Always bet on black: Black Label Society live in Atlantic City
Black Label Society (photos)
Rev Theory, Hourcast, Anchored
June 3, 2011
House of Blues
Atlantic City, N.J.
By GREG MAKI
Does any metal band today have as devoted a following as Black Label Society? Throughout the afternoon of Friday, June 3, 2011, fans wearing BLS T-shirts or vests wandered around the cavernous Showplace Casino, in which the House of Blues is located, and made their way up and down the Atlantic City boardwalk. (Others eyed them curiously, surely wondering what exactly Black Label Society is.) BLS founder/frontman/guitar god Zakk Wylde often talks about family, referring to his band’s supporters as “fams” rather than “fans.” And the “fams” clearly have taken the concept to heart; you could see old friends reuniting and new friendships forming. It all adds up to a concert atmosphere unlike any other.
Led by Wylde and also featuring bassist John “J.D.” DeServio, guitarist Nick Catanese and new drummer Mike Froedge, the band showed later that night why it has inspired such a passionate response with a thunderous 90-minute headlining performance.
Opening with “Crazy Horse” from last year’s superb Order of the Black, Wylde took the stage wearing a full Native American headdress. The band has stuck to mostly new material on recent tours, but it wasn’t long before they dipped back to 2002’s 1919 Eternal for the duo of “Bleed for Me” and “Demise of Sanity” (which ended with a tantalizing tease of the first few bars of “Superterrorizer” from 2000’s Stronger Than Death). They went back even further, to the 1998 BLS debut Sonic Brew, for the grooving “Born to Lose,” which, to my knowledge, had not been performed live in almost 10 years prior to this tour.
Naturally, though, Order of the Black received the most attention, as the band ripped through “Overlord,” “Parade of the Dead” and “Godspeed Hellbound,” and rolled out a piano for the current single, the Southern-rock-flavored “Darkest Days” (Catanese took over lead guitar duties, while Wylde tickled the ivories). Before that song, Wylde did his only real talking of the night, introducing the “family” onstage. Most of the time was devoted to bone-crunching metal, highlighted by the main man’s guitar heroics, which included a showstopping, 10-minute solo.
Other standout moments included Wylde and Catanese each breaking out double-neck guitars for “The Blessed Hellride” and the closing trio of “Suicide Messiah,” “Concrete Jungle” and “Stillborn,” which probably is still the best-known song in the BLS catalog.
The Black Label fans were cordial, though not exactly enthusiastic, toward openers Anchored and Hourcast, then warmed up considerably to Rev Theory’s high-energy performance. Supporting its third album, the aggressive, pissed-off Justice, Rev Theory channeled its newfound intensity and power into a dynamic live show, with the opener “Dead in a Grave,” the title track from the new record and the party anthem “Hell Yeah” as the high points.
But the night, of course, belonged to Black Label Society, which projects an intimidating, larger-than-life presence at first glance and a warm, welcoming embrace when you look a little closer. BLS has transcended music to become, for its “fams,” not just a band but a lifestyle.
BLACK LABEL SOCIETY SET LIST: Crazy Horse, Funeral Bell, Bleed for Me, Demise of Sanity, Overlord, Parade of the Dead, Born to Lose, Darkest Days, Fire It Up, Zakk Wylde guitar solo, Godspeed Hellbound, The Blessed Hellride, Suicide Messiah, Concrete Jungle, Stillborn |
