Shinedown & Bush ‘Co-Headline Australian Tour’ @ Hordern Pavilion, Sydney – 23/09/2026

It’s time to Dance, Kid, Dance to the Sound of Madness. Floridian rock monsters Shinedown have risen from the depths of a long hiatus from Australia to, for a Second Chance, devour the silence and ignite the excitement of Aussie fans.

Summoned by the might of the number EIGHT (EIGHT being, simply put, the title of the band’s eighth studio album), these multi-platinum-certified rock tyrants have kept us Aussie fans patiently waiting for their return to our shores for 16 years! (16 years, 7 months and 2 days since their performance at Soundwave Festival Sydney, but who’s counting?) For their triumphant return, they’ve teamed up with fellow U.K. rock heavyweights and longtime friends Bush for a massive co-headline tour.

Bush return to Australia armed with their 2025 studio album I Beat Loneliness to add to the band’s large arsenal of hits that keep bringing them back to Australia for fans to hear live.

Even though Bush were only here in 2023 versus the 16-year-long absence of Shinedown, fans here tonight seem poised and ready to rock for both bands!

The excitement of the fans in the venue is palpable and, by all accounts, this will be one to write home about!

After opening support act Coast Arcade, hailing from New Zealand, nicely warms us all up with their fresh, uplifting energy, Bush are up before Shinedown. Bush bring a quintessentially ’90s/2000s grungy, raw yet laid-back rock vibe with rumbling distorted bass, tearing guitars and lead singer Gavin’s iconic deep, warm, gravelly vocals.

As for the sound mix, it’s a bit odd, I feel. I can hear everything clearly enough, sure, but the guitarist’s handiwork on the electric guitar, tearing it up, does draw the main focus. It’s a little bit like Gavin’s voice is only on the same level as the other sounds, not standing above them and steering the drive. I can hear Gavin, but I do feel his volume should be raised to a more commanding level. As for the overall volume, it’s honestly weird. I need my custom mild concert earplugs, yes, but is it best to have them in only loosely or fully (max dampening or half)? After a couple of minutes adjusting them, the winner is the latter.

Bush may not bring a fiercely high-energy, balls-to-the-wall rock show, but Gavin connects with the audience both humbly as he talks to us and by coming down off the stage to me along the front barrier early in the set, walking to the back of the venue and around the seating area halfway through the set, and then again moving along the front of the barrier at the end of their set. Personal interactions like this you just don’t get by simply listening to a live album or watching a live recording, and are truly special.

Now for the moment I’ve been waiting 16 years, 7 months and 2 days for! (Well, more like 16 years, 7 months, 1 day and 21 hours. I remember their set at Soundwave finished at roughly 6:30 pm, I think.)

Tonight may be labelled as a co-headlining concert, but Shinedown is the clear headliner tonight! I know I’m biased, but I have evidence to back that claim up. Let’s start with the sound mix.

Unlike the mix for Bush, the volume is not only higher for Shinedown (there’s absolutely no question whether I should have my earplugs in all the way or not), but lead singer Brent’s voice is very much commanding and steers the musical charge, riding atop the layers of sound! This is what a high-energy rock show’s sound mix should sound like. The drums, bass and guitars, both electric and acoustic, don’t overpower each other; they complement each other perfectly.

Now the stage presence. It’s a good thing the sound mix is set right for Brent’s voice, because he’s not just commanding in the sense of the sound mix. His stage presence between songs, when he stokes the crowd’s flame of excitement and raises it higher, is equally commanding, as is his performance during songs like the vocal-hook chant of “BOOM-LE-BOOM-LE-BOOM!” in Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom).

But the infernal energy, as if Brent is trying to raise the Devil, doesn’t wane even in less raucous anthems like the cult classic 45, during which Brent stays engaged with us, getting us ready to sing with him when he holds out the microphone to the audience.

Or like how Brent tells us how it’s so incredibly beautiful to look up at the sky on a clear Australian night and see all the stars, so he wants everyone to hold up their phones for the melancholic song A Symptom of Being Human. This calmer, more stripped-back song is nestled between the blazing energy of Enemies, where Brent demands everyone be on their feet if they weren’t already and jump on the count of three, and Bully.

Brent might not come off the stage and walk in front of us here at the barrier or elsewhere in the crowd like Gavin from Bush did, but Brent’s engagement with us is still no less personal, and his commanding presence is charging and palpable for us in the audience in a different, arguably more engaging way.

As for the flow of the set’s energy, we’re treated to all the hits long-time fans love, like If You Only Knew, the devouring energy of Devour, the fist-pumping, foot-stomping charge of Sound of Madness, Cut the Cord, MONSTERS and, of course, the timeless classic Second Chance.

We also get a heartfelt message and dedication to the late Brad Arnold of 3 Doors Down, accompanied by a shortened cover of Kryptonite. All of these anthems flow in a smart way to raise the energy sky-high for a string of songs while giving us a slight reprieve from the raging energy when needed.

This is like the calm before the storm, or like an army needing to reload and regroup before the next assault. I can testify that the occasional easing of the energy is needed and appreciated; there is a limit to how long I can jump, fist-pump, head-bang and thrash about like I’m trying to shake off a spider for!

…I actually reckon any spider would take one look at me and think, “Yeah nah, I’m right, mate! I’ll just crawl on someone else, thanks!”

Need one more thing to settle the argument that Shinedown was the clear headliner? I can’t testify to how the band looked or what fancy decorations were on the stage, but I don’t need sight to know there was an abundance of pyrotechnics throughout the set. Sometimes in quick, rapid bursts and pops like a cannon, and other times in sustained streams of towering flames, I could feel them first-hand! I’m often amazed and wonder how bands and artists handle the intensity of being so close to the flames when it’s intense enough for those of us at the front!

Whether it’s experiencing your favourite artists leave the stage to interact with the audience, having the artist command you to jump and sing, feeling the thumping beat and vibrations of the sound travelling over your skin, feeling the blazing heat of pyro, or simply not just hearing but feeling the excitement of fellow fans whom you might not know but share a common love with, these are all things you can’t experience or recreate by watching or listening to a live recording!

This is what makes live music so special and something to treasure and hold onto tightly!

I will leave you with this. I was lucky enough and incredibly delighted to catch the band at the loading dock of the venue after the show, and not only did each member give me and the other few people there the time to humbly chat with us, but Brent, most of all, wasn't going to let his manager rush him away from talking to me while grasping my hand. It was so deeply wholesome, and Brent said that Shinedown will be returning in the summer of 2028!

So when that tour does get announced, take it from me: don’t simply listen to or watch a live recording instead of paying for a ticket! These shows are well worth your hard-earned time and money!

Until next time, keep a Keen Eye 4 Concerts…