Dark Chapel opened the evening, featuring Black Label Society’s Dario Lorina on lead vocals. The band’s debut album, Spirit in the Glass, was released last year. The set brought more variety than might be expected. “Afterglow” began the set with an expected punch, a fast-paced groove featuring a searing solo. “Hollow Smile” followed in now-familiar territory with an even speedier solo, but “Sign of Life” and “Hit of Your Love” demonstrated a good adventurousness in song structure and approach.
What certainly wasn’t expected was a metal-ish version of Bill Withers’ classic, “Ain’t No Sunshine.” The band has all the tools, and they should be fun to follow as they continue to build their identity and catalogue.
Setlist:
This wasn’t an audience that didn’t know what was coming. Those that did, bought their tickets early, as this show sold-out and several were observed getting turned away at the window. Notably an Atlanta rarity, fans arrived well before “the headliner.” A good number arrived for the VIP pre-show experience and many for the merch… which had lines throughout the sets.
So, after a 30-minute break, Zakk Wylde walked out to the leading edge of the stage facing a full venue, holding out figurines of Ozzy and a couple WWE wrestlers in one hand while recording the audience with his phone in the other, upping the level of anticipation of a crowd who pretty well knew exactly what was coming.
Very shortly, Zakk Sabbath took the stage… claimed the stage?… possessed the stage? Definitely the last. There was never a chance of this being a mixed tempo set. Instead, fans got 40 minutes of Black Sabbath songs slightly adulterated as only Zakk Sabbath can, or should. Photos tell the story, but not of Wylde holding court in the center of the general admission floor, performing a solo for several minutes during “War Pigs,” some of it, yes, with the guitar over his head.
Most fans know of Wylde’s famous guitar design. On the rear it has a message space reading:
Zakk Sabboth Demolitionfest !!! Atlanta, GA Chapter, 4.9.26
Setlist:
It’s a rare thing when a headliner takes the stage to a crowd already fired up by all of the members of a band in the previous sets. It’s the kind of situation that calls for a “drop the curtain” moment, and in this case, that meant a giant one across the stage with the band’s logo. As the curtain crashes down revealing the band in place, “Funeral Bell” blasts across an audience unsated by the 40-minute ode to Oz. It is a Black Label Society show, after all.
The opening stretch of “Name in Blood” and “Destroy & Conquer” hits with the kind of blunt force groove that has long defined the band’s live identity, all down-tuned weight and swagger. The audience may already be familiar with Zakk Wylde’s raised fist and thrashing hair, but the real joy is the riff-by-riff power of the band’s songs and the fiery guitar solos that follow.
If Zakk Sabbath’s performance wasn’t enough, an emotional reminder still finds its home with “No More Tears,” one of the loudest crowd-response moments of the night, and a reminder of how deeply those roots still run through much of what BLS does onstage.
“In This River” remains one of the most affecting moments in the band’s live show. Even for audiences prepared for the heavier side of the set, this song changed the energy in the room. The fists in the air gave way to raised phones and subdued singalongs as the mood changed from rock spectacle into something more reflective. It remains one of Wylde’s most powerful live pieces because it feels genuinely lived in rather than merely performed.
Momentum picks up again with “The Blessed Hellride,” but it’s “Suicide Messiah” that pushed the crowd back into full throttle participation. With Ozzy’s presence already lingering in the hall, “Stillborn” is the best sendoff for LBS, a massive release of energy that sends the crowd out on a high. While some fans may have desired a deep track in the set, the familiarity works because the night demonstrated what BLS does best.
If you like towering riffs, emotional weight and a cathartic release, the band, or bands in this case, continues on tour through mid-May.
Setlist:
