Fozzy Live Report

I was supposed to see Fozzy once way back in the mid 2000s or something. I had a ticket booked etc but I fell very ill and couldn't go. Here were are a decade later and finally seeing Y2J and his chums Rich Ward etc. Three bands were listed as supported. In fact I should point out this was a dual headline gig with Hardcore Superstar both getting an hour on stage.

First band was called The Last Band but strangely they were on first! Let's get the crap jokes out of the way. They were fairly average for me and held no interest so I just milled around and got a beer and went up to the balcony to sit down and see them from above. They were a sort of heavy groovy nu metal/aggro metal band. Not my cuppa really but I guess they were ok for this kinds modern metal crowd.

After that were a band called Madame Mayhem fronted a by dark haired chick. There's a lot of bands around these days playing modern metal with a hot gothy chick fronting them. It can be ok but mostly it's not. MM were ok but not great, but the gal IS great. Great looker and a nice focal point for her band. They need to work on making the songs more catchy like say in Skarlett Riot. Not too bad though and like I said the gal is watchable haha!

Next up were joint headlines, Hardcore Superstar and their souped up glam metal. I am a big fan of one of their earlier albums although I find their most recent stuff a bit average sounding. I've seen them live before and they blew the roof off the stage. I don't think they quite managed it this time. The floor was still bloody packed for them though and I couldn't get anywhere near the stage so I could get a better feel for them. They sound good though but for some reason not as OTT animated as I remembered the last time I saw. I guess they were solid though and played all their best and most memorable tunes. THey are a good band as far as Swedish glam goes though and I far prefer them so say someone like Steel Panther.

I think this was a Fozzy crowd even though it was a dual headline show and that's one of the reasons HS didn't really ignite. However Fozzy did as the intro played and the band took their spots before the man himself, Mr Jericho burst on stage and they launched head on into opening cut Judas. The crowd sing along during the chorus was pretty impressive as the fans lurched forward to get a bit closer. Seems Mr Jericho creates some excitement with his fans. The chants of "Fozzy! Fozzy!" soon start up between every song as the man soaks up the adulation. Seems people really like Fozzy lol, never knew! The band continued with all the big hits from current album and a few classics and played 11 songs in total in their allotted one hour. Which to be fair made for a disappointingly short set. People could have easily had another 30 minutes of this but it was a dual headline so that's what we got. Enemy was my particular highlight. Always loved that tune and it had an extended Ward solo spot too. Jericho's live vocals are a little more gritty and dirty live than they are in the studio but I guess every tries to singer tougher live than in the studio. It's an understandable trait when you're competing with all these massively loud instruments. I should mention the ABBA cover SOS which was really quite fun. The night ended with Sandpaper that catchy tune from the previous album.

Chris seemed genuinely pleased and thanked the crowd for coming and the attendance was very good considering there was another rock gig down the road with MSG. Although I'm not too sure if MSG shares too many fans with Fozzy but to be fair there were a fair number of old school rockers at Fozzy but the crowd was mainly made up of youngsters below 30. Fozzy was fun live, Rich Ward's guitar sounds heavy as fuck and he's actually a really good singer too and provided nice back vocals to Y2J. They left with the crowd's cheers ringing in their ears. Till the next time dudes!