“Say Goodbye to Bad Times” – Fozzy Live at First Ave – Judas Rising Tour
By: Eric Darsie from FlairFlop.com (@DirtyDawgMES)
Saturday, September 8th, 2018
For the second time in a tad under four years, Fozzy came through Minneapolis and I made the trek down to the Twin Cities to see my favorite band play live. The first time I saw Fozzy was on their Lights Go Out tour when they stopped at the Mill City Nights in Minneapolis on November 22nd, 2014. I went with one of my college buddies, Ryan, who told me when we were in college that if Fozzy ever came through Minnesota when they’re touring, he’d go with me. Little did he believe Fozzy would become popular enough that he’ll have to go with me to see them live.
When tickets went on sale a few months ago and when I checked FozzyRock.com and saw that they were coming back to Minneapolis, I got excited. Besides seeing them live once again, because they will be stopping at the famous and historic First Ave. When I text by buddy Ryan asking if he’d be up for going with me again, he text me back right away saying he’ll go and was surprised to hear that they’ll be at First Avenue. He told me that he feels like they made it big time if they’re preforming at First Ave.
A few weeks before the concert, I found out one of my childhood best friends Ross got in touch with me asking if I’m going to see Fozzy on September 8th and I answered back that I was. A few minutes later he told me he bought himself a ticket and was up for picking us up and all of us carpooling together. I was even more thrilled to see Fozzy again, having two of my best friends going with me.
Sadly, Ryan wasn’t able to make it for the Fozzy concert because of work but another great friend that I met while in college, Susan, was in town visiting family and had no plans the Saturday she’s in town. I asked her if she’d be up for going to Minneapolis and join us for the concert. She didn’t hesitate and accepted.
Once we got to Minneapolis and made it safely in line before doors opened at First Avenue, I ran into a friend who I met at Mill City Nights four years ago on the Lights Go Out Tour, Adam, and we were both excited to see each other again and happy to jam out to Fozzy for our second time. Isn’t it weird how much brings people together, especially who never met before but seeing one particular band in concert?
Anyways, Adam was with one of his buddies and the five of us (Adam, Adam’s buddy, Susan, Ross, and I) were all standing in line together, catching up and hanging out and sharing laughs with one another when people drove by and stopped at the red light, asking who was playing that night, and surprised to hear that Fozzy was playing (they were thinking the Muppets, more so surprised to hear that Chris Jericho was the lead vocalist). One car drove by and asked and was surprised to hear that Fozzy was playing, Ross sarcastically responded “No, a panda bear is wrestling tonight at First Ave!” Only if that was the case.
We had three opening bands before Fozzy came on stage. We saw the Stir, Stone Broken, and Adelitas Way.
The Stir – I feel if there’s any new band that’s up NoFriender’s alley from the Thrash Metal Show here at WhenItWasCool.com, it’s The Stir. Not my cup of tea but I do appreciate the energy they brought to the stage, especially being the first band to play. A song that they played that I did enjoy was The Nightshift because me working nights, I don’t come across many songs covering in a positive sense working nights. I hope nothing but success for the Stir.
Stone Broken – Ross got Linken Park vibes from them. The crowd at First Avenue was very welcoming of Stone Broken, more so when they announced that this was their first tour in the United States, hailing from across the pond from the United Kingdom. I really dug Stone Broken because their songs are up my alley in regards to, when I was in college and taking several poetry classes for my Creative Writing minor, the songs Stone Broken played reminded me a lot of some of the poems I wrote when I was in college. Another thing I felt was pretty cool was the drummer was female. I’m not into the music scene like I am in the old school wrestling scene but I don’t imagine a lady to be a drummer of a hard rock band. She, along with the band’s three other members, were smiling the whole time they were on stage and it was obvious that they were having a great time – I really enjoyed that and that added to my fun and excitement because it was easily seen that they were having a awesome experience as well.
Adelitas Way – They were hard and heavy and brought the noise! I’m not familiar with their music but did enjoy what they brought. I enjoyed their Notorious because the song talks about someone living up to the bad reputation and living up to everything people say they are. Adelitas Way did cut a heel promo on the local rock station out of the Twin Cities, which I found a little funny because it was that local rock station that sponsored the show. The heel promo was on how the rock business was changing and Adelitas Way wasn’t too fond of how the rock business seems to be changing for the worse, in their opinion.
Fozzy – They lived up to everything the five of us hoped for. They played a lot from the Judas album, several hits from the previous album Do You Wanna Start a War, even played their cover of Abba’s SOS (that’s from Do You Wanna Start a War), and Enemy from the All That Remains album that came out in 2005. I was thrilled to hear Enemy because Fozzy didn’t play it on the Lights Go Out tour and it was a song that got them on the map (at least noticed when WWE used it as one of their pay-per-view songs from February of 2005) and a song that Karl Stern (co-host of the When It Was Cool podcast) has and actually enjoyed some of Fozzy’s older stuff. Chris Jericho definitely brought the energy and excitement and helped hype up the crowd after seeing three previous bands. My group was all worn out from rocking out for two and a half hours before Fozzy came on stage but with the help of Jericho and him running around on stage with excitement, we found the energy to continue to rock out for another hour and a half. If you haven’t seen Fozzy live and they come to a town near you…GO AND SEE THEM! The two tickets I bought were around $60 after all the extra charges, seeing Fozzy alone was worth more than that, that’s not including seeing the Stir, Stone Broken, and Adelitas Way.
“Burn Me Out” and “Wolves At Bay” were great live and great songs. If you haven’t checked out the new Judas album yet, or haven’t listened to it recently, go out and listen to those two songs. Amazing!
Ross told me that he felt like Fozzy nailed Abba’s “SOS” and made it heavy metal and it kicked major booty! A song that I was surprised when I first heard it on the Do You Wanna Start a War album and fell in love with instantly.
Something I enjoyed the most, besides seeing friends who I haven’t seen in a long time, was the couple of spontaneous covers that Fozzy did while on stage. They did a brief “Jungle Love” from Morris Day and the Time into a Michael McDonald’s “I Keep Forgetting.” Something I never thought to imagine and something I’ll never forget.
An awesome experience back and forth on I-94, an amazing experience at First Avenue, and a memory I won’t soon forget with Ross, Susan, Adam and his friend, and most importantly, the Stir, Stone Broken, Adletias Way, Fozzy, and the “Judas Rising” tour!
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