After his first stint in Germany in support of his album Catacombs Of The Black Vatican and support shows for Black Sabbath, where he left enthused fans, guitar icon Zakk Wylde returns to Germany with his heavy Rock band BLACK LABEL SOCIETY for only two headlining shows. And one led him and BLACK LABEL SOCIETY to the :: FZW Club :: in Dortmund. Many followed this call, queues at the door were long and the FZW with over 1200 fans almost sold out.

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But many fans decided to spend their time anywhere else around the club as the main hall was clearly filled when :: CROBOT :: entered the stage. Founded in 2011, this young band from Pottsville, Pennsylvania, made it from an insider's tip to a hyped act, already playing with big ones and on renowned festivals. Ok, the band's retro Rock/Stoner/Blues sound is so hip; you can't do it wrong with it these days. But their success doesn't come undeserved. If you see them playing live you will know what I mean. CROBOT is a band brimming over with energy and delight in playing. They so downright rock the stage as if there were no tomorrow. Songs, sound and performance make you feel like traveled back in time to the heydays of the flower power era. You quickly could smell weed in the air that left the security grumpy as they couldn't find the smokers (no smoking area). Well, perfectly suiting I'd say ;) CROBOT have released only one record so far, their debut Something Supernatural, they almost played in its entirety. Great show! I absolutely loved it!
Setlist: The Legend Of The Spaceborne Killer, Skull Of Geronimo, Night Of The Sacrifice, La Mana de Lucifer, Nowhere To Hide, The Necromancer, Chupacabra, Fly On The Wall

Next up was :: BLACK TUSK ::, a band that takes on a difficult legacy. Last year in November the band's charismatic bass player Jonathan Athons passed away. Surviving members Andrew Fiddler and James Mays decided to go on with the band and play this tour in memory of Jon. No easy task for the new bass player Corey Barhorst either, I guess. With BLACK TUSK we had another band on stage playing their asses off, spreading much energy and rocking the stage, yet with certain tiredness in their faces. Of course they paid homage to Jonathan with a bottle of whiskey. As there was to read, BLACK TUSK is going to spread his ashes around Europe and North America. So whenever they pass a river, canal or lake a pinch of Jon's ashes gets spread. So they bestow the world on him and pay their last respects.

The next change-over took a little longer as the huge Marshall phalanx and other stage paraphernalia needed to be prepared. All happened behind a huge black curtain with the white :: BLACK LABEL SOCIETY :: logo on it. Done. Line check. Done too. And still waiting. It's almost 10.30pm when the lights went out and Whole Lotta Sabbath introduced to BLACK LABEL SOCIETY. They started with a song from the debut while the curtain fells played classics afterwards and then went to the new material from Catacombs Of The Black Vatican. Zakk Wylde looked ailing; his voice didn't sound good either. And there were a lot of drugs in the background, like a mobile pharmacy. Well, it's flu season. To watch Zakk Wylde playing was strange. He did everything mechanical and formulaic. And totally predictable: playing, singing, stepping up the platform and headbanging, stepping down, playing, singing. All on repeat. He didn't communicate with the crowd. He not even seemed to see his fans. And he still didn't know his lyrics. He had huge laminated sheets lying to his feet and a stage-hand had to take them away after every song. Only bass player John DeServio responded to the audience and flirted with the first row. After the smashing Damn The Flood, Zack Wylde played a long-winded, I'm-the-biggest-and-the-best-guitar-player-in-the-world guitar solo. At least for 10 minutes but it felt like an half hour and at the end it was just going on nerves. However, following songs compensated again. Yeah, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY have some great material and I really like the voice of Zakk Wylde. At the end Wylde changed his mind and started to talk, introducing his band members and saying hello to the local BLS chapter. He also did not forget to honor Dimebag Darrel while huge banners got uncoiled down the speakers. After not even 90 minutes and Stillborn the show was over and BLACK LABEL SOCIETY left without an encore. Not really my definition of "value for money". Though and once again a great concert evening at the FZW.
Setlist: Whole Lotta Sabbath, The Beginning… At Last, Funeral Bell, Bleed For Me, Heart Of Darkness, Suicide Messiah, My Dying Time, Damn The Flood, guitar solo, Godspeed Hell Bound, Angel Of Mercy, In This River, The Blessed Hellride, Concrete Jungle, Stillborn

story & pics © Dajana & Dajana Winkel • Photography