Danzig Live Review - 'Not Of This World' by Lolly Hotwheels

Imagine how I felt when this email dropped in to my inbox!  I already had my ticket for their gig at The Roundhouse for June 24th and was experiencing uncontrollable levels of excitement… Then this…

JUNE 6, 2013
SPECIAL DANZIG 25th ANNIVERSARY LONDON SHOW ADDED

Just added. DANZIG 25th Anniversary with DOYLE to be Performing
Special Club Gig in London at the Garage on June 17th .
DANZIG had this to say:

"As a Thank You to all our London Fans, on this momentous DANZIG 25th Anniversary Tour, we will be doing a special club show at the Garage on Monday, June 17 for the measly sum of £6.66. While over the years DANZIG has occasionally played a Smaller Club Show for the Fans in LA and other cities in the US at an extremely low ticket price, I've never done one here in the UK. Lucky UK Fans will get to see DANZIG in a more personal setting and most assuredly have an Incredible Night to Remember."

As we went in we were told straight by the door staff that no pictures were allowed, including cell phones, even if I had taken a camera I would have forgotten to take any pictures. The only interruptions I had was a new drink handed to me.

There was no support band. Doors opened and in time the place filled up in this strange orderly manner almost like a tube commute. People came in and joined the crowd, they didn’t find a space to stand in and pose. This left room for all the other people coming in, in a common sense that is rarely found these days. Everyone was one, hyped up and saving their energy for the anticipated best night they’d have in a long time. I’d be shocked if anyone went away disappointed. Highly unlikely to be matched easily any time soon. 

The techs did a little bit of torch work, last minute checks. Someone switched on a little touch of smoke machine. LIGHTS. THE BAND. All arms raised, a massive cheer went up, and we were SO ready… Enter Glenn and straight in to it, no messing about! In great voice he was rocking like a demon all the way through.

Crowd participation – Glenn let us choose the set, we voted on it, there was a democracy, and it was great. “Do you want to hear more from Danzig I or III?” People raised their arms holding their preferences high in the air. “Wait, wait, you all called at once” he said… “Danzig I?” ROAR… “Danzig III?” Some hearty cheering… First album won. 

Crowd surfing, the audience jumped in unison, strangers danced with each other and capacity doubled as, raised above, all things not of this world happened, some outer body stuff, as people sang with their souls. Honestly it was an experience; people forgot mundane life for nearing 2 hours and got lost in their youth. As each second passed, only that moment mattered.  I couldn’t help but cheer this one guy who, out of the blue did this amazing leap high in to the air like he was on springs, straight up and down, sheer adrenalin seriously about 7 foot in the air.

Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein appeared and The Misfits tracks came. He was shirtless, wearing white face paint, a leather collar with bolts and a superhero body.  His sound was low, to be honest I couldn't really hear him, there were a couple of feedback moments, but when he came back on later, it was all sorted and the crowd appreciated the extra power.

Obviously I was looking forward to She Rides and Twist of Cain but enjoyed Glenn’s story about his little spell in Brixton Prison which resulted in his song London Dungeon which has got something that I just loved. I’m a sucker for a dirty bass line, tasty drum pattern and good quality punk. 

“Are you, like me, sweating your balls off?”  “Yeah” called back the low voices. “And girls you must be sweating your tits off eh… and if not, why the hell not?”  Swoon! Oh he could have said anything through upturned microphone and we all would have gone along with it.

It was so hot, in every sense of the word, so use your imagination, but as the band, particularly Glenn, reached for another bottle of water, a swig would be taken and a glance out at the rammed crowd provoked either their own, or a new bottle launched out to the smouldering audience.

Anyone there on Monday night will never forget the feeling. Each person will have their own particular favourite track, and probably for all manner of good time memories linked, but the crowd calling for an encore was of the like I’ve never seen before.

The set finished, the guys walked off, everyone knew they’d be back, they knew they were just using calories, but what they didn’t know was the reaction they were about to get. “We are 138, we are 138, We Arrrrrrrrre 138” repeated over and over again getting louder and louder every time ‘til the whole audience sang in unison calling them back.

They walked back on one at a time, staring out in amazement at this bunch of nutters who would stay showing their love, singing with each other all night if they could.  Glenn announced they had a new song that no one would know. Out rang the note and they stared to see if anyone knew what was going to happen. There were a lot of shoulders gripped, wide eyes and exhilarated cheers, again the note rang out, they were teasing us… What if it wasn’t? What if we had guessed wrong? Third time followed by the next 2 notes and we knew…. We were getting Mother! The place went mental, everyone sang, punched the air, jumped about and just freaked.

Okay, so they left again, we weren’t sure if it was all done, but, as before, the crowd sang “We are 138”, the techs checked the stage with their torches, people crept from backstage to record on their phones the reaction. A topless man was lifted up by the crowd he then conducted the audience in their singing. The band were off teaching the guitarist the chords to the Misfits number and out they marched and knocked us all bandy with ‘We Are 138’. 

Everyone was spent, the band and the crowd. The cheers, raised drinks, clenched fists and applause continued on and on, for enough time for them to go off, come back, chuck out a few guitar pics, get a shot each, raise a drink to us all and knock them back.

At the end of the night people finally shuffled out in to the street really slowly. It was like a scene after some kind of disaster, people were sitting down on the pavement, a thousand cigarettes were sparked and people just looked at each other with that ‘Did that just happen?’ look and in return the wide eyed nod back.  The traffic stopped as people just stood in the road, we were invincible, we were young, we were spaced out and shaking, we were fucking ALIVE!  Magnificent!

Bloody hell! It was absolutely mesmerising: hot, sweaty, full on absolute wonderment. I completely LOVED EVERY SECOND!  I cannot wait for the Roundhouse gig. If they are coming your way, check the link below to see if they’ve added any extra dates. You will thank yourself for listening. 

DANZIG have decided to ensure that loyal fans are getting the first opportunity to buy tickets!!!! For these shows, tickets will be offered before they go on sale to the general public. Tickets will have reduced service charges compared to the usual ticket outlets. Pre-sales for the following shows are available here.

I didn’t know I was reviewing this gig, so I didn’t make a note of setlist order and as the band let us make it up as we went along, their actual setlist is of no use anyway. Here are the songs they played in no particular order and with thanks to my friends who helped me remember (plus some I don’t remember at all)

Okay the definite ones are:

Danzig 1988 album - Twist of Cain, Mother, She Rides, Am I Demon and Not of This World.
Danzig II: Lucifuge – Her Black Wings and Long Way Back From Hell.
Danzig III: How the Gods Kill – Dirty Black Summer.

And of course when Doyle was on stage:

The Misfits – Skulls, Vampira, Death Comes Ripping, Last Caress, London Dungeon, Astro Zombies, Die Die My Darling and We Are 138.

The ones that are more vague/ I don’t remember are

Bringer of Death, Do you Wear the Mark and I turned in to a Martian.  

This amnesia comes from listening to too much music, drinking and I forget what else!

If you don’t know who Danzig are, then you should really treat yourself and find out, you’ve got 25 years to catch up on.

The band are:
Glenn Danzig
Tommy Victor guitarist (Prong)
Johnny Kelly drummer (Type O Negative)
Steve Zing bass (Samhain)

http://www.danzig-verotik.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Danzig?fref=ts
http://misfits.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Misfits?fref=ts