PAM WHISENHUNT | Go Venue Magazine
Mystic Lake Amphitheater in Shakopee, MN is the new kid on the block. Minnesota’s largest outdoor venue opened June 20 in Shakopee, holding 19,000 between its covered bowl and sprawling lawn, and barely a month into its inaugural season it landed one of the biggest rock pairings of the year. The co-headlining North American tour of Avenged Sevenfold and Good Charlotte rolled in July 27th 2026 on night two of the run, and the venue reported over 14,000 tickets sold.
The whole night felt like a family gathering. Half the crowd repped Good Charlotte, the pop punk side of the family. The other half were the Avenged Sevenfold metalheads. Two bands from completely different corners of 2000s rock, with a friendship going back more than twenty years, finally on the same stage. This reunion was a long time coming.
Jayden Hammer came out shredding. The LA based guitarist built her following on YouTube and TikTok with viral guitar covers, and her live set shows why. She does a bit of everything, mixing songs live behind the decks while ripping guitar over the top. Hammer also played an original called “Sunshine,” a song she wrote about her girlfriend. The rest of the world gets to hear it August 5 when the single drops, but Shakopee got it first.
Days before this tour kicked off, Avenged Sevenfold surprise released a four song EP under the persona, STATICA, and that persona held the next slot on the bill. The band performed the entire EP from backstage while graphic visuals played on the screens. Not gonna lie, STATICA was weird. Avenged Sevenfold has talked in depth about AI, even covering the topic in their songs, and maybe this set was our warning. If we fall into the AI music trap, this is our future. No band on stage, just graphics on a screen.
Good Charlotte (GC) kicked off their set with “The Anthem,” “Girls & Boys,” “Riot Girl,” “Keep Your Hands Off My Girl” and “Predictable” before slowing it down slightly with “Wondering.” Not knowing a lot about Good Charlotte going in, I was surprised to see seven members on stage. The core members were front and center, Joel Madden on lead vocals, Benji Madden on guitar and vocals, Paul Thomas on bass, and Billy Martin on guitar and keyboards. GC sounded phenomenal and kept the energy high through the set. Joel Madden encouraged crowd participation and gave us the lowdown on their relationship with Avenged Sevenfold. Madden told us they’d been friends for twenty plus years and been wanting to tour with Avenged Sevenfold for a long time.
GC played “Rejects,” off their newest album Motel Du Cap, just before “The Chronicles of Life and Death,” “The Motivation Proclamation,” “Hold On” and “Bodies.” The surprise of the night came when Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows joined them for “The River.” Some people saw it coming and were hoping since Shadows was featured on the original single back in 2007 on “Good Morning Revival”.
GC pressed on with “Dance Floor Anthem” and “Last Night” before bringing us back to 2002 with “The Young and the Hopeless.” Before wrapping up with “Little Things,” “I Just Wanna Live” and “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous,” GC told us Minneapolis was a very special place to them, a place that changed their lives, though they didn’t elaborate. They said it felt good to shake off the rust, and that after the first show of the tour they turned to each other and said “we gotta do this again,” hinting that another tour may be firming up.
Avenged Sevenfold (A7X) dove right into their set with “Nightmare,” their newest single “Magic,” “Afterlife” and “Shepherd of Fire”. M. Shadows then paused, telling us he thought the set flowed too well up to that point to stop. He asked the crowd about some local folklore he’d heard, bringing up “Mistake Lake.” The crowd laughed. He asked if he understood correctly and that Minnesotans tended to drink a little and make some mistakes out there. He also called this amphitheater one of the most beautiful places to play. Then Shadows spotted a kid in the front row with a broken arm and brought him up front so the band could sign the cast, mentioning his own kid recently jumped off the houseboat and broke his leg too.
A7X picked back up with “Seize the Day,” “Hail to the King” and “Nobody.” “Nobody” definitely didn’t sound like the album version, but Synyster Gates was flawless working through it. Gates, Johnny Christ and Brooks Wackerman stayed on stage to close the song out before exiting.
The band came back out for “The Stage.” Shadows felt compelled to pause again, saying “I normally wouldn’t talk right here,” but he had to congratulate the Minnesota Timberwolves on landing LaMelo Ball. He mentioned the Timberwolves are his son’s favorite team, and said if it wasn’t for the Lakers, he’d be a Timberwolves fan himself.
Avenged closed out the night with “Bat Country,” “Unholy Confessions,” which spurred a huge circle pit, a drum solo from Wackerman, and “Cosmic.”
Overall, Avenged Sevenfold’s vocals were raw and real, not polished like the recordings. The band took liberties all night and proved they’re the real deal. No AI, no fillers, 100 percent Avenged Sevenfold. If STATICA was a glimpse of a possible future, the headlining set was the argument against it, and after a night like this at Minnesota’s newest venue, the argument wins.
Avenged Sevenfold
[
See image gallery at www.govenuemagazine.com]
Good Charlotte
[See image gallery at www.govenuemagazine.com] All images © Pam Whisenhunt
Follow our socials, only take a second and is free by finding us on:
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | BlueSky
The post Avenged Sevenfold and Good Charlotte Pack Minnesota’s Newest Amphitheater appeared first on Go Venue Magazine.
