Danzig – The NorVa, Norfolk, VA (06.15.10)
Posted by Mitch Michaels on 06.17.2010
Danzig kicks off a short tour in support of their upcoming Deth Red Sabaoth on a wicked night in Norfolk…
Have you ever had one of those bands that you really liked but for one reason or another you’ve just never seen them live? That’s the way I was with Danzig. I’ve been a fan of Danzig since high school, but every time they’ve toured near me, I’ve not made it to the show for one reason or another. That all changed Tuesday night.
Danzig is getting ready to release their ninth album, Deth Red Sabaoth, which hits stores on June 22nd. The band (fronted by the legendary Glenn Danzig, founder of both the Misfits and Samhain) has been around since 1988, but hasn’t issued an album proper since 2004’s Circle Of Snakes.
My brother and I had the discussion that we seem to see a lot of bands live when they’ve – for lack of a better expression – gotten old. I saw AC/DC and Metallica for the first time only within the last couple of years. Saw Aerosmith after they’d been around for over two decades. And so on and so on. That’s not to say the bands were putting on bad shows (quite the opposite) – it’s just to say they’ve been around for a while. Luckily, I also seem to catch bands when they’re touring on good albums.
And that happened again with Danzig. With their biggest hit “Mother” rocking the radio 17 years ago, you can’t say Danzig is a band that’s going to be a Twitter trending topic anytime soon. But what you can say is Deth Red Sabaoth is a hell of an album. I’ve had an advance of the CD for a week or two, and it’s just as good as the “classic era” output (classic era being the “Mother” era, when the band had a stable line-up from around ’88 to ’94 and before Glenn Danzig decided to try his hand at murky industrial metal). Tough and to the point – it’s been a long time since Danzig rocked this hard. So when I heard that the band was doing a short 9-city tour and that opening night was just two and a half hours away, I had to go for it.
(By the way – should you be jealous of my early listen of the new album, go to one of these shows – they’re selling the CD along with a limited edition single, even though it doesn’t hit stores until Tuesday.)
This was my first trip to the NorVa, and it’s a nice venue. Right in downtown Norfolk and across from a mall, so it’s easy (and cheap) to park. Standard floor and balcony set-up. The crowd was a sea of Misfits and Danzig shirts, with a few goth girls thrown in to keep it from being too much of a sausage fest. I missed the first act, which was Seventh Void. They feature Danzig’s drummer Johnny Kelly alongside Kenny Hickey; they were also in Type O Negative together.
The second band (and a big draw for the night) was Gorgeous Frankenstein. They also have a Danzig connection – their guitarist is Doyle, who also played guitar with Danzig in the Misfits way back in the early ‘80’s. Visually, Gorgeous Frankenstein was fun band to see because, well, it LOOKED like I was watching a Misfits show. There was Doyle on the side, in his Misfits gear, though he switched the Crimson Ghost skull for a GF logo – which is also a skull. That skull was plastered on the stacks and backdrop too which, if nothing else, is really good merchandising. Had I not blown my cash on a Danzig CD, I would’ve went home wearing a Gorgeous Frankenstein shirt.
The band has more in common with Samhain, though, than the ‘Fits. Less melodic and punky – a tougher, broodier post-punk that’s still kind of punchy. The band ran through 8 or 9 songs, with titles like “Cemetery Sex”, “Mark Of The Beast” and “Learn To Bleed” – clearly they know their audience. A lot of energy though, and a good setup for the main event.
Set List
1. SkinCarver
2. Twist Of Cain
3. Hammer of the Gods
4. Her Black Wings
5. Tired of Being Alive
6. How The Gods Kill
7. Do You Wear the Mark
8. On a Wicked Night
9. It's Coming Down
10. Thirteen
11. Unspeakable
12. Bringer Of Death
13. Black Angel, White Angel
14. Mother
Encore:
15. She Rides
16. Long Way Back From Hell
Not only was I lucky enough to catch Danzig supporting such a strong album, I was lucky enough to catch the band with maybe their most solid line-up in over a decade. It’s no secret that Danzig has been a revolving door since all of the original members but Glenn Danzig left in 1994. On the Deth Red Sabaoth tour, it feels like we’re finally getting to see a really gelled band instead of just Glenn and some hired guns. First off, you have the venerable Tommy Victor (ex-Ministry/ex-Prong) on guitar, who’s been with the band off and on for a while now, and steady for the last two years. Kelly is behind the kit, and he’s also been a big time touring player for the band (Sabaoth is actually his first album with them, though). And on bass is Steve Zing, the former bassist for Samhain who has been with Danzig steady since Samhain reunited and opened for the band several years ago. This version of the group laid down a hard-hitting, no-bullshit metal tutorial all night long and the metal signs were waving nonstop.
Of course, Glenn Danzig IS the show, and the guy didn’t disappoint. The giant Danzig skull backdrop was revealed and the lights went out, the screaming guitar blared and hear comes Glenn – starting to look his years a little (the guy’s pulling 50), but still sounding like Jim Morrison dipped into hellfire.
The band kicked things off with “SkinCarver” from their last album, Circle Of Snakes, and then tore through a 16-song setlist that covered nearly every album in the band’s catalog. The set even had some surprises, including “It’s Coming Down” from their breakthrough EP Thrall-Demonsweatlive and the first US live performance of “Thirteen”, which Glenn wrote for Johnny Cash’s first American Recordings album (though the Danzig version gained popularity after appearing in The Hangover last year).
Classics like “Her Black Wings” and “Twist Of Cain” were well received – but the two new Sabaoth tracks (“Hammer of the Gods” and “On A Wicked Night”, which Glenn dedicated to late Type O frontman Peter Steele) were highlights as well.
Of course, nothing could compare to those opening chords of the band’s signature “Mother”, which drove the crowd at the NorVa into a metal rapture. You could barely hear Glenn Danzig’s vocals as the crowd sang along and – like he did often during the night – Danzig had to eventually just put the mic out and let the people be heard. The band returned with blistering versions of early Danzig tracks “She Rides” and “Long Way Back From Hell” before calling it a night.
The 411: If you get a chance to see Danzig on this short tour – do it. All of the elements are there for a great show – an awesome new album, a killer line-up and a good opening act (east coast, anyway – Gorgeous Frankenstein won’t be following the band west). While Danzig has been chugging away for over two decades, they seem energized on this tour, and that always translates to the audience. My only complaints would be a short setlist (the band came out for the encore barely an hour after they took the stage the first time), but for a $23 ticket, you can’t get a better wicked night than this outside of October 31st.
