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 Godsmack |
 Rob Zombie |
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Review and photos by Johnny Hall This past Friday, Rob Zombie and Godsmack landed in Binghamton, NY, marking one of their stops as co-headliners and bringing their own special blend of music to area fans. As concert-goers filed in the Floyd L. Maines Arena, they were treated to a masked Ginger Fish as guest DJ, spinning his choices of music to prime the crowd from both his collection of vinyl records and his Mac laptop. Fish had a high energy presence, moving around the stage while thrashing his dreadlocks, prepping the headbangers of the crowd for the show which was to follow.Rob Zombie and his crew of ghoulish band mates took to the stage first. They seemed a fitting band for the Halloween season, bringing their version of a spooky sideshow to town. Unleashing their high voltage by immediately opening their set with "More Human than Human," Rob Zombie on vocals never had a still moment. He commanded the stage while running around its expanse, making sure to engage his whole audience. Piggy D, playing on bass, who was introduced as a "teenage vampire” by Zombie, frequently switched up his bass guitars and made sure to incorporate one shaped like a wooden cross. John 5 came to the stage in a leather patchwork trench coat and a spiked gas mask adorned with swirling LED lightning bolts on the mouthpiece, evoking mental images of a guitar playing Mad Max villain. Ginger Fish came back to the stage this time with his signature, almost kabuki style face paint, but with his trademark upside down cross adorning half of his face. Rob Zombie played his hits including "Superbeast" and "Thunderkiss '65" as well as the cover tunes "We're an American Band," "Am I Evil?," and "Blitzkrieg Bop." The band was having a genuinely good time as evidenced by the smiles that peeked through their makeup. Zombie and the band are consummate performers, controlling the stage while feeding off the music and the crowd. The horror rock god Rob Zombie is sure to carve a smile on the face of every wannabe jack o' lantern who goes to see him. Godsmack, who rose to fame in '95, started their performance with a 15 minute video comedy skit starring some of the road crew, security, and of course the band, followed by another video showing highlights of the current tour set to the Dropkick Murphys' "I'm Shipping up to Boston." The music blasted out of the gate with "Whatever," with Sully Erna (vocals and guitar), Shannon Larkin (drums), Robbie Merrill (bass), and Tony Rombola (lead guitar) then laying into songs including "1000hp" "Awake" and excellent covers of "Schools Out" and " Highway to Hell." A surprise for the crowd was when Larkin's massive drum kit rolled stage left, and a twin drum kit rolled out from behind the original and landed stage right. A three song "Batalla de los Tambores" (drum battle) between Sully and Shannon ensued, and seemed to be a crowd favorite. Sully kept the crowd pumped throughout the set, encouraging the somewhat older group of audience members to blow off a little 9-5 steam by singing and banging along to their favorite heyday songs. Godsmack's stage was masterfully lit, and a live feed screen offered a clear view of to the entire arena. Godsmack proved they could hold up their end of the tour, keeping the crowd mesmerized with their brand of musical voodoo.
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 Godsmack |
 Rob Zombie |
 Rob Zombie |
 Godsmack |
 Godsmack |
 Godsmack |
 Rob Zombie |
 Rob Zombie |
 Rob Zombie |
 Rob Zombie |
 Rob Zombie |
 Rob Zombie |
 Godsmack |