I don't know that I have ever seen any band work the crowd to the point of a near riot without even hitting the stage, but Zakk Wylde and Black Label Society did just that on Friday night at The Fillmore. With a huge BLS branded curtain covering the stage, while Patsi Kline's "Crazy" was being pumped out on the house P.A., the sold-out crowd of metalheads were already going a bit nuts, and Zakk hadn't even walked out onto the stage. And just as the excitement and tension in the room finally peaked, the curtain dropped, and the band launched into a set of blistering metal.
Opening with "Black Mass Reverends," Zakk and company meant business, and as they churned out song after song while hardly pausing to catch their breath, I have to say that I was pretty damn impressed. With Craig Nunenmacher on drums, John Deservio on bass, and Zakk's "Evil Twin," Nick Catanese, on rhythm guitar, the band raged just as much as its frontman. Playing his black and orange "buzzsaw" Gibson, Mr. Wylde was nothing short of a total madman, tearing though "Faith Is Blind," "Suicide Messiah" and "Damage Is Done." There was also a nice little tribute to Dimebag Darrell with "In This River," and of course no BLS show would be complete without a raging guitar solo, which was accompanied by a pretty raging version of "The Star-Spangled Banner."
As the evening came to a close, I was pretty damn stoked to finally have had the chance to check out Black Label Society, and highly recommend going to check them out when they hit your city!
Artist:
www.blacklabelsociety.com
