Corestates Center – Philadelphia, PA
September 15, 1996
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Quick stage turnovers with a pep talk from WYSP on air staff between all the bands left no chance for ear cilia to relax. Although the new center, whose interior greatly resembles that of the Corestates Spectrum, played host to several crunching versions within the metal genre, attendees were left with hearing intact the following day. The only requirement that was lacking from a show of this stature was a mosh pit due to the center’s reserved floor seating but that did not stop the fists from pounding. The show kicked off with Narcotic Gypsy.
The next band, Sepultura, took the stage with their “roots” displayed in various ways. Their stage backdrop featured the Roots album cover, a Brazilian flag from their homeland was draped over an amp, and they rushed the stage while a tribal chant sequence prepared the crowd for their entrance. While Sepultura draw from influences from their native Brazil as evidenced in many of their rhythms and acoustical interludes, their true roots shine through in their speed metal attack with standard, thick heavy guitars combined with death metal’s hoarsely shouted vocals.
The band’s tribal embellishments added an element to their sound than is quite unusual to their genre, but certainly worthy of appreciation. Once the band cranked into their high velocity speed riffing, the showmanship remained nothing more than three guitarists attacking their pieces at a ferocious pace with full throttle headbanging intact. In fact, at one point, vocalist/guitarist Max Cavaleva literally attacked his instrument as he yelled, “f*** something up” and then proceeded to smash his guitar and then wing the remnants into the audience.
The band finished their set with each member pounding on various percussion instruments of choice, which left the audience with the band’s native influence plus plenty of drumstick souvenirs.
With a black backdrop reading “blackacidevil” and mystical sounds being emitted to the now full capacity crowd, it was no surprise when pumped up rocker Glenn Danzig roared onto the stage decked out in, what else, all black garb. Immediately, the crowd erupted as the opening chords to “Mother” filled the center. Danzig was running and posturing with such momentum and intensity that he often clipped off the vocals from the song creating a true rendition of the track represented in the MTV video version.
By the second song, Danzig had calmed down enough that his strong baritone voice echoed throughout the hall. The energy with which the entire band exhibited throughout the show almost made one forget that these are songs about death and hate, although Danzig’s goth metal lyrics seem a bit exaggerated to be taken too seriously.
With the band’s ability to change tempos from an almost thrash outleashing of power to the plodding out of sinister metal riffs including industrial background sound on a couple of the tracks, Danzig had no difficulty in evoking their trademark mood of darkness. By the end of the set as Danzig was screaming, “Do you want to take my life?,” judging by the number of outstretched hands, they, at least, wanted a part of it. Even more surprising, Danzig left his shirt on for the entire performance.
After an introduction from WYSP’s on air jock John DeBella in which he sprinkled the many profanities that he is restricted from on the air, it was time for the madman of the evening.
A curtain dropped and two large video monitors stood at each end of the stage. Ozzy Osbourne’s humorous side shined through in good fashion as he was spliced into various “familiar” situations: Coolio’s “Dangerous Minds” video, interviewing Princess Di concerning her sexual activities, performing “Twist and Shout” with the Beatles, and, most hilarious of all, disco dancing alongside John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.
From this point on, the screens were filled with Black Sabbath and Ozzy videos and live footage until Osbourne himself ran onto the stage declaring emphatically, “we’re going to christen this f***in’ place.” After this rebel yell, the band broke into a very thrashy version of “Paranoid” as audience member’s fists pumped in the air.
Vocally, Osbourne had no real problems replicating his flat, banshee wail of the Sabbath era songs sounding particularly convincing on “War Pigs” and “Children of the Grave.” However, on some solo material, he sounded a bit hoarse and unable to reach some of the notes in his already limited vocal range.
Osbourne’s antics on stage seemed quite forced and exhausting (for him). He ran from side to side in a fragile manner, but certainly the effort was to be expected from the true “godfather of metal.” Osbourne’s “athletics” forced him to douse his head in water on a consistent basis, but luckily, he did not forget the crowd as he had two water ouzees prepared for their enjoyment.
Drummer Michael Bordin (Faith No More) was particularly powerful behind the kit (breaking several sticks) adding a discernible punch to each song. Guitarist Joe Holmes’ playing on the Sabbath songs was too flashy as he added high pitch squeals to the loud methodical sludge that was the very appeal of Sabbath in the first place.
His band proved during the instrumental break of “Suicide Solution” that Ozzy still has no problem gathering competent musicians. Not to be outdone by any of the prior acts on the bill, the band updated the Sabbath tunes into raucous, thrashy renditions.
After igniting the crowd with the infamous words: “Are you ready? All aboard,” the band ripped into a charged version of “Crazy Train” whereupon its completion, Osbourne left the stage and taunted the crowd before the band came out to perform its encore consisting of the quasi balled “Mama, I’m Coming Home” and “Bark at the Moon.”
In true “metal” showmanship, Osbourne took a bow with his band, told the crowd how cool they were (“I love you alllll”), and then collected his accumulation of bras and hopefully hit the showers.
A metalhead could truly have not asked for a better collection of genre bending metal bands and varying performances.
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