That's Portland, Maine

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Black Label Society Live in Portland, ME
Tuesday, April 5th, 2005
Review by RED-EYED RYAN

Even though the doors at the State Theater in Portland, Maine didn't open until 7PM, The Maine Chapter of the Black Label Society were in line and around the block at 5:00 ready for the bludgeoning to begin.

Meldrum opened the show. The crowd was totally into them and not because 3 out of the 4 members were chicks, but because they came out and just kicked ass. The singer sounded like Pat Benatar on steroids! She was sporting the pirate look with a patch over her right eye. Not thinking much of it other than something different to wear on stage, she explained halfway through the set that she has a prosthetic eye that had actually fallen out in Topeka, KS earlier in the tour! How metal is that?!! The pits were all over the place as they closed with set with Pantera's "Walk". It was a great tribute, however I couldn't help but feel the loss of Dime realizing that I would never hear that or any other Pantera song the way they were meant to be played. They were totally cool though, thanking BLS for taking them out for the tour and showed their appreciation by meeting fans and signing by the merch booth all night.

Despite previous BLS fan posts mentioning they had to wait 2-3 hours before the band came out, it only took about 30 minutes for the boys to hit the stage. The sirens began going off as the theme from The Godfather played over the PA. The band kicked into Stoned and Drunk and the crowd went absolutely nuts. The pits were swirling, horns and bodies were flying everywhere and the crowd practically drowned out Zakk screaming the lyrics. It was such beautiful chaos!

After a few slamming tunes, the band slowed it down with In This River. Zakk and Evil Twin were both playing sweet Dean Dime Signature guitars, Zakk with the Razorback and Nick with The Confederate Flag. At that point, I proceeded to pull out a cannon I had rolled prior to the show and fired it up in Dime's honor. I had gotten seperated from one of my buddies that was on the floor with me when the show began, so in true BLS fashion I shared the fatty with a dude and his girlfriend that were standing next to me. Zakk did an incredible extended solo during the song as Maine's wackiest kicked in. After getting completely RED-EYED, I was left with a hog's leg of a roach that no one seemed to want, so I tossed up on stage.

After kicking some more ass hammering-out "Suicide Messiah", "Demise Of Sanity" and my favorite song of the night "Spread Your Wings", Zakk took a seat at the drum riser with his acoustic and began ripping away as the other band members, BLS roadies, and Meldrum hung out on stage and were doing shots of Crown. Zakk was just as amazing soloing on the acoustic. After doing "T.A.Z.", "Mama, I'm Coming Home" (in which the audience sang) and "Spoke in the Wheel", it was time to kick it back into overdrive with "Fire it Up."

Towards the end of the show, Zakk mentioned the importance of family and how happy he was to be rocking with his Maine Chapter. He also made a comment about never ratting on your friends which got everone laughing. "Let me give you an example. Jose Conseco--CUNT! Mark Macquire--one of the boys!" Too funny!

All in all, it was a hell of a show, one of the best I've ever seen. I can honestly say that I have never witnessed such intense ripping on the guitar since the times I saw Dime play live. Make no mistake about it, Zakk Wylde is the King of Rock and Metal guitar and the BLS family is constantly growing and here to stay. SDMF FROM THE FUCKING MAINE CHAPTER AND AS ALWAYS, BLEED BLACK LABEL!!!

The Setlist:
Stoned & Drunk
Destruction Overdrive
Been A Long Time
Funeral Bell
Suffering Overdue
In This River
Suicide Messiah
Demise Of Sanity
Spread Your Wings
T.A.Z
Mama I'm Coming Home (Acoustic)
Spoke In The Wheel
Fire It Up
Stillborn
Genocide Junkies