SHINEDOWN Makes Grand Ole Opry Debut, Surprises Crowd With Performance Of New Song ‘Searchlight’
Written by megarock on October 12, 2025
This past Friday night (October 10),SHINEDOWN took Nashville by storm as the band made its debut at the city’s famed country music venue Grand Ole Opry and played on the legendary stage for the first time. They were introduced by good friend and 17-year Grand Ole Opry member Carrie Underwood, who welcomed them into the historic circle and said: “It is always an honor, and so exciting for me to be at the Opry. Tonight, I am especially honored and excited to introduce our next group. I saw these guys back in concert in 2004 when I was a wee college student and basically, they have not been able to get rid of me ever since! I know that they too are very excited to be here, they love country music, and they love and respect the Grand Ole Opry so much. Tonight, I hear they may even have a special surprise in store for us! Making their Grand Ole Opry debut, make some noise for SHINEDOWN!”
The packed crowd was on their feet as the band performed three songs — “A Symptom of Being Human”, their chart-topping song “Three Six Five” and surprised the audience with a performance of a brand new song: “Searchlight”. To introduce “Searchlight”, SHINEDOWN singer Brent Smith said: “Would you like to hear the debut of a song that no one has heard?” He then continued and described the song’s origin: “Sometimes when you listen close enough to the universe and you’re willing to receive something from it — a song can come out of thin air. That is something that we don’t take for granted. It’s essentially what happened with this next song: we didn’t find it, it found us. This is the debut of a song we like to call: ‘Searchlight’.”
