Let’s get one thing clear straight up. Rock and Roll is meant to be dirty, loud and sweaty, and most of all its meant to be loud and in your face.

So with this in mind the promoters of the BLACK LABEL SOCIETY gig had done their homework beautifully in selecting the Arena in Fortitude Valley as the host for their travelling aural smashfest.

The place is small in comparison to other venues, but what it makes up for in size is offset by the wall of sound that bludgeons you from all directions.

Opening procedings on the night were Gold Coast band LUMP, who, despite making quite a name for themselves, will always derive comparisons as ‘that guy from The Poors’ new band’.

While that band were great in their day, Skeeney’s latest incarnation should by no means stand in his former bands shadow.

Lump are almost brutal in their delivery of their songs, with Skeeney’s vocals and stage presence just the tip of the iceberg. With tight, aggressive drumming, a double assault on guitar and a bass player that would be equally at home in a Rob Zombie clip, Lump not only enjoyed their chance to perform with one of the legendary rock gods, but took the opportunity with both hands, playing a set almost entirely made up of new, unreleased material that left the majority of punters with little doubt that this band was Lump and that the future is about to leave the past behind.

From the time one of Zack’s road crew welcomed the Brisbane Chapter of Black Label Society into the fold and introduced the man himself to the stage the gravity of what was about to be witnessed was almost stifling.

For a man who has been around for longer than I can remember and who has played with the greats including Ozzy Osbourne, Zack Wylde is most certainly NOT resting on his laurels. He set about to decimate the crowd from the outset, reeling off hits such as Suicide Messiah , Losing Your Mind and ‘Demise of Sanity, as well as countless others he has brought to life over the years.

You could feel the passion as Wylde let rip on his guitar in a show that provided more solos than a show could normally accomodate but in this instance it seemed like it wasn’t enough.

Filling the stage with his huge frame and other-worldly charisma, Wylde dictated proceedings throughout and despite his backing band being brilliant in their own right this was Zack Wylde’s night and nothing was going to take away from that.

The show slowed down briefly around mid set but nobody begrudged Wylde when he gave a little ode to Steve Irwin and Peter Brock, dedicating ‘The Last Goodbye’ off latest album ‘Shot to Hell’ to the pair as well as to Dimebag Darryl.

Black Label Society are definately a band who are best experienced live and Zack Wylde is definately larger than life and I would defy anyone say otherwise to the mans face