Worcester’s honorary Black Label Family o’ Doom and fellow Berzerkers united for an explosive evening with the shred king that is Zakk Wylde and his band on February 1st. Black Label Society includes the talented backline of John DeServio (bass), Jeff Fabb (drums) and Dario Lorina (guitar). Anticipation for the start of BLS’ show was brought to a boiling point as the house blasted a monster-mashup of “Whole Lotta Love” and “War Pigs”. Just after the song wrapped, the stage-wide banner, embossed with the BLS logo, dropped to reveal Wylde and company bathed in red lights and bookended by canons billowing smoke straight up and out over the fist-pumping attendees. BLS wasted no time by tearing into the blistering “Genocide Junkies” and “Funeral Bell”.
Early highlights in the set included “Bleed for Me” and “Suicide Messiah”. Fabb kept the train rollin’ with his pummeling double-bass drum blasts, while DeServo devilishly meandered around stage right, holding his bass guitar aloft with a menacing grin. Lorina’s impeccable rhythm chops and flashy fills seamlessly weaved themselves in and out of Wylde’s frenetic, wah-saturated solos. Halfway through the set, BLS broke new ground with a well-placed trio from their most recent release Grimmest Hits. “Trampled Down Below”, “All That Once Shined” and “Room of Nightmares” were certainly crowd-pleasers.
Later in the set, “Fire It Up” helped serve up a showcase for Wylde’s legendary guitar solo. As “Fire” wrapped up, Wylde left the stage which brought all eyes to search for where the bearded-wonder would show up next. Wylde appeared out of nowhere in the balcony, stage left, and proceeded to bust out an orgasmic twelve-minute, apocalyptic, six-string shred-fest. Wylde then found his way down to the first floor to walk straight through the middle of the floor to “take drink orders”. As Zakk took the stage again, he stood on his personal riser and, like a true god of thunder, held his Warhammer above his head– drawing much adulation from his fans. “Concrete Jungle” and “Stillborn” brought the scorching set to its end. As the band began to leave the stage, Wylde worked his guitar to draw a deafening cycle of feedback from his rig.He rested his axe on the stage where the feedback continued like a siren.Wylde celebrated by beating his chest with both hands, like an angry gorilla between quick bouts of waving good-night. Needless to say, he came, he saw, and he conquered. Zakk Wylde, had once again, slayed yet another crowd – and will soon be touring bigger venues over the next three years as part of Ozzy Osbourne’s No More Tours 2 Farewell Tour.
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Great show coverage and fantastic photos