What Shure Artists, you say?   OK, so here’s the rundown:

fun., Luke Bryan, Maroon 5, Dierks Bentley, The Band Perry, and newly signed Shure Artist Hunter Hayes all performed on the show. Shure Artist Sheryl Crow appeared to announce along side Chris Young.  To top it all off, Maroon 5 performed a 40 minute set after the hour long broadcast.

Let’s talk nominations!  Several Shure Artists are up for awards including: Mumford & Sons, fun., Arturo Sandoval, The Civil Wars, The Black Keys, Alabama Shakes, Maroon 5, Chris Botti, Megadeth, The Roots, Dierks Bentley, Ronnie Dunn, Little Big Town, Al Jarreau, Casting Crowns, TobyMac, Fonseca, Lila Downs, Dailey & Vincent, and Dr. John.

A big CONGRATUALTIONS to these and all who are nominated. Best of luck in February 2013 !

I’d also like to give a big shout out to all the crew who work this show.  Joel Singer, Jay Vicari, Mark King, Jeff Fecteau, Mikael Stewart. Steve Anderson, Andres Arango, Jackie Brooks, Danny Breedan, and so many more. You guys ROCK!!!

Ryan

The Vogue Theater- Indianapolis, IN

Who?

Mona.

Never heard of them eh?  Neither had I until a good friend of mine who does monitors for Ronnie Dunn introduced me to them.  Mike Addams called me on the phone and said you HAVE TO work with these guys.  They are about to explode. They have already taken off overseas and their record is going to release in the States early next year.  Mike doesn’t call me too often to tell me me about a group so I knew this was going somewhere.

Mike introduced me to the band after the very last Brooks and Dunn concert in Nashville.  Mona are based in Nashville but their rock music and interesting videos have already taken root in the UK and other countries overseas.

Tonight though, while I was in Indianapolis still for PASIC, they were coming through town and I did not want to miss seeing them.  I arrived at The Vogue about 2 songs into their set. They were in the middle slot opening for The Airborne Toxic Event.  The place was already packed and the crowd was definitely into them.  Lead singer Nick Brown announced from the stage that it was Drummer Vince’s Birthday today “so everyone buy him a drink!” Nick is switching between a Super 55 (Black and Red) and an SM58 during his set.  It’s obvious thought that he needs to go wireless because his is all over the stage working the crowd.  The band is tight and they are “arena ready.” It was so great to see them in this smaller club first, kind of like when Bon Jovi got back together and I saw them at the House of Blues in Chicago.  That was a great experience as well.

Immediately after their set, each of the guys in the band came out to the merchandise tables and began signing posters, CD’s, and shirts for fans buying them up.  I even had to run out to their trailer for them to grab more posters.  I hadn’t eaten a dinner so I asked the guys if they wanted some pizza.  They were happy to accept.  I went around the corner and ordered a couple up and talked more with the band as they took more pictures with fans.  The pizza went fast.  Nothing like hungry musicians after a gig!

Get used to hearing about these guys.  They are something special and are hungry to make it big!

Here’s some links to their stuff:

Shure Mona page and links

and here’s some iPhone photos from that night:

Ryan