MariaV: After the amazing time we had the previous night, blaming the blow-minding show of BLACK LABEL SOCIETY and the 'Black Label Berzerkus' tour, we had to return to the same 'crime scene' of Congress Theater, downtown Chicago, for another unforgettable show. This time our host was the 'Blackest Of The Black' tour comprising POSSESSED, MARDUK, TOXIC HOLOCAUST, WITHERED and Glenn Danzig, his majesty, on top. For me, after all, a covetable aged dream came true because it was my first DANZIG show and I was so excited that I couldn't wait for the Glenn's appearance.

We were outside the baronial Congress Theater an hour earlier before doors opening and that was the time we realized that the photo shooting was strictly not allowed inside the venue, as we had suspected. Upon entrance the security control was so thorough with all those metal detectors and if anyone had a camera or even a smart phone with a camera, had to leave it in the reception with the charge of five dollars. Man, that's so unfair! I can understand the artist's call who don't want a camera's lens in front of his face all the time and the flash stuck in his eyes but I think when I pay for a live performance to watch an artist and have fun with my friends, I have also the right to hold a camera to take some pictures as a memorabilia of the show, don't you think?

Anyway, the turnout wasn't very satisfactory on the first place but I was hoping that more and more had to come as the time was passing by. And fortunately, I was right. Eventually, the time clocked a few minutes after 7 and the black/ death metallers WITHERED appeared upon stage with summary procedures, where right behind them standing the DANZIG skulls statues, covered with black cloths; the 30 minutes' show although wasn't something special for my taste. The unstoppable, aggressive, ear-blasting sound had nothing interesting to say 'onstage' except looking four headbanged guys all the time, making my neck felt like hurting really bad. The first moshpits was a matter of time (have I ever told you that Americans don't really know how to mosh?! It's very dangerous out there, you know!) and after a while, WITHERED appearance belong to history. TOXIC HOLOCAUST was coming up next and that was something very interesting indeed…

DimK: After WITHERED that left us with mixed emotions it was time for some old school speed Metal. Ok, this "old-school" revival with all those new bands has become almost a mainstream trend but when you have a really good band playing in the old way is always a delight. Without a fancy intro Joel Grindinvited everyone to join them in a "Metal Attack"! The killer opening riff and the speed rhythm break created a huge mosh-pit right in the center of the arena that in times was pretty violent. Here, I have to say that most of the US metalheads in mosh-pit seemed to have absolutely no idea how to react. I mean, it is ok to bang your head, it is ok to run around and push around each other in the pit but it is not ok to get in the nerves of the ones who are trying to enjoy the gig. There were many silly induced injuries that night and that was at least distracting for me. There should be mosh-pits seminars for those light-headed dudes… Nevertheless, TOXIC HOLOCAUST took no prisoners that night; they sound solid as hell and performed the glorious speed Metal the way it should be; raw, fast and violent! "War Is Hell", "The Lord of the Wasteland" my favorite "666" and the fast "Wild Dogs" are some of the setlist highlights that also made me think of the early German Thrash scene with a nice Black Metal edge on it! The fast drum break gave the reason to headbang, sing the chorus lines and occasionally throw yourself in the mosh-pit action. The VENOM sounding "Nuke The Cross" was a glorious and definitely sweaty end to an excellent performance that lifted our and our excitement to the maximum.

DimK: The most honest way to start talking about MARDUK isto state that I wasn't and most probably I will not be a fan of their music. So, having them on the billing was a nice treat since going to a MARDUK headlining concert is not my to-do-list. No matter what I think, the Swedish Black Metal band did well that night and took fully advantage of the given time focusing on the music without in between talks or long intros. In fact, they seemed to be too much professional in my eyes following exactly the "plan" like they did not feel that confident in the DANZIG billing. But, again the many fans inside Congress Theatre had a good time with "Of Hells Fire", "Into Utter Madness", "Christraping Black Metal" and the closing "Wolves". Visually, MARDUK seemed rather stationary with all the action coming from Mortuus and from Morgan's the excellent guitar work. He was fast, precise and presented high endurance throughout the compact setlist.

DimK: Since, I am from Greece I haven't watched POSSESSED on-stage until two years ago. And then, I was not an objective observer since I was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm watching Jeff Becerra spitting out the flaming POSSESSED lyrics. So, having the delight to watch SADISTIC INTENT around Jeff's trademark figure was something to be totally excited. And that time, everything looked larger; the stage was bigger and there was an excitement wave around the audience that had become bigger in number. It was also kind of bizarre watching young kids wearing POSSESSED t-shirts since this is not a studio active band.

The lights went out and the hair-raising intro from "The Excorcist" movie brought the band on stage hitting us right in the face with the homonymous Thrash hymn. The sound was amazing and Jeff did a surprisingly well job behind the mic with a voice pretty close to the studio recordings. Maybe the fact that he did not "touch" anything alcoholic has something to do with his vocal condition. SADISTIC INTENT looked and sounded extremely solid and to my ears their performance seemed pretty confident with the POSSESSED tracks as if they were theirs. Listening to "Tribulation", "Evil Warriors", "Burning In Hell", the guitar driven "Holy Hell" made me thing that they should try to get Jeff in the studio and release a new POSSESSED album. SADISTIC INTENT is a band that has proven it can do justice with the POSSESSED sound so why not try to make new music?

Rick Cortez and Ernesto Bueno served us with Thrash riffs and blew our heads off with "Séance", "Pentagram" and the most influential "Death Metal" that also marked the end of the setlist. This gig was far better than my first experience with POSSESSED despite the triggered emotions two years ago! Please get to the studio soon!

