| Couple of firsts for me at this show. First off, I never been to Massey Hall. Now I know the ticket says Kool Haus on it but that don't mean shit. I guess at the last minute someone fucked something up over at the Kool Haus and Godsmack couldn't play there. Why? Who the fuck knows but they called it a "technical difficulty" and moved the show to Massey Hall. Well good. That just means I finally got to see a band at the infamous and intimate Massey Hall. The other first? Godsmack themselves. I never saw Godsmack before. I have all their CDs and I REALLY like bitchin their music but every time these bastards happened by, I was broke as fuck so I never got smacked by God before. I was totally impressed. Sully, the lead singer, rhythm guitarist and kick ass drummer, commanded the audience without any effort at all. He's the kinda guy who's got a shitload of charisma packed into his four foot nothin frame. I think all that touring with Metallica really paid off cuz Sully's got a bit of the "James" in him now. I had no idea what to expect. I only saw Godsmack perform once on TV and I only caught a bit of that. I didn't know Sully played guitar. I didn't know Sully played the Peter Frampton tube in his mouth thingy with the guitar. I didn't know Sully played the harmonica. And I had no idea whatsoever that Sully is a kick ass drummer. I didn't know Sully IS Godsmack. Hell, I never met a guy named Sully before. Only that construction guy on Sesame Street with the hard hat and eyes glued shut. Highlight of the show? | Sully comes riding out on a platform stage with his own set of drums and he and Shannon, their very competent motherfucker on the drums go at it toe to toe. Seeing as it's Toronto and you got a couple drummers trying to impress us with their abilities, they reach down and pull out a couple of Rush tidbits for us to see if we know our shit. Well lo and behold we DO know our shit and we also know that Sully n Shannon did our buddy Neil Peart some justice by tandeming what I seem to remember as being a bit of YYZ (my fuckin memory could be deceiving me on this one) then burning through some other well known drum bits like Bonzo's Montreaux and then finishing it all off with another nod to Rush and Neil's unmistakable Tom Sawyer. You wanna get a Toronto crowd bursting with pride? Drop a tight Rush riff or two on us! Saw Primus do that one time and they got the same reaction. I don't suggest trying to lay some Rush on us fuckers if you can't play the shit though. That might get ya killed in an increasingly popular, yet accidental, Toronto drive-by. So let me clarify this loud and clear. SULLY is the fuckin man! Don't get me wrong, Shannon IS a kick ass drummer but for a part-timer like Sully to pick up and pull off Neil like a pro, my hat's off to the man. All in all, I'm just real fuckin glad I made it to this show cuz it crossed another band off my list of "I gotta see these fuckers in concert before I/they get taken down by some psychotic fucknut with a semi-automatic" I didn't get many good shots so don't fuckin bug me about that. |
One of the really cool things I noticed about Godsmack and in particular Sully, is that he seems pretty fuckin genuine when he's thanking us for coming out and supporting his ass. You got guys that come out, play a show for ya, spit at the ugliest fucker in the front row and leave. No kind words, respect, or appreciation for anybody who paid their hard earned bux to see the band, just a kick in the ass with a steel toed boot and a see ya next time. Not Godsmack. These guys seemed to really appreciate the fact that we all came out and partied with them that night. Just another reason to like the fuckers. So do me a favour.... you know what I'm gonna say don't you? GO BUY THEIR FUCKIN CDs and support these pricks so they can come out and kick our asses again next year! CYA then!
A little while after this review we got a few pics done up and sent em to Sully. He was kind enough to sign em and send em back to us.. gotta love Sully! Some day I might post them here....
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