Artist: Fozzy, Symphony Cult & Death Valley Piledriver

Venue: Empire, Middlesborough  

Date: 12 October 2010   

Earlier this year I got my first taste of the band Fozzy with their excellent new album 'Chasing the Grail', and to say I was impressed with the album was an understatement.  The band at the time were just about to start a short UK tour with a promise of more dates to follow later in the year, and true to their word the band returned to the UK with a string of dates up and down the country.  We headed down to Middlesborough Empire to catch the band live.

Fozzy tonight had two very different support acts first up were Peterborough’s Death Valley Piledriver, a band who's sound is avant-garde metal and who did their best to blow away any cobwebs the crowd had started to gather before the lights went down.

They delivered a tight and moderately heavy set, which seemed to be a bit too much for some of the audience here tonight, but there were a few die-hard metal-heads hanging onto the barrier giving it horns and some serious head-banging.

With the larger than life frontman Riktor doing his damnedest whip the crowd into some sort of frenzy, but it seemed to be lost on most, to be honest these guys delivered a real metal punch and a more metal crowd would have loved what they brought to the table.

Second up was Symphony Cult, a band that seemed to bring the crowd out of the darkest crevices, maybe this was due to lead singer Charlotte Lubbock as she stalked the stage.

The band mix of driving guitars courtesy of John Lovell and Lubbock’s tremendous vocal power and the big rhythm section of Barney Cushman and Jack Slade, it was hard to believe that the big sound coming out of the PA was delivered by a quartet, such was the power this band was producing.

They opened their account with ‘You’ and instantly you knew this was going to be a different sounding band than openers DVP.  Lobbcock displayed one of the finest female metal vocals I’ve heard from a British band in ages.  She powered through the songs with such grace and power that I like most of the crowd were really drawn into the set.

Things continued in similar vein with ‘Unspoken’, again featuring a massive massive vocal, accompanied by some strong guitar work by Lovell and that ever present ball busting rhythm section of Cushman and Slade.  

The big tunes just keep coming as this very impressive band carried on their set with ‘Speak’ and groove filled masterpiece ‘Nightmare’, although the band left the best till last with the stunning rocker ‘Until Tomorrow’ and set closer ‘This Devastation’.  A real metal monster with streaming guitar licks from Lovell, a powerhouse back beat, all enveloped by the stunning vocals of Lubbock.  To say this band have the total package is an understatement.  Definitely a band to watch out for in the future.   

Now for the main event Fozzy.  After almost continuous playing of the new album I was really up for the live show, as were the audience, and it wasn’t long before the band hit the stage running as the intro, and I must say the very apt 'We Will Rock You' faded and it was on with the show.

All the band hit the front of the stage to roaring cheers, none more so than Chris Jericho, as the band opened up with ‘Under Blackened Skies’ and from here on in we were treated to proper an old school rock show.  No frills, just a band, their music and an audience to satisfy ... and satisfy they did.  Anyone who dismisses this band as side project obviously hasn’t tasted the band live because these guys are the real deal and to say they enjoyed what they did would be an understatement.  The huge grins and smiles the band all displayed showed that they’d come to rock and rock they did.

The show continued in with the massive metal anthem ‘Martyr No More’, as Jericho displayed his raw vocal talent to a grateful crowd, while Rich Ward and Billy Grey threw out riffs like rice at wedding, all the time the monster back beat of Sean Delson and Frank Fontsete delivered the solid foundation behind the whole Fozzy sound. 

The heady bass and big drum sound were in the forefront once more as the band delivered on of the songs of the set with the superb ‘Grail’, before turning back the clock to the bands ‘All That Remains’ album for ‘Wanderlust’, then it was time for another great song of the night, the tongue twisting splendour of ‘Paraskavedekatriaphobia (Friday the 13th)'.  A real metal explosion that had the crowd chanting out Y2K Jericho WWE moniker.  

This seemed to vex him a little as he prompted the crowd to acknowledge the band and demanded chants of Fozzy to which the crowd responded in great voice and soon the "FOZZY! FOZZY! FOZZY!" cheers rang out.  

It was back to the great night of metal with the superb cover of  ‘Crucify Yourself’ before returning to the new album for ‘God Pounds His Nail’, not before Jericho made a platform out of amp and gave us few pointers to sing-along to with the chorus.  So it was ... "HEY! HEY! HEY!" and "ONE! TWO! THREE!" all the way.  This was old school Metal Manowar style.  There was a moment during this song where Jericho nearly came a cropper as he jumped on to the amp and the whole thing shot forward, much to his surprise and Ward's amusement, who had to look away.  I thought Ward was gonna wet himself at that point laughing so much.  But Jericho managed to keep his balance and retained his dignity ...  just.  The crowd also gave Jericho a bit of hard time after the song as they chanted “You fucked up! You fuck up!” but Jericho quickly let them know that he was the frontman and frontmen never fuck up! And that was the end of that, enough said!

By this time the whole place was jumping, the bands enthusiastic stage presence seemed to ignite the crowd and this fuelled the band even more as they rock the place big style with the excellent ‘Let The Madness Begin’ and the superb cover of the Judas Priest classic ‘Freewheel Burning’, which rounded off the set.  The band left the stage to rapturous applause.

Thankfully we didn’t have to wait long for their return as the rocked once more with ‘Whitechapel 1888’, before rounding off one of the best rock shows I’ve seen all year with what else but ‘Enemy’.  

I have to say this, if you remember when bands made a connection with their audience and really put on a show then you’ve got to check out Fozzy if they are playing a venue near you, because these guys are the real deal.  I've never had so much fun at a show in a long time.  

 

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