After standing around for over an hour, listening to some drunk dude yell “MOTHER” over and over and over again, only to be disappointed by an aborted set at Fun Fun Fun Fest in 2011, I swore I would never buy a ticket to see Danzig again. Glenn could take his “Legacy”, soak it in his French Onion soup, and stick it up his ass.

As the public was made aware of the series of events that led to the plug being pulled, my anger turned to amazement — amazement that Glenn Danzig could still surprise people with his diva ways. Over the course of 12 hours, he had managed to pole vault over the bar of disrespect that he had already set so high. Instead of the trifecta Danzig/Samhain/Misfits set we were promised, we got a few songs and and enough comedic material to last the rest of the festival.

I will never be a Glenn Danzig apologist, but I do have to give credit where credit is due. Every other time I’ve seen him, he’s put on a great show. Those shows were what I was thinking about when I rolled the dice and purchased two tickets to Danzig’s 25th Anniversary Tour. Over those 25 years, Danzig has released very few songs that I do not enjoy, and the the excitement of seeing Doyle come out for the Misfits set I was robbed of in 2011 was just too much to contain. It was a gamble, but it was a gamble worth taking.

As it turns out, this time the odds were in my favor. Anyone who has seen Danzig on a good night knows how good he can be, and this was one of those nights. The band took the stage (on time!) just after 10:00pm with “Skincarver”. And as always, it took a couple songs for the soundboard to get Glenn’s vocals right, but by the time we were promised that no more “new” songs would be played, the sound had improved greatly. Just a quick glance at the setlist below will provide some insight into why this show was so good. From “Twist of Cain” through “How the Gods Kill”, Danzig and his band made up for screwing me over on that night in Austin. And the best was yet to come…

When Doyle hit that stage like a freak off his leash, chaos ensued. Multiple pits, divided by the layers of the theater, sucked innocent bystanders into whirlpools of death. The Misfits set that we’d all come to see was everything we’d hoped it would be. As they tore through tracks that most of us were too young to have ever seen live before, you could only imagine what it must have been like in the late-70’s/early-80’s.

The mini-set started with “Death Comes Ripping” and ended with “Last Caress”, and it wasn’t until Doyle left the stage and I was able to calm down a bit that I realized what a monster he is. The make-up, the hair — his agelessness and pure size — you really have to wonder if he is a real human being.

Whatever he is, he was gone too soon, but the Danzig set continued with a great run of songs that ended with “Mother”. By that point there were some issues with the sound again, but we were all too amped up for it to be a real problem. In fact, there weren’t any real problems the whole night. Danzig managed to get through an entire set without any type of bitch session. It was more than anyone could have expected, but then something else happened…we got not one, but two encores!

After “Long Way Back From Hell”, Doyle came back for “Skulls” — probably the highlight of the whole night. And while I do appreciate the 2nd encore, “Skulls” is hard to follow, and I’m not sure “London Dungeon” did the trick. But who am I to complain about one more Misfits song?

Say what you will about Danzig (I have probably said the same thing), but when the guy is in the mood to perform, he is one of the best in the business. The fact that he’s still putting out great albums after so many years is a testament to his talent. Sure, he might be more grumpy than evil these days, but I don’t need to like the guy to appreciate his music and enjoy the hell out of his shows!

Happy Anniversary Glenn, thanks for showing up!

Setlist:
SkinCarver
Hammer of the Gods
Twist of Cain
Am I Demon
Her Black Wings
Devil’s Plaything
Blood and Tears
Dirty Black Summer
How the Gods Kill
It’s Coming Down
Death Comes Ripping
Vampira
I Turned Into a Martian
Night of the Living Dead
Astro Zombies
Last Caress
Soul on Fire
Not of This World
Mother

Long Way Back from Hell
Skulls

London Dungeon