Danzig at the Trocadero in Philadelphia 6/19/10
On June 19th, my friend, Sarah, and I celebrated our beloved Glenn Danzig’s birthday a little early – with him! She drove down from Rhode Island and whisked me away to Philadelphia to see our pretend boyfriend on tour. Unfortunately, traffic and beautification delayed our arrival, so we missed both Gorgeous Frankenstein and Seventh Void. Still, we made it just in time to stand around in sweaty darkness for a good twenty minutes before shadows and gloomy sounds alerted us to his arrival. When the light came on, I admit that I squealed. But, I wasn’t the only one. Sarah, for her part, made sure to kill the 12-year-old girl in me by saying: “Whoa, he looks old.” All I could see was bare-chested, video-Danzig. Sort of.
For about an hour and a half, the band expertly played songs from every Danzig album. I believe that he introduced three new ones. I can only remember Hammer of the Gods and On a Wicked Night, which were pretty good choices. Twist of Cain, Her Black Wings, Thirteen, my super-favorite How the Gods Kill, and a blur of other songs ended in Mother. At this point, Sarah and I gave up her comfort and my wussiness and walked through the now-sluggish, sausage fest of a pit to get to the front. The encore consisted of the appropriate Dirty Black Summer and Am I Demon. My hair was pulled, my glasses got foggy, sweat burned my eyes, and men’s awful muskiness enveloped both of us. Why had I waited so long??! (Maybe because guys aren’t always willing to give up their spot even if it means a soft, short, less smelly cushion. So, why risk punches to the head?)
As I said, the band sounded great. The only bit of oddness was Tommy Victor’s constant hand gesturing. (Does he act like this when fronting Prong??) Admittedly, motioning to the crowd so that they can be louder is not weird. BUT, when he couples it with the He-Da-(Satanic)-Man-style pointing at Danzig, it becomes all sorts of distracting things. (You got the job, dude. Cut it out!) Meanwhile, bassist Steve Zing was rocking his locks and intensely posing. Drummer Johnny Kelly had a calm demeanor and huge, welcoming smile. And, Danzig… Oh my sweet, sweet Danzig kept swinging his mic, pulling out the devil horns, gnashing his teeth, congenially talking to the crowd, throwing lots of bottles of water to the dehydrated fans, and being his perfectly bohunk-y self. All of this, he did while delivering near-record-quality vocals. The man can definitely sing live. I’ve heard people knock his live performances, but he doesn’t disappoint. At the end, he thanked us and wished us a safe return home. Sarah thought that his politeness calls his evil into question. I think that it’s evil with a smile.
Delayed by Summer Session, Cristina