Anyway, I caught the Fozzy show in Charlotte last night. For those of you that don’t know, Fozzy is a band fronted by WWF wrestler Chris Jericho. They do mostly covers of heavy metal classics. So we got to the club around 8. It was an all-ages show and they meant it. They had underage kids who were obviously WWF fans and people in their 30s like me who are classic metal fans. Some of the people in their 30s though were dressed like it was 1985. Even if I could still fit into my skin-tight snakeskin pants, I wouldn’t wear them today.
Sat at a table up in the balcony. I’m too old to be down on the floor anymore. But that didn’t stop me from having an obstructed view. People kept standing in front of me all night long. Once the show started I had a pretty good view.
The opening act was a band from South Carolina called Thread. They were pretty good if you’re into Creed type rock. The lead singer needs some work, though. His voice was great, but his moves were stiff on stage. He kind of danced like Elaine on Seinfeld. And his attire was very un-rockstar-like. They left the stage at about 9:45.
I went back downstairs and bought myself a Fozzy “We are huge rock stars” T-shirt. Fozzy took the stage at 10:30 and opened with a blistering version of Judas Priest’s “Freewheel Burning”. They did songs from their first CD like Twisted Sister’s Stay Hungry, Dio’s Stand up and Shout and Krokus’ Eat the Rich. And they did songs off the new CD like Accept’s Balls to the Wall. They also did some songs that aren’t on either CD like “Wrathchild” from Iron Maiden, “TNT” by ACDC, and Judas Priest’s “Breaking the Law”. I would say there were about a good 100 people in the club. Most of them up near the stage.
Halfway through the set WWF wrestlers Matt Hardy and Lita showed up. The fans, for the most part, left them alone or treated them with respect. You go Charlotte.
Of course, there was the one really drunk guy who was thrashing about like he was having a seizure, but he was “dancing”. He ended up knocking drinks out of people’s hands. He’s lucky he didn’t get the crap beaten out of him.
During a break in the act, one of the guitarists says “jelly donuts” for no apparent reason. That became a running gag for the rest of the night. At points, even the crowd was chanting “JEL-LY DO-NUTS”.
They closed out with Motley Crue’s “Livewire” at which point a mosh pit was formed in which their pig-like mascot Arthur started moshing too. They came back for an encore and did one of their originals “To Kill a Stranger” and then closed everything with the best version of the Scorpion’s “Rock You Like a Hurricane” I’ve ever heard. During that entire song, Matt Hardy kept making gestures like the wrestler named The Hurricane. WWF fans will get that and think that’s funny.
We didn’t stick around to try to get autographs or anything because it was midnight and I had to work today. But I did buy the new CD on the way out from Arthur himself. I may have gotten some of the song orders screwed up, but I’m doing this off the top of my head. It was a kick-ass show. I felt like it was 1985 again. I was banging my head and pumping my fist all night. This is how rock shows should be. If you get the rare opportunity to go see Fozzy in your town, don’t pass up the chance. You can check out their website at FozzyRock.com.