by Deb Rao
– Senior Columnist —
APRIL 27, 2013 at Vinyl in Las Vegas, NV. —
Book Of Doom Acoustic Tour
Black Label Society front-man Zakk Wylde recently made a special appearance on his Book Of Doom Tour at Vinyl in Las Vegas. The tour is in conjunction with the release of his book Bringing Metal To The Children on paperback that came out on April 9.
The Las Vegas Chapter sporting their BLS shirts came out in full force. The show inspired three segments including the acoustic show, readings from Bringing Metal To The Children, and a Q And A segment. Vinyl was the perfect setting for this coffeehouse performance. Zakk Wylde and his band mate Nick Cantanese took the stage at 9 p.m. Opening with “Blessed Hellride” tonight’s performance was all about the guitar shredding and captivating road stories. The repertoire went all the way back to the early Pride And Glory Days, as Zakk and Nick unleashed “Machine Gun Man.”
Tonight’s performance was slated acoustic but I have never seen such a brilliant display of sizzling pyrotechnic guitar shredding as Zakk displayed tonight on his acoustic electric. Zakk shredded the fret board and bedazzled the audience with flawless precision, as every guitar player in the audience stood in awe. After getting past all the amazing guitar work then came the captivating road stories. Zakk the master storyteller was not short on road stories. The guitar player went way back in time from his trek from an aspiring guitar player to becoming one of the most sought after guitarist in the business. One of the most interesting things that Zakk said was that anyone can get into the music business. He said the music business was one of the few careers that you don’t need a degree.
Highlight of the set was the dedication to Dimebag on “In This River.” The passion from this song just soared. Another highlight was “Damage Is Done” featuring Nick Catanese displaying some nice lead work, and Zakk played piano. Other highlights included “Spoke In The Wheel.” It’s a song that Zakk said was the first song for Black Label Society that started it all.
It was clear to see how the southern rock era had heavily influence his song writing. During his performance tonight, he reminded me many times of Gregg Allman especially on the piano ballads.
It was very cool that Zakk did a Q and A segment. In attendance in the audience was GNR guitarist DJ Ashba. He was the first person to ask a question and praised Zakk for his guitar playing. I was also fortunate enough to ask Zakk a question. Zakk has performed all over the world and I was curious to see what his favorite city was to perform in. He answered, ”New York City.” Zakk said,”As a musician I could play anywhere even in a bathroom stall. It’s all about making the music. As long as you bring the comedy along with it.”
Tonight the show was not short on comedy, as the master storyteller and guitar player Zakk Wylde was in his glory, reminiscing about some of the greatest moments of his career. Zakk and Nick ended the show with a cool acoustic rendition of “Stillborn.” The song inspired some nice guitar changes. New York City may be Zakk’s favorite place to perform, but tonight Zakk took Las Vegas by storm in true Black Label style.
Set List:
The Blessed Hellride
Queen Of Sorrow
Machine Gun Man – Pride and Glory
Road Back Home
Spoke In The Wheel
Throwing It All Away
In This River
Damage Is Done
Lovin’ Woman – Pride And Glory
I Thank You Child
Rust
Stillborn
Dillinger Escape Plan Concert Photo Gallery
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[Photos by Jonna Ambur]
