After touring for the past few months with the legendary Saxon, and then doing a quick spin around Canada on their own, you would think that the homecoming/final tour stop at The Georgia 120 Tavern for hard rock band Fozzy would be the “thank God we’re home” show and they’d be looking to just get it over with, to quickly go home to get some much needed sleep. That sure as hell wasn’t the case, because the band looked unbelievably fresh, and performed with bucketfuls of exuberence and gusto. They genuinely looked like they were have a blast.
Taking the stage after the playing of AC/DC’s “Have A Drink On Me” the band – singer Chris Jericho, guitarists Rich Ward and Billy Grey, bassist Paul DiLeo and drummer Frank Fontsere – performed seven songs from their latest CD Sin and Bones, along with select tracks from their previous four records.
As far as front men go, Chris Jericho is a natural. I guess you have to figure that if he’s comfortable in front of 20,000 screaming wrestling fans, he’s probably going to feel right at home in front of a couple hundred of Fozzy’s followers. He’s an energetic entertainer, as were the rest of the band. The only time any of them stayed in one place was to provide background vocals … other than that, they were in constant motion, all over every inch of the stage. Bassist DiLeo and guitarist Grey were side by side and how these two didn’t smack each other in the face with a guitar headstock is beyond me.
The set list included the band’s new single “Sandpaper,” along with “Spider In My Mouth,” “She’s My Addiction,” “Inside My Head,” “Sin and Bones,” “Blood Happens” and “Shine Forever.” “Pray For Blood,” “God Pounds His Nails” and “Martyr No More” from their 2010 CD Chasing The Grail were included, and they pulled “Whitechapel 1888 / To Kill A Stranger” from 2002’s Happenstance. A cover of Krokus’ “Eat The Rich” might have been the only dud in the bunch … there are better selections from their debut CD Fozzy to chose from. It would have been nice to hear a second selection their 2005 album All That Remains – their best in my opinion – but the only song performed was “Enemy.”
If you like loud, high-energy rock, then be sure to catch Fozzy live; you won’t be disappointed.
Opening the show was local band The Thrillhammers, whose infectious brand of good old rock n’ roll got the party started early. Their new CD titled Highway 369 was produced by Fozzy guitarist Rich Ward.
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