Rockfreaks.net

support Fozzy
author MH date 04/08/13 venue Voxhall, Aarhus, DEN

This Sunday night, mighty Anthrax are on the poster outside Voxhall. A night under the sign of old school metal would promise to be most enjoyable, so full of expectation people slowly began to fill the venue before the warm-up act would take the stage.

Fozzy

This evening's warm-up consisted of American hard-rock act Fozzy. Lead singer Chris Jericho, dressed in a glitter jacket that would soon be stripped off and replaced by something a bit more casual, bounced around in an energetic performance whilst often ascending on his raised platform at the front of the stage. The atmosphere in the music was quite joyful and the band's attitude likewise, especially guitarist Rich Ward whom - I might add - has a pretty rad voice as he backs up Mr. Jericho. He had his own bubble made of a special kind of energy from where he fulfilled his happy jumping dances throughout the entire set. It was obvious that this band functions very well as a live act, since each and every member seemed to enjoy themselves very much and punched through the edge of the stage. This great atmosphere rubbed off on the attending guests as well. It has come to my attention that Chris Jericho is a well-known wrestler, which makes sense after seeing his very confident and slightly theatrical performance. This man knows how to grab his audience in an iron grip, and it goes without saying that even I - who has no love for this music what so ever - got caught up with the show because of the immense confidence and extroverted happyness coming from the stage. And when a frontman can get a nearly half-full Voxhall to sing along, and do whatever bidding he might ask us to do, although it wasn't a spetacular experience due the fact that this confidence seemed a tad too theatrical and unpersonal, I am still forced to bend my elitistic metal mind and succumb to maybe the happiest hard rock/metal act I've come to witness so far.

Anthrax

It's getting close to 21.00 and the venue is swiftly getting filled up with eager fans of a wide variety of age groups. And there is no doubt when the band enters the stage, that this is a band with many years on it's back. Obviously they are no longer strapping young lads, but their attitude, confidence, and routine performance radiates pure professionalism. This is something that often gets in the way for a good concert in intimate surroundings, but not for Anthrax; This show was personal and well performed, not just another day at the office. Frontman Joey Belladonna might be one of the best of his kind (or his age), and he uses his vocal performance to perfection whilst still being able to perform energetically throughout a whole concert and having the will to talk directly to the audience. It's like happiness and energy was the theme of the night, with bass player Frank Bello especially delivering an insanely energetic performance.

A cover song of AC/DC's "TNT" also got the audience pumped for more, as well as the moment the Anthrax backdrops were replaced with a picture of Ronnie James Dio to indicate that they dedicated the next song to his memory. There was plenty of talk and personal interaction with the audience, and plenty of room for joking around between songs. The band played in great harmony and left a Voxhall audience moshing through the more intense and faster songs and crowd surfing as well, which is a rare sight here. Tonight proved to be a party. A Sunday evening with a nearly packed Voxhall made the venue tremble with song, shouting, moshing, headbanging and the occasional crowd surfer. One flaw to a otherwise great show was the replacement for guitarist Rob Caggiano. This new guy - despite his talent - stationed himself on the left side of the stage and cuddled with his guitar in his own world, and this ruined the overall picture a bit. However, that is a minor complaint after watching a great show packed with energy and an infectious party mood.