Danzig 25th anniversary tour devastates Pittsburgh

The 25^th anniversary tour for Danzig with Misfit’s guitarist Doyle made a devastating stop in Pittsburgh on October 21^st at Stage AE. The tour is trekking across America laying waste to every city it encounters. It is a masterful maelstrom of bone-snapping metal, rounded out by support from A Pale Horse Named Death, Texas Hippie Coalition and Butcher Babies. Up first on the docket were the stoner rock powerhouse A Pale Horse Named Death, who proceeded to deliver a pummeling five-song set of sprawling doom epics. With titles like “Killer By Night,” “As Black As My Heart” and crowd favorite “Shallow Grave,” a song that is driven by a pounding Type O Negative bass line accompanied by Alice In Chains vocal harmonies. [lg_slideshow folder=\”2013/Danzig 25th Anniversary Tour with Doyle/A Pale Horse Named Death/\”] It’s no surprise that they sounds like the aforementioned Type O Negative, due to the fact that band is made up of former members of Type O and Seventh Void. They plowed through their set of brutal sludge with visceral intensity, doing an astonishing job of getting the crowd revved up, only stopping long enough to tell the crowd they weren’t fucking loud enough and to say they would be whoring themselves out at the merch booth after the show. Next up on the bill were the new Cowboys from Hell, the heavy southern rock merchants known as Texas Hippie Coalition, who blend the classic southern rock charm of Lynryd Skynyrd with the sledgehammer riffs and monster grooves of Pantera. Their lead singer, Big Daddy Rich, is a big burly good ole boy, who oozes charisma and holds the crowd in the palm of his hand. With a crack of the snare drum, the band ripped into “Hands Up” and “8 Seconds” with a sense of urgency. Big Daddy Rich works the crowd in between every song asking “who’s drinking with me tonight?” and thanking the crowd for spending their hard earned weed money to come and see the show. [lg_slideshow folder=\”2013/Danzig 25th Anniversary Tour with Doyle/Texas Hippie Coalition/\”] The band continued to tear through THC standards like “Damn You To Hell,” “Turn It Up” and the anthem “Pissed Off And Mad About It,” which started the first pit of the evening on a now soaked floor. Just when you thought it was over, Big Daddy Rich took to the mic to say “we usually leave right about now to go smoke some weed, but it looks like you all need a little more THC in your system.” They then played an unexpected encore of “No Shame” and “Outlaw.” During the band’s electrifying set, something magical happened. You could actually see the momentum shift in their favor. When they started to play, only about half the crowd was paying attention to them, but by the end, the floor had filled out and the crowd was chanting T-H-C. Now it was time for the Butcher Babies. The lights dimmed, the intro music began and with a dual death metal scream, the show was underway. The pit opened up as the band tore mercilessly into tracks like “I Smell A Massacre,” “The Mirror Never Lies” and crowd favorite “Mr. Slowdeath.” The band did a fantastic job of supplying a solid high energy musical background, but it is hard to take your eyes off of the two mesmerizing vocalists, Heidi Sheppard and Carla Harvey. The two charismatic frontwomen worked every inch of the stage like seasoned vets, climbing on the amps and barricades, announcing to the crowd that they were there to fuck shit up and to put their horns in the air. The onslaught continued with “The Death Surround” and “In Denial.” Chants of “there’s blood everywhere” from the crowd lead into the closer, “Axe Wound”. The lovely ladies informed the crowd that when the song breaks out, they want to see everyone marching in a circle. Keep your eye on Butcher Babies as they are headed for big things in the very near future. [lg_slideshow folder=\”2013/Danzig 25th Anniversary Tour with Doyle/Butcher Babies/\”] Danzig was up next and rounded out the night. Despite a ridiculously strict no photo policy that actually had the security staff walking through the crowd stopping people from taking pictures with cell phones, Danzig went on to give one hell of a show. They wasted no time and drive headlong into the abyss, pounding out Danzig classics like “Skin Carver,” “Hammer Of The Gods” and “Am I Demon,” which found the enthusiastic crowd singing along at the top of their lungs. Glenn Danzig roamed the stage like a madman, pounding on his chest with the mic and jumping down in the press pit to get face to face with the crazed fans as they bulldozed through tracks like “Dirty Black Summer,” “How The Gods Kill” and fan favorite “Twist Of Cain,” that had the crowd belting out the song louder than Danzig himself. All the while, the biggest and most organized pits of the evening started swirling in rhythmic defiance. Original Misfits guitarist Doyle took the stage and kicked it into a supercharged set of Misfit classics like “Vampira,” “Skulls,” “Bullet” and, for the first time on the tour, “Hollywood Babylon” to a deafening reception. Doyle is a beast that prowls the stage like a deranged psychopath, manhandling his guitar and commanding the crowd. The combination of “Last Caress/Mother” garnered a monster response and by their conclusion, Glenn Danzig was a sweaty mess, but that didn’t stop him from doing the encore of “She Rides” and “Astro Zombie” with unbridled passion. All that was left to do was to thank the crowd for coming as the feedback faded and the lights came up. Every band on the bill did a remarkable job and put on a fantastic show. It was quite obvious from the smiles on the exhausted fan’s faces, that everyone who came had one hell of a good time. -Eric Hunker