Feb. 17, 2026, 8:56 a.m. ET
Now we know why Food City Center shared a cryptic social media post of a man with a TV set for a head standing on top of the arena. The band Shinedown will be taking over the venue.
Shinedown, which is fronted by Knoxville native Brent Smith, will play Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center on July 25 as part of its Dance, Kid, Dance Act II world tour. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Feb. 20 via Ticketmaster.
The tour is in support of the band’s upcoming album “EI8HT,” which comes out May 29. The band also released four singles in 2025, including the No. 1 hits “Dance, Kid, Dance” and “Killing Fields” and the recent release, “Searchlight.”
Shinedown was recently among a group of artists that pulled out of Kid Rock’s “Rock the Country” music festival in early February.
“Shinedown is everyone’s band. We feel that we have been given a platform to bring all people together through the power of music and song,” the band wrote in a statement. “Our band’s purpose is to unite, not divide. … (W)e do not want to participate in something we believe will create further division.”
Over the past two decades, Shinedown has earned 21 No. 1 songs on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart. The band’s biggest hits include “Second Chance,” “Sound of Madness,” and “If You Only Knew.”
Brent Smith loves Knoxville
Smith was born and raised in Knoxville and went to South-Doyle High School.
“My dad was a teacher here (in Knoxville). My mom worked at First Tennessee Bank right here off Gay Street. I love this city. I had such an amazing upbringing,” Smith said in a 2022 interview with Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs. “My affection for this town, from a musical standpoint, just goes back to I was able to cut my teeth here.”
Also in 2022, Jacobs presented Smith with a key to Knox County during a Shinedown concert at Thompson-Boling Arena. The custom key was made by South-Doyle HighSchool students.
Smith’s trips back to Knoxville often consisted of hanging around the house with his parents, he told Knox News in 2022. The family also liked to spend a lot of time near the University of Tennessee at Knoxville’s campus and eat at Copper Cellar.
In February, Smith shared that his mom, Patricia Ann Smith, died in January. His mother died earlier this month. “She was the sweetest, and most loving person I have ever known,” he wrote in a heartfelt tribute he posted on social media.
Devarrick Turner is a trending news reporter. Email devarrick.turner@knoxnews.com.
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