Currently out on tour, “Doomtrooping across North America”, Black Label Society with Prong and Obituary recently visited the metal masses at Portland’s Roseland Theater. The venue, completely sold out with nearly 1500 of Portland’s 21 and over metalheads was writhing and thrashing for nearly 4 hours of solid metal.
Prong opened up the gig with a solid set. About half way through, during “Broken Peace”, drummer Aaron Rossi’s hi-hat decided to become dysfunctional, ejecting the top half out onto the stage. Aside from a brief chuckle, he kept right on time. Stage hands got everything reassembled just before kicking in “Another Worldly Device”. Prong played 8 songs opening with “Test” from their 1994 album Cleansing and closing with “However It May End” off of their most recent release Zero Days.
When Obituary hit the stage, the crowd was finally in full swing. Vocalist John Tardy kept trying to get a circle pit going, but the Portland crowd simply couldn’t comprehend what the band was asking for, instead opting to surf a few willing attendees up to the barricade. It’s okay Portland, you’ll get it figured out.
The wait for Black Label Society to begin their set took an unusually long time. With the set change complete, the antsy crowd broke out into chants of “B L S” several times. Security also had to weave into the crowd a couple of times as some restless fans decided to put on a show of their own. When Black Label Society finally hit the stage, all eyes were front and center as Zakk Wylde and his cohorts began their master class. They opened up their set with “Bleed”, ultimately playing 11 tracks before sending everyone back out into the night. Zakk performed a touching tribute to fallen comrades Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul. As Zakk took a seat at the piano, tapestries of Dime and Vinnie were pulled down over the massive amplifier stacks. “In This River” has become a staple at Black Label Society shows, but that didn’t diminish the impact that it had on every patron at the Roseland. The emotion in the venue was palpable.
Lest we forget we’re at a metal show though. Zakk with his massive riffs, monster pinch harmonics and never-ending catalog of sexy signature guitars were definately on display for the whole set. At one point, near the end of the set, guitarist Dario Lorina and Zakk performed a sort-of “riff off” trading jabs back and forth for several minutes, most of which was performed with their guitars slung up behind their heads. Zakk and Dario made this feat seem effortless, while us mere mortals simply observed, completely awestruck.
Black Label Society is taking their Doomtrooping nationwide through October, wrapping up at the end of November.
