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LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Guitar legend Eddie Van
Halen bore witness to an eruption like no other Sunday night at
the Sunset Strip House of Blues, when Atlanta metal veterans
Sevendust had a sold-out, all-ages crowd running with the devil
as they unchained a 16-song set that lasted well past the
midnight hour.
Watching the show from the front row of the balcony, the
Van Halen namesake had to recognize a trick or two as the
lights dimmed, a curtain dropped and the club stage was adorned
with ramps that ran behind the drum kit and back to the sides
of the stage. Tearing into the first two tracks from new
release "Next," guitarists John Connolly and Sonny Mayo paid
due homage to the icons who came before them, delivering the
pulverizing riffs that drive "Hero" and "Ugly" with a flair
seldom seen by today's legions of hard rock and metal acts.
It's that flair, as well as the band's uncanny ability to
meld molten energy with melodic interludes, that sets Sevendust
apart from its peers. When Sevendust is firing on all
cylinders, as it was this night, there may not be a metal band
on the over-crowded circuit that does it better.
While the crowd's response never waned through the
80-minute set, it reached a fever pitch on numerous occasions,
most notably the opening shards of "Black," the manic savagery
of "Pieces" and the aggravated assault and battery of closer
"Bitch." Throughout, frontman Lajon Witherspoon took command of
the proceedings with charisma to spare and vocals to match, his
metal verses laid to waste by R&B-flavored choruses and a vocal
range that puts the vast majority of the genre to shame.
"Assdrop" and "Wired" maximized the band's dynamics to
create a jarring left-right combo that deafened the senses,
Witherspoon strutting the stage like a prizefighter daring his
opponent to take a swing. Yet as unrelenting as the sonic
barrage was -- the band never slowed the pace once, even
choosing not to play their biggest hit, the ballad "Angel's
Son" -- the mood never got dark, Sevendust's give-and-take with
the crowd bearing more of a resemblance to the arena rock days
of their roots than the self-righteous pandering of modern
metal.
Of the four opening acts, direct support Nonpoint was the
most noteworthy, staking its claim to the capacity crowd and
never relinquishing its hold throughout a 40-minute set that
begs the band's return as headliners, blending vast metal
influences into a sound as absorbing as it was incendiary.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Copyright ©
2006
Reuters.
All rights reserved.
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