Finally the Melbourne rain decided to disappear and take a break. The gloom is however still above us, and so it was to be a perfect night for metal. The Forum is swarming with long hair, long beards, cigarette smoke and Johnny Cash shirts as I enter the front door, squeeze past security and head down to the slowly filling standing area. The Forum is one of my favourite Melbourne venues but this was the first time I was going to see anything this loud, and this tough, here. The place was going to be brought to it’s knees.
It is a night of electric guitar showmanship. Headlined by the one and only Zakk Wylde with his band Black Label Society and supported by Vinnie Paul (brother of Pantera’s Dimebag Darrell) and Hellyeah, along with Prosthetic Records’ Holy Grail. It is a line up straight from the heart of American metal.
People move steadily back and forth from the side bars, as many a beer is consumed even before the first band. It isn’t long before Holy Grail enter and the pitch-perfect power-metal screams of lead singer James de la Luna proceed to permeate through the Forum and probably across Federation Square. Luna is a former choir boy and his ability to shred songs to pieces with his powerful lungs is not hard to appreciate. Holy Grail were labelled by LA Weekly as “Wyld Stallions with actual chops”, and from the performances of guitarists Eli Santana and Alex Lee I can see why. Their duelling solo work is something to behold. Any power-metal heads out there who missed the show should check out their song ‘Crisis in Utopia’; the Californians really know how to keep a crowd entertained. After their set I spot Santana and Lee chatting with fans at the bar, I wander over and couldn’t help but congratulate them both with a handshake followed by an unexpected fist pump.
During the break people scurry to the bar or head to the front of the venue for a quick smoke on Flinders Street, before Hellyeah take the stage. Vinnie Paul enters from stage right with raised fists and stands above everyone on his drumkit, amping the crowd into a frenzy. With his trademark black bandana and black drumming gloves I almost feel like Dimebag is here with us.
In fact throughout Hellyeah’s entire set I can almost sense Dime looking down on us from above, making sure everybody has a fun night. Vocalist Chad Grey of Mudvayne fame knows how to control a crowd. His raspy liquor fuelled voice box cuts through the Forum like a chainsaw as he rips through classics like ‘Hellyeah!’ and ‘Cowboy Way’. Hellyeah are a tight group of musicians forming one hell of a supergroup. Paul gives us glimpses of his Pantera past, keeping time like the demon he is; he plays just as hard, if not harder than he did back in the day. By now the crowd has pushed up to the front and the circle pit mayhem begins. Grey even leaps into the pit at one stage before finding his way back on stage and giving the crowd a heartfelt thank you. Hell yeah!
By now the punters are nicely liquored up, and even with my earplugs firmly in place I can hear the buzz. The black curtain falls, and anticipation for the main event hits me. Zakk Wylde is a modern day legend. He was scooped up by Ozzie Osbourne while still in his teens and has since made a name for himself in his own right with Black Label Society.
I’ve seen his fingers move faster than the speed of light on YouTube and couldn’t believe I had the chance to witness such a special talent with my own eyes. The curtain finally raises revealing Marshall stacks ten foot high. Amid a sea of screams and whistles, Wylde hits the stage in a huge Native American styled headdress accompanied by his infamous, Zakk Wylde Signature, bullseye-painted Gibson Les Paul.
The entire set is relentless, and Wylde’s stage presence is something from another planet. I can’t take my eyes of him, and it’s almost as if the rest of the band aren’t there. He throws the headdress to one side and lets his long locks flow, sipping his beer nonchalantly while in mid solo. The man seems to have the energy of a thousand guitarists, his finger work is unbelievably quick, and he weaves his way around the stage with ease.
‘Concrete Jungle’ is ringing in my ears and you can’t help but feel that he could play all night if he was allowed. Much like the days of his youth where he would play for 12 hours every night and catch up on sleep while at school. Mid set the rest of the band leaves the stage, his guitar begins to scream and drone during an epic solo that leaves me literally mind fucked. His fingers move so fast up and down the neck of his guitar that they almost look like they aren’t moving at all. Everybody in the Forum is enthralled, and even security can’t take their eyes off the events unfolding before them. The circle pit returns and the temperature inside goes up a few degrees, bodies sway back and forth and arms reach to the stage hoping for just one touch of the guitar god. I get my beer spilt all over me by a swinging arm and I’m having so much fun I don’t even care.
As he finishes his final perfectly crafted guitar scream, disappears from view and the main lights of the Forum blind the already deaf crowd, I realise I have just been taken on a journey. I have no idea where Wylde had taken us, but all I know is that I want to go there again, real soon.
– Alastair McDonald
