OnTour

Black leather, long hair, tattoos, and smiles united under the golden mosaic roof of the NY Hammerstein Ballroom to feel the heavy metal thunder of Black Label Society. On April 10th The NYC chapter members brought on the SDMF (Society Dwelling M.F.’s) attitude as BLS performed the new greatest hits CD/DVD, “Skullage”. Representing the West Coast (San Francisco, CA) as a Metal enthusiast and performer it was a treat to begin my recent NY trip attending this bash. Having seen the sold out opening show of the tour back in my home town at the Fillmore on March 6, I was impressed that Zakk Wylde and company had fine-tuned the show and camaraderie even further. Edsel Dope’s band, Dope got the party started with some of his originals, including “Addiction” and finished with a mixed bag of covers, ranging from Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell” and NWA’s “Fuck the Police.”  Shots were delivered to the band via a Hustler dancer, inviting the crowd to join the after party at the Hustler Club.

Sevendust took the stage next with master metal frontman Lajon Witherspoon.  They played their hits and covered metal standards “Master of Puppets”, “Walk” and closing out with “We Die Young” , pouring out a lot of energy to pump up the crowd even further.  Just before BLS took the stage, they played Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” as intro music.  I had a great time singing along with this one, but it did seem to confuse some of the audience.  I chalked it up to Wylde’s Southern influences.

Then, the enormous BLS banner hit the floor and the siren kicked in; they hit the stage and opened with “Black Mass Reverends.”  Wylde’s voice was heavy with reverb as he ripped away on his new orange Gibson “Zakk Wylde ZV Buzzsaw” guitar, one of only 50 produced.  Nick Catanese lived up to his title of “evil twin guitarist” scorching riffs on his PRS guitars, with the backbone of BLS, JD Deservio on bass and drummer “Louisiana Lightning” cranking out some thunderous beats.  Wylde went on to blast out his hits, “Destruction Overdrive”, “Stillborn”, “Blessed Hellride” and “Suicide Messiah” with he and Catanese using their double stacked Marshalls to blow the roof off the Ballroom.

Zakk swears on every tour he will play the tribute song “In This River” dedicated to the late Dimebag Darrell Abbott (Pantera).  Wylde, put the chest pounding metal studs side of his personality down for a few minutes as he sat down at the piano to play this tribute to his good friend; the piano adorned with a BLS American flag and two large photo banners of Abbot.  “Fire It Up” was laden with multiple crowd delights. Black Label icon beach balls were tossed into the crowd frenzy as t-shirts were shot out of a CO2 cannon. Zakk ended the blaze by soloing ala Randy Rhodes style with the Flying V over his back and with his teeth. A blistering Star Spangled Banner further unleashed Wylde’s guitar playing soul while touching many hearts in the Big Apple.

Leslie West of Mountain appeared as a special guest proving he still has a great voice. West, Wylde, and Catanese all unleashed impressive guitar solos, with both BLS guitarists using double neck guitars. Following the Mountain special was “Concrete Jungle” and the infamous finale of “Stillborn”. The BLS NYC Chapter shined their faithful colors with hours of metal mayhem, admiring Zakk Wylde as the Metal Messiah and frequent gestures of respect went back and forth between the bandmates. Thankful pointing gestures to the power that be, personal Wylde hugs and lots of one on one eye contact with the fans in the front row were soaked up as Wylde made his exit.

It’s always great to see guys this talented have a dose of humility.  I think it’s safe to say that Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society successfully destroyed and conquered NY’s Hammerstein Ballroom this evening.

Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer kicked off their “Unwigged and Unplugged” tour in Vancouver, BC last night and played this evening at Portland’s Keller Auditorium.  Watch for a full report next week when issue 21 of TONEAudio is ready for download.

But we will tell you this much; if you are even a little bit of a fan of Spinal Tap or The Folksmen, this is not to be missed.

The Pacific Northwest music scene has been steadily embracing a pure party music aesthetic over the last year or so, and in that spirit the Yogoman Burning Band delivered a loose and exuberant set in front of a friendly, eclectic and enthusiastic crowd at the “World Famous” Kenton Club in North Portland. Yogoman, based in Bellingham, Washington and led by drummer Jordan Rain, mixes reggae, rhythm and blues and soul into a familiar package. Their fun and celebratory performance was the perfect match for the first warm spring night after a particularly long and grueling winter in this region.

It was a treat to see Sarazin Blake in person after being recently introduced to his latest album, The Air Your Lungs Forced Out. He stood at the rear of the stage and adapted his usually folk-tinged guitar rhythms to the traditional reggae upstrokes, giving Rain (who placed his drum set right at the front edge of the stage) the reigns. Rain also sang lead vocals with a perfectly relaxed tone that makes this music a perfect antidote for the end of a hectic day. Bassist Norah McLaughlin, trumpeter/cornet player Joel Ricci, saxophonist Thomas Akihiro Deakin, trombonist Mars Lindgren and guitarist Josh Holland crammed themselves onto the small stage and provided the audience with an unusually high caliber of musicianship.

You can find out more about Yogoman Burning band by checking out their MySpace page, where you can get more information on their new album, City of Subdued Excitement, MP3 downloads and tour information.

The acoustics of the Shedd Institute for the Arts Theater in Eugene, Oregon was the perfect match for Peyroux’ lush voice.  Touring to support her new disc, Bare Bones, Peyroux is also donating $1 from each ticket to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

She started the show with “Dance Me To The End of Love” from her Careless Love album and then moved right into the title track from the new album, mixing up the material from her last three albums throughout the evening.  While the set only lasted 90 minutes, it was the perfect helping – much like a meal served in just the right proportions where after dessert and a cognac, you feel “just right.”

If you’ve only heard Peyroux on disc (or perhaps the amazingly good LP version of Careless Love on 180g. vinyl from Mobile Fidelity), you are in for a real treat; she exhibits a much wider range of vocal ability on the stage and can really belt it out when required.  Unlike other jazz excursions I’ve heard where the individual players can have a tendency to riff off into infinity, the solos were tight, tasteful and well placed – this was a cracking band!

A gracious host, Peyroux made it a point to thank the audience quite a few times for their enthusiasm and displayed a great sense of humor throughout the performance, commenting on the local crop of organic stimulants to a round of applause.  She then proceeded to introduce the band and ended the set with “Instead” from her new album, quipping “I do know a few happy tunes.”

The only guy she left off the list of kudos was her sound engineer, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a live mix this exquisite, striking a perfect balance of sound level and tonal accuracy. If only all live performances could deliver this level of sound quality!  It doesn’t get any better than this.

On tour for the better part of the year, this is one show you won’t want to miss.  If you like Madeleine Peyroux on record, you will love her in person.

There’s only two days left until tickets go on pre-sale for Motley Crue’s Crue Fest 2.

If you are a Crue fan, I highly suggest getting in line right now to partake in this six hour mini metal fest.  Last year’s show was awesome (ok Buckcherry kind of sucked) with five bands, a ton of energy and of course Tommy Lee’s portable video camera action to round things out.