Live Review: Majesty of Madness/Van Halenized, Barrymore's Music Hall, Saturday, December 2, 2006

Last night Mrs. H, myself, and a couple of friends of ours went to check out this double bill of tribute bands, one to Dave-era Van Halen and the other to Ozzy/Black Sabbath. Strolling into the venue, KISS' "Smashes, Thrashes and Hits" was on the sound system and we almost made it through "I Love It Loud" before Van Halenized took the stage. Opening with "Runnin' With the Devil" and then "Panama", their set list was solid, leaving something to both the casual and hardcore VH fans. All the hits were there like "You Really Got Me", "Jump" and "Unchained" but they also played more obscure track like "And the Cradle Will Rock", "Everybody Wants Some", "Somebody Get Me a Doctor", "Atomic Punk", and "Mean Streets". As for the performance itself, it was kinda sloppy, and the Dave impersonator was a total cheeseball, but that's VH, right?

Then, "Majesty of Madness" came on after we heard about an entire album's worth of Helix. They started off with Ozzy's "I Don't Know" and played several Sabbath tunes like "Sweet Leaf", "The Wizard", "Children of the Grave" interspersed with Ozzman faves like "Bark at the Moon" and "Flying High Again". And while the Ozzy guy was absolutely perfect with the hand claps, frog leaps and foot stomps, in true tribute band fashion, the band was exactly the same (except for the singer).

We took off just as they were about to play "Black Sabbath" from their 1970 album of the same name to finish their set, but it was a fun night out and a throwback to my Grade 9 days when I'd go to the Big V drugstore in my town of Elmira, Ontario, and pick up a haul of $5.99 tapes every couple of weeks after cashing my McDonald's paycheck. In addition to VH selections like "Fair Warning", I'd come home with classics like Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak", the Scorpions' "Lovedrive", AC/DC's "Powerage" or "Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits" - in other words, the stuff that bar bands are still going to be playing 30 years from now like they have been for the last 30.

(Sorry about that, Death Cab for Cutie, Gnarls Barkley and Panic At the Disco fans.)

Ratings:

Van Halenized - 7/10
Majesty of Madness - 8/10

Overall rating: 7.5/10

(Photo courtesy of www.majestyofmadness.com.)