MariaV: It was really hard for me to waiting and the minutes felt like double centuries. I am following DANZIG discographic steps since the very beginning and I couldn't wait more to watch them on stage. Well, the band's line-up is totally different from "Danzig", the first album's era, but the 'Master of Evil Darkness' stands the same, evil and spirited with all this energy inside him, using still his mic's cable as a glowering strap above our heads, filling the entire stage with his dignified presence. I think I can't describe precisely the feelings that hit me when Glenn stepped onstage under "Wotans Procession" sound, between all those pitch black skull statues. The purple lights had covered the entire stage with their fuzzy rays and the thick made-up smoke revealed slowly Glenn's lofty figure. "SkinCarver" was next and everybody became insane! The first mosh-pits were already a fact and Danzig seemed to enjoy pretty much the atmosphere. His vocals, heavy and solid as hell, were in an excellent shape and I was delirious. Then, we went back to the early days with "Twist Of Cain" and another one dream just came true; the intro riff of that song took flesh and bones and the amazing performance of Tommy Victor was unique, reminding so much the prototype.

After that, it was time for two new songs from the latest "Deth Red Sabbaoth" and that was natural, of course; "Hammer Of The Gods" and "Deth Red Moon" gave Glenn some spare breaths for the continue, a little bit before "Tired Of Being Alive" hit us for good and all together began to sing the chorus. The crowd seemed to be DANZIG's die-hard fan base and really loved the old ones more than the newer stuff. "Her Black Wings" gave us another chance to scream our lungs out and then, it was about time for the first big hair-rising moments of the DANZIG show: "How The Gods Kill" characteristic guitar arpeggio spread an absolute silence to the excited crowd, making all of us staring the 'Black Master', while his reading was extraordinary and I think I have no words to describe the moment when the up tempo part entered. That was something I'll never forget. I mean it. "Do You Wear The Mark" followed from "Danzig III" too, making us insane for once again, while the crowd surfing made the security's life even more difficult, as they had also orders to not leave no one to take a picture of the show; when that was going to happen, they grabbed the 'sinner' by his hand and recommended him to not do it again.

The new album's baton passed a little bit later with two more songs, "On A Wicked Night" and "Ju Ju Bone". The first one was introduced by Danzig, dedicated to one passed away friend of the band, meaning Peter Steele and the second was the perfect way for us to get into the Johnny Cash mood, followed next by "Thirteen"; another hair-rising moment, another one highlight from that unforgettable night. Right after that, it was time for some "4p" stuff and "Bringer Of Death" was the chosen one to do the job. I bare to say that this one is my favorite DANZIG record and I would expect more songs from it but we can't have it all, can we? Glenn's characteristic bawls were just perfect and the guitars did an excellent job for once again, drove us crazy. I don't think I have to mention here that the sound was like playing from a CD or something like that and the volume of the concert was superb. The entire show was absolutely meticulous in every detail.

"Black Angel, White Angel" was a really pleasant surprise for me; to tell you the truth I didn't expect from DANZIG to conclude more than one song from "Circle Of Snakes" album. When there are so many successful songs in a 22 years' career, it might be extremely hard to deal with the 'perfect' setlist, especially in the case of small-numbered shows. The all-time classic closing-appearances DANZIG song came up after that and all the people became one mouth and began to scream the lyrics so loud that Glenn passed the mic to the front lines to help him with the song. You might think that "Mother" is a multi-played song but it's a real thing to experience it live. It 'smells' DANZIG truly and the closing is so touching that you are going to ask for more.

Seventy minutes have passed and the band seemed to have appetite for more; the people screamed rhythmically 'DA-NZIG' so, why not? Glenn and the boys appeared for once again after a while and the total highlight surprise was scheduled for next. I talk about "She Rides". Have you ever watch a mosh-pit happening in a low-tempo song? Well, I just did and that moment I realized how dedicated the DANZIG fans are. Men and women got into that hellish pit and started dancing in the rhythm of "She Rides". For a moment, I could see from Glenn's reaction that he didn't believe in his eyes either. His reading was excellent for once again and his voice was a real velvet caress in my ears. Then, the big question was coming up next: he asked us which song we prefer from "Lucifuge", "Long Way Back From Hell" or "Snakes of Christ". Man, that was a hard one! Of course, nobody could answer that so, they did what they had to do; the choice was theirs and
closed that unbelievable night with the blow-minding "Long Way Back From Hell". Glenn's scream was hard as a rock and he didn't stop for a moment going up and down the entire stage, neither went backstage for some rest. Glenn Danzig was standing there, in front of us for 80 minutes non-stop and if that's not honest and decent from an artist to his crowd, then what is this?

DANZIG setlist:

1. "Wotans Procession"
2. "SkinCarver"
3. "Twist Of Cain"
4. "Hammer Of The Gods"
5. "Deth Red Moon"
6. "Tired Of Being Alive"
7. "Her Black Wings"
8. "How The Gods Kill"
9. "Do You Wear The Mark"
10. "On A Wicked Night"
11. "Ju Ju Bone"
12. "Thirteen"
13. "Bringer Of Death"
14. "Black Angel, White Angel"
15. "Mother"
16. "She Rides"
17. "Long Way Back From Hell"

MariaV: One image equals with thousands of words but unfortunately, we didn't have the permission to take some photos as any other media either so, you couldn't have a tiny taste of what was happening inside Congress Theater on November 7^th, during the 'Blackest Of The Black' tour. After all, this package was a real experience to watch and remember for a lifetime. I don't care what they are saying about Glenn Danzig, his 'peculiar' attitude or his middle-aged look. Glenn is a total myth and myths can't go down so easily; you have to try more!