Godsmack at the Vibrant Arena at the MARK -- September 28.
Thursday, September 28, 7 p.m.
Vibrant Arena at the MARK, 1201 River Drive, Moline IL
Touring in support of their 2023 release Lighting Up the Sky that hit number one on Billboard's Top Hard Rock Albums chart, one of the millennium's most successful and acclaimed alternative-metal acts lands in Moline with the arrival of Godsmack, the Grammy Award winners – and inspirations for Boston, Massachusetts' annual "Godsmack Day" – who headline a Vibrant Arena at the MARK concert event on September 28.
Founded in 1995 by singer Sully Erna and bassist Robbie Merrill, Godsmack has, to date, released eight studio albums, one EP, two compilations, three video albums, and thirty 34 singles. In 1998, with Tommy Stewart on drums and Tony Rombola on guitar, Godsmack released its self-titled debut album, which was a redone version of the musicians' 1996 demo All Wound Up. The album was distributed by Universal/Republic Records and shipped four million copies in the United States, with four of its songs (“Whatever,” “Keep Away,” “Voodoo,” and “Bad Religion”) making the top-10 of Billboard's U.S. Mainstream Rock chart. After contributing the track “Why” to the soundtrack for Oliver Stone's football drama Any Given Sunday, Godsmack released its sophomore album Awake in 2000, a recording that ultimately earned double-platinum sales, scored hit singles with “Bad Religion,” “Greed,” and the chart-topping title track, and a Best Rock Instrumental Performance Grammy nomination for the song “Vampires.”
After Stewart left Godsmack and was replaced by Shannon Larkin, the band released its third album Faceless in 2003, which debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 and found its chart-topping single “Straight Out of Line” Grammy-nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance. A year later, Godsmack delivered the acoustic-based EP The Other Side, a recording that debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold by the RIAA. Fourth album IV, the band's second release to debut at number one, went on to achieve platinum certification, and after touring in support of the recording for more than a year, Godsmack released the greatest-hits album Good Times, Bad Times … Ten Years of Godsmack that included every Godsmack single (with the exception of “Bad Magick”), a cover of the Led Zeppelin song “Good Times Bad Times,” and a DVD of the band's acoustic performance at Las Vegas' House of Blues. Godsmack's fifth studio release, 2010's The Oracle, was a number-one debut on the Billboard 200 as well, making the band one of very few to have three consecutive chart-topping albums, and connecting the musicians to the likes of Van Halen, U2, Metallica. The group's most recent recordings – 2014's 1000hp, 2018's When Legends Rise, and this past February's Lighting Up the Sky – have also been top-10 Billboard hits, with the latter album's "Surrender" and "Soul on Fire," respectively peaking at numbers one and two on the Alternative Airplay chart.
Godsmack brings their national tour to Moline on September 28 alongside rockers I Prevail, Flatback, and Jason Hook, admission to the 7 p.m. concert is $39.50-125, and tickets are available by calling (800)745-3000 and visiting VibrantArena.com.
