Godsmack
With
Bastian da Cruz
At
The Hard Rock Casino
In
Gary, Indiana
The Hard Rock Casino in Gary, Indiana on Saturday made a cold day, warm and exciting with casino games and hosting a concert with Bastian da Cruz and Godsmack. My assistant and I arrived early receiving a warm welcome. We decided to explore the gaming floor and restaurants looking like two 4th graders on a field trip to an amusement park wanting to ride roller coasters.
But we were adult gaming and experiencing a sonic roller coaster ride. It’s been about 10 years since I have gone to a casino and the Hard Rock theme seemed very exciting. I am a musician and compose music so seeing a huge guitar lit up at night driving by on the freeway drew me in and made me curious. I’ve been to a few Hard Rock Cafe's, one was in Orlando and the other was in Detroit.
The day before this show was on I thought back at the only other time photographing a concert at a casino. It’s been a few years since the show's headline was Five Finger Death Punch at Soaring Eagle Casino. I wanted to share the link to put you in my shoes at shows.
https://www.metalaxemag.com/2019/07/five-finger-death-punch-with-in-this.html#more
The show was an outdoor event so I didn’t get to play any games or go in and look over the restaurants inside.
I have to say that Godsmack is one of my go to bands. My family and I have covered Godsmack a few other times. One of my favorite shows was at Van Andel Arena. They were the headline along with Volbeat and Stitched Up Heart.
I photographed with an experimental camera setup along with a normal photo setup. I did stereoscopic concert photos of all the bands, which is very rare. I shared the link for the readers to see.
https://www.metalaxemag.com/2019/04/godsmack-volbeat-stitched-up-heart-at.html#more
Bastian da Cruz: Bastian da Cruz does vocals and guitar for his show. He reminds me of Ed Sheeran because of the great flow and vocals he puts together and it sonically jells. In fact he sounds better live than recorded. This is a true test of an artist is how they sound live. Many people can fake it in the studio but performing live is what I always say as the true test.
During his show he mentioned that he needs a large amount of followers on instagram in order to score a record label deal. As good as he performs that should be enough to sign him to a label. I hope to see his show again and again. It was a real sonic treat and experience.
Bastian da Cruz setlist:
I Used To Call
Broken
Tell Me Who I Am
Mom
Give Me Another Answer
Hero
Walking Away
21
Going Out
Traveling
Bastian da Cruz tour links and important links:
https://www.instagram.com/bastiandacruz/
https://www.facebook.com/bastian.dacruz
Godsmack: The band is made up of Sully Erna on lead vocals/rhythm guitar, Robbie Merrill on bass/backing vocals, Tony Rombola on lead guitar/backing vocals and Shannon Larkin on drums/percussion. There were two guest musicians at the show: keyboards and guitar. The band in 1995 first name was The Scam then it changed to Godsmack.
Godsmack is on tour supporting their 2023 album titled ”Light Up The Sky”. For this show they had two guest musicians one played keyboard and the other played guitar. They complimented the rest of the band perfectly sonic blending.
Godsmack setlist:
Time (Pink Floyd cover)
Love-Hate-Sex-Pain
Voodoo
Turning To Stone
Spiral
One Rainy Day
No Quarter (Led Zeppelin cover)
Nothing Else Matters (Metallica cover)
Serenity
Touche’
Truth
Growing Old
Light Up The Sky
Under Your Scars
Bulletproof
Long Train Running (Doobie Brothers cover)
One of the most favorite songs from the early years of covering the band would be “Voodoo”. But for the show there were the covers that were superbly performed. One special song was “Truth” that Sully spoke about. This song was very gripping and visual.
The reason why is because I have a niche for visualizing what people describe because I am an artist, photographer, writer and musician. Sometimes this can be a curse more than a blessing. People find out you see everything people described and they may take advantage of it. But for the show it was a blessing feeling the music like a sonic roller coaster ride.
Not just hearing the music. The band always connected with the crowd by making it personal. The great charity that the band has going is called Scars Foundation.
I lost a relative to suicide and family and friends that have mental illness. I feel this is a very noble charity to help people in need.
I have shared a link for people for mental illness and suicide prevention.
Much love and respect for Sully to share personal issues that have happened to him to cause him to create songs. And more importantly having the guts to be on stage and tell people.
https://youtu.be/OshLtnzakaw?si=Rp15QO2a8UO2KBYZ
Scars Foundation links:
https://www.facebook.com/TheScarsFoundation
https://www.scarsfoundation.org
Godsmack tour links:
https://www.facebook.com/Godsmack/events
Editor notes to the reader:
Me as a writer I can relate to vibration + frequency + energy= universe language. I have written to songs/ poems that address mental illness one is titled "Spontaneous Combustion" it relates to mind, body and spirit don't want to be friends anymore. The other is titled "The Unseen Battleground", everywhere and all around people have the unseen battleground in the minds eye.
When I here the song "Serenity" by Godsmack I feel a see people searching for Serenity spending sometimes millions of dollars to obtain serenity but never seeking first inside themselves. I wrote a poem relating to me wanting serenity the title is "Metal Serenity". What really gripped my heart was the video clip with Dime in it.
One of my many heroes that inspired me to create a never-ending musicians memorial song with Cliff, Dime, Amy, Chris, Chester and 150 more in my art and song. Dime painting 4'x7' one of his best friends own in Arlington, Texas.
Sources of information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godsmack
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/godsmack/2024/hard-rock-casino-northern-indiana-gary-in-2babacf2.html
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