When I arrived at Jaxx there was a line of at least 100 people going out into the street and this was one hour after the doors had opened. For the second time in a month, the club had sold out another show before the day of the event. Little did I know that a very strange and exciting night awaited me.
Once I managed to struggle my way down to the floor, the first "wierdness" of the night unfolded when I came upon a crowd barrier at the front of the stage. I can't say that I ever remember a time when a Jaxx show required a barrier. Luckily for me, the barrier would be a great thing. See, the band was not allowing photos to be taken but I HAD to get some for Braingell and for Jaxx, especially since photos from the show were going to be hard to come by. I got together with the head of Jaxx security (thank you again for your help) and we talked the tour manager into letting me snap photos for the first four songs. So now the barrier was an incredible help, because I was allowed to roam freely behind it. I wasn't allowed to use a flash, so I snapped about 200 pictures hoping that I would at least get a few unblurred shots. I got about twenty worthwhile shots, so be sure to check out the gallery listed at the bottom of this article.
The second "wierdness" of the night presented itself when there were more crew and BLS members coming from the hotel than there were seats in the transportation vehicles. Upon hearing this I instantly volunteered my trusty mini-van and shot off to the hotel. Unfortunately when I got to the hotel, the convoy was leaving and everyone had packed into the available vehicles. I thought I had missed my chance, but as you will see later in the article, there were more suprises in store for me.
So I got back to the club as the show was about to start and fought my way down to get behind the barrier. The lights went out, the crowd went wild, the intro song "Crazy" by Patsy Cline soothed the eager fans, and then the air raid sirens blared and the police lights whirred. The band arrived on the stage and Zakk got down on one knee facing the drummer as if praying. He grabbed a beer, knocked it back and on the last beat of the intro he clinked his bottle on the bass players drink and they ripped into their first song. I gotta tell ya that sitting three feet in front of Zakk Wylde was a very intimidating experience right from the second he saw me down in the hole in front of the stage. He was huge and looked angry. He would glance down at me from time to time with a look on his face that said, "I'm watching you, motherfucker".
I would have to say that I haven't seen beer consumption onstage like that since the good 'ole Pantera days. Zakk was just tearing through them. I actually tried like hell to "notice" the rest of the band, but Zakk is really all that you can focus on. His stage presence is that strong. I can't really remember much about the band at all. The back of the stage was lined with vintage Marshall stacks; I think in total I counted 16 cabs. When Zakk was soloing or at a part in the song where he wasn't singing he was frequently standing at the front of the stage on top of a big Anvil flightcase. While singing he would prop his left boot up on it so he could kinda lean on it.
The crowd was suprisingly mellow. They were all loud and happy, but there was no violent behavior to speak of. The crowd comprised of about every age. Very old dudes, all the way down to kids that were probably eight years old. I would have to say that the floor in the entire hall, be it at the bars or in front of the stage was as packed as I have ever seen it. It was very tight and was impossible to move around unless you literally pushed your way through the sea of people.
Zakk seemed to be a very emotional person. He also appeared to be very religious as well. At many points in the night he would pound his chest, point at the sky and yell to the heavens. He would just talk into the air. He was mesmerizing to watch. He seemed almost evangelical. He would tap the sign of the cross on his chest a lot, and would thank god and speak of blessings. For the first third of the set he didnt even speak between any of the songs. He really didnt need to, cause you already knew what he was trying to convey. Later when he did speak, he spoke a lot of his family and had very loving things to say about his band.
There were three things that Zakk spoke about that really stuck with me. First he spoke about the fact that BLS and the fans had rasied over one million dollars for the St. Judes Childrens Cancer Foundation and that they did it because, "We have to take care of the baby berzerkers"; He then launched into "Blood is Thicker Than Water" and dedicated it to the kids. Secondly,after playing a Randy Rhoads electric accoustic solo in which he gave blessings to his hero, he told a story about leaving Ozzy (and did a great Oz imitation) to possibly go and play with Guns and Roses (Zakk says you have to love Axl cause he is fuckin nuts). He said when that didn't work out, "...instead of crawling into a corner to shoot myself like Curt Cobain, I decided to turn my gun on the world" and he wrote and recorded "Spoke in the Wheel" because he felt sorry for himself. The third thing he told the crowd was the story of his last conversation with Dime. Dimebag called him from Boston while on tour with Damageplan. Dime told him that they would be crossing the U.S. and would meet up with Zakk when they arrived in L.A. At the end of the call, Zakk said, "Dude, I love you so much. Beyond forever." Dime said, "Back at ya...". Huge photo-banners of Dime dropped over the faces of the Marshall stacks and then Zakk sat down at his BLS flag draped keyboard and broke into a harder, slower rendition of "In This River" with the full band. Zakk felt it necessary to announced that this song would never be taken off the setlist as long as BLS was a band.
As far as the music goes, it was really solid. The mix was incredible. Zakk's tones were still "the best guitar tones ever". You didn't have to see him to know that it was him. On an occasional song he would sing out of tune, but it really didn't matter cause he was so powerful to see. The show seemed to be broken into three "acts". The first section of the show was all rockin' stuff. Hell the roadie was even onstage with a bullhorn for "Suicide Messiah". Then the middle part of the show was the accoustic and keyboard stuff... Speaking of keys, Zakk was an incredible keyboard player. Before songs he would do solos that were pretty damn complicated. I had no idea that Zakk could play keys like that. During this section of the show Zakk did lots of soloing, fingerpicking, and blues rooted jamming. He also had lots of effects pedals at his feet in which he would whip out reverbs, flangers, and phasers. The third section of the show seemed to be headed back to rocking out and probably was going to be all of his "hits". If it seems like I don't know what happened at the end of the show, thats because I don't. The last oddity of my night was when a Jaxx staff member ran up to the booth i was hiding in and asked if I could drive the band back to the hotel! VIOLA! So once again I shot out to the ole mini-van, tore around the back of the building and sat there and waited for the end of the show. While I didn't get to take Zakk (Jaxx security took him), I did get to take two band members back with the beer and the food trays. Unfortunately the only thing anyone wanted to talk about was the HAZMAT spill that closed the Wilson Bridge on I-95 and whether it would impact their overnight trip to Pittsburgh. But cmon! I had BLS members in my car! When we arrived at the bus and I was unloading the cases of beer, I almost dropped the case of Zakk's favorite beer. The bus driver asked, "Are you trying to make Zakk cry?"... How fuckin' funny...
In the end the night was completely bizzare, but good lord did I come away from this gig with some crazy stories! There are a lot more notes in my notebook that I din't even get to because writing this article would take me another few hours. All I can say is that to any one who has never seen Zakk play, I am telling you that it is one of those things you have to do before you die. Quite frankly, I'm not even that big a fan of the music, since I tend to gravitate towards much harder stuff. But the aura, the stage presence, the intensity, the love, the whole atmosphere... It all turned me into a forever fan and admirer of the living legend know as Zakk Wylde. As you can probably guess, I score this show as a 10 out of 10. It was simply unreal.
In my next report I hope to give you the scoop on the 'The Haunted / Dark Tranquility / Into Eternity / Scar Symmetry / Undaunted' show on March 25th. Stay tuned.
Go to the BGR gallery (CLICK HERE) and check out my pics from last night's the show.
BE SURE to check out our new friends at JAXX NIGHTCLUB! www.jaxxroxx.com
If you would like to attend a Jaxx show please let me know. I might be able to drag you along with me.
Comments Questions or Concerns? Hit me up! berube@braingell.com
And oh yeah...
Peace and Metal Grease!
berube
