Nothing about Hammerstein Ballroom makes the concert experience easy. Massive lines, security tighter than an airport, and the worlds slowest bartenders are just a bit of the charm generated there. So, you bet your ass its got to be a good to show for me to be there. Well, last night was the uber-testosterone metal band, Black Label Society. Support was from Sevendust, Dope and some band with a terrible name (Infinite Staircase). BLS is certainly enough to crawl out, so when
I got the hookup for a pair of tickets from their PR guy, I was more than willing.
After being felt-up by security I got on line to pick up my passes. No name on the list. After watching what I could of Dopes set from the lobby, texting the radio station and the PR guy for tickets, eventually the box office guy saw that we weren't completely full of shit and let us in. By this time all of Dopes set was done.
The main floor of the Ballroom was PACKED for Sevendust's set. The crowd can be summed up as meathead sausagefest. I'm not a big fan of these guys in general, but I gotta give it to them, they really delivered live. Heavy, fast and energetic. The set included a concoction of Sabbath's 'War Pigs', Pantera's 'Walk', and Alice In Chains 'We Die Young'. Sabbath are my all time favorites, but here I enjoyed the 'Walk' bit the most.
Black Label Society hit the stage with a massive backdrop and pyro. Zakk came out in a derby and began with with a few of the classics, but quickly slowed the pace down as he lost his hat and brought out a piano. He played three slow songs, one being 'In This River' which he dedicated to Dimebag while two massive Dime banners hung overhead. It was a nice gesture and I doubt anyone in the joint wasn't a Dime fan, but three ballads for BLS is a bit much. After this, I was hoping for a pick me up, but instead guitar legend and old fart, Leslie West came out and jammed for about 15 minutes. Again, massive respect, but not what you go to a BLS show for. Next up, Zakk guitar solo time. He played the Star Spangled Banner and then went into an turbo speed solo. Flaunty as fuck. Eventually the band did settle back into normal BLS mode and ended the night with 'Stoned And Drunk', 'The Blessed Hellride', 'Concrete Jungle' and finally 'Stillborn'. All in a good show, but for me I want less jams and more metal in my face.
One last perk of the night was that I met up with the BLS PR guy and he took me and my friends to the Hustler Club for an afterparty. No band members could be spotted, but it was definitely fun to hang with those guys, get some drinks and get treated to fake boob watching.
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