & I’d be curious to hear more from them – perhaps in a situation where I could focus more on their music.

Finally came Seether, with pink haired Shaun Morgan & co. making a grandiose entrance courtesy of a huge dropping curtain & swinging light fixture.   Well played, dynamic & always appreciative of the crowd, Morgan belted out pretty much everything my kids came to hear including ‘Rise Above This’, ‘Gasoline’, ‘Fine Again’, ‘Truth’, ‘Remedy’, an acoustic version of ‘Broken’, a great cover of Stone Temple Pilot’s ‘Plush’ and current hit ‘Fake it’.  I know I missed a few more. . .

Great show, well worth catching if they come to your area.  Oh, and the picture above is from their Peoria show on Monday – snagged off Flickr.  Click the pic to see more from that photog.