Author: Jay Saint G

Some familiar bands made their return to Syracuse last Thursday at the all new F-Shed that keeps bringing many shows of various types of music on a consistent basis. This time, teaming up with 95x (WAQX) Black Label Society made their first appearance in Syracuse since 2005. Along with Black Label Society headlining, Hatebreed made their second appearance in two years since playing at the Westcott Theater back in December 2012. And opening the night was Butcher Babies, who last played the Lost Horizon over a year ago.

This was my first time at this venue and I thought the sound was fantastic. It helps that the venue is a big metal shed, which really helps carry the sound with a very large stage and helps any band to be able to perform at their best. This is a more ideal music venue in Syracuse, much bigger and better than the other smaller venues in town.

Butcher Babies opened with an eight song set. Although I find it odd for this band to be opening for the likes of a hardcore outfit like Hatebreed or even a heavy metal band like Black Label Society, the crowd was still pretty receptive to them. I have seen Butcher Babies previously in a smaller venue last year, and I do think they were better this time than the first time I’ve seen them. Butcher Babies thrive on a bigger stage and a larger capacity venue.

Hatebreed burst on to the stage with the theme from Rocky playing over the P.A. as their intro, then immediately opening with “To The Threshold.” Frontman Jamie Jasta was frustrated with the P.A. when they started and even made the band stop the song, but he jokingly got over it. After all these years, Hatebreed still as clutch, brutal, and vital as ever. The second song they played was “Proven” and soon after the crowd was treated to something special; Karl Buechner of Earth Crisis joined Hatebreed on stage for “Last Breath,” which caused everyone to go bananas! That was the highlight of the night. We heard other fan favorites such as “Beholder Of Justice,” “Honor Never Dies,” and “Perseverance.” Never leaving anyone disappointed, Hatebreed closed their monster set with “Destroy Everything” and their anthem “I Will Be Heard.” After Hatebreed finished, by no surprise, lots of people left the venue, which is a damn shame because they missed out on an awesome performance from the mighty Zakk Wylde and Black Label Society.

Black Label Society came in with full force opening with “The Beginning…At Last.” Wasting little time, they stormed pretty fast through their set with very minimal crowd interaction at first. With songs like “Funeral Bell,” “Bleed For Me,” and “Heart Of Darkness,” Black Label Society was digging deep into their catalog which was an awesome treat. What’s always fascinating at any Black Label Society show is seeing Zakk Wylde’s arsenal of guitars. At first, he used his Bullseye Les Paul, and later he busted out the Hybrid Flying V/Les Paul, and at the end of the show he unleashed his Gibson EDS 1275 double neck guitar. After playing a few well known hits such as “My Dying Time” and “Suicide Messiah” Zakk did a spectacular seven minute long solo. Then finally the band did some crowd interaction. Zakk introduced the band to the crowd and then graced the crowd with powerful ballad “In this River” before closing their set with “Blessed Hellride” and the epic “Stillborn.” This set definitely displayed Black Label Society at their best, and hopefully it is not another decade before they come back to Syracuse.   Overall a fantastic show, and not a bad way to kick off the metal shows of Syracuse in 2015.