Lizzy Borden Concert Review - Aurora, IL
Posted by Pat Brower on 08.28.2002
“Hello suckers, and welcome to Hell!” And with those six fateful words you realize exactly where you are; you’re at a Lizzy Borden concert and you’re in Hell. But a good kind of Hell. The kind of Hell where hair is long, leather is black and metal is always loud, fast and hard. Lizzy Borden played Rockhouse USA in Aurora, IL as part of their Deal With The Devil Tour 2002. Here’s how it went down.
“Hello suckers, and welcome to Hell!” And with those six fateful words you realize exactly where you are; you’re at a Lizzy Borden concert and you’re in Hell. But a good kind of Hell. The kind of Hell where hair is long, leather is black and metal is always loud, fast and hard. Lizzy Borden played Rockhouse USA in Aurora, IL as part of their Deal With The Devil Tour 2002. Here’s how it went down.
The band: Lizzy Borden on vocals; Alex Nelson on guitars and keyboards; Martin Anderson on bass; Joey Scott Harges on drums.
The set:
Tubular Bells (the Exorcist theme by Mike Oldfeild)
There Will Be Blood Tonight (Deal with the Devil)
Notorious (Menace to Society)
Lord of the Flies (Visual Lies)
Hell is for Heroes (Deal with the Devil)
Rod of Iron (Love You To Pieces)
We Only Come Out at Night (Deal with the Devil)
Medley #1: Bass solo; Psychopath (Love You to Pieces); Master of Disguise (Master of Disguise); Guitar solo; Deal with the Devil (Deal with the Devil)
Medley #2: Bloody Mary (Menace to Society); Love You to Pieces (Love You to Pieces)
Me Against the World (Visual Lies)
Red Rum (Love You to Pieces)
Encore:
Drum solo
American Metal (Love You to Pieces)
Roll Over and Play Dead (I can’t remember where this is from…)
Give ‘Em the Axe (EP)
I certainly didn’t know what to expect, having never seen Lizzy Borden live before. Truth to be told, I’m only a recent convert to the screeching tones of Mr. Borden and company; on Tim Wadzinski’s recommendation in Detritus I went and picked up “Deal With The Devil” and then I went and got the rest. And I love it, even “Master of Disguise” (argued by some to be Lizzy’s weakest effort). I had tickets to see Lizzy and Yngwie Malmsteen last year on Yngwie’s tour, but that never took place, so I was more than ready for this show.
It was fantastic. Really. It was such an energetic show that you can’t help but love it. The sound was fine, which it never usually is there and the small Rockhouse stage was magically, or should I say demonically, transformed into Lizzy’s personal playground for the duration of the show. Every song brought about either a costume change for Lizzy or a new prop to be used. He started in a half skull mask, switched to a fur vest, then a cape, a red-lined coat, a grim reaper costume with a full skull mask, and then an eerily realistic devil mask followed by a “wrath” t-shirt. For “Rod of Iron” he busted through a TV set, just like the cover to the Visual Lies album and he bit the neck of a topless woman. An ornate chair and skeleton were used during “Bloody Mary.” Sparkles and the same topless woman were brought out for “American Metal” and Lizzy was adorned in a flag. For the remainder of the encore he was wearing a custom Lizzy Borden hockey jersey; black and green with green flames. Care to guess the number on his back? Yup, 666.
Musically, the band was on all night. During the songs that benefit from multiple guitars for their recorded versions, Alex used a neat harmonic effect to double up the sound, giving the illusion of two guitars playing the same notes. It was also a rare treat to see each musician given a solo break during such a short show. That was the biggest drawback, the fact that they only played for 75 minutes. Martin Anderson’s Bass solo was pretty darn cool. Hearing a bass lead is always odd but he made it work into a full, heavy song. And as for Lizzy’s brother, Joey Scott Harges, shouldn’t his last name be Borden, too?
So long, suckers!
The 411: This band, with this line-up should be playing in much, much bigger venues. Their time has come again. Get out of their way.
