Saturated media coverage and the patriotic televised mourning of recently deceased public icons failed to bear on the morbid irony in having Evil Elvis visiting these shores. From his earliest incarnation with the Misfits, through Samhein and his current names sake, Danzig, there is s certain legacy surrounding, the voice, the image and the muscled physique that is Glen Danzig. As we were to be reminded during the concert, tonight’s full moon gig marked 13 years since he last toured Australia, and the crowd assembled at the Palace was more than excited at the prospect of seeing Danzig perform in Melbourne in what may well be his last ever tour.
As we made our way through security and up to the bar, Five Star Prison Cell were winding up the end of their set, these guys having been building up a strong presence in the local scene so I was somewhat gutted to miss them through a huge system. Up second on the bill were Blood Duster, another hard working local band who took to the stage with plenty of energy an maintained the crowds attention through a set of short sharp metal tunes that had elements of groove and a few double kick solos. For all the masquerading in sharkies on stage and songs about 16 and 10 year old girls Blood Duster couldn’t conjure much evilness than the alter boys they were doomed to be as tonight’s sacrificial band.
After a short interlude and some last minute sound checking, the big drapes dropped to reveal a raised drum platform and several stacks of Mesa Boogie amps. With minimal fuss Danzing took to the stage and launched into a brief glimpse of the extensive back catalogue that Glen has amassed over the past few decades. Alongside classics like Godless and Wicked Pussy Cat was the added bonus of a mid-set, 30 minute blast of Misfits classics. Primal grooves and a constant supply of hen squeals screeching from the guitar to fill any quite moments when ever Glen let up on vocals. Wolfgang stormed on stage with skull make up, armband and devilock hairdo cut in full regalia, and busted out with a barrage of riffs including, Skulls, Last Caress and Mommy, Can I go out and kill tonight? . Straight back into Danzig classics, and an uplifting rendition of How The Gods Kill that inspired crowd participation with the chanting vocals and lighter waving out of time to the music.
Complimenting the primal swampy blues infused metal fest was the sparce lighting show. Admittedly part of the fascination with the well timed changes in stage lights was watching the operating flick between red, blue and green scenes on the dimmer controller, whilst smoking a ciggie and fending off the sound engineer. The sound guy was equally amazing to watch, between adjusting levels for different solos and song parts he punched the air and strummed an imaginary guitar and kept leaning over to the lighting guy and punctuating the light changes and cueing him to hit the strobe lights during pertinent parts of the songs. The night peaked with an awesome rendition of Mother from the first album, and rendered the rehearsed encore routine unnecessarily superficial.
