LAST CALL FOR ALCOHOL AS FOZZY AND HARDCORE SUPERSTAR ARE DRINKIN' WITH JESUS AT SOLD OUT GLASGOW SHOW Fozzy/Hardcore Superstar, The Garage, Glasgow Words and Pictures: Johnny Main 10th November 2017 Hot on the heels of their latest album 'Judas', America rock quintet Fozzy led by six-time World Wrestling Champion Chris Jericho, joined up with Swedish hard rockers Hardcore Superstar for a co-headline UK tour which promised to be a highly charged night of high voltage and high energy rock'n'roll. We caught up with them at The Garage in Glasgow to see what the fuss was all about. Regular MetalTalk readers will have seen us report on Hardcore Superstar many times, and the simple reason is that these guys are a pure energy bomb on stage from start to finish. With just an hour's stage time, the band showcased their extensive back catalogue in another supreme performance. "We love Glasgow!" exclaimed front man Joakim Berg at the top of their show and the reception from the tightly packed audience showed that Glasgow loves a bit of HCSS too. With a large back catalogue it was always going to be a tough ask to squeeze all their good songs in an hour long setlist but the band ultimately chose a varied selection of tracks from throughout their career The set ranged all the way from 'Liberation' from their 'Bad Sneakers' album right up to 'Have Mercy on Me' – a brand new song which was released earlier this year and may appear on their upcoming 'You Can't Kill My Rock'N'Roll' which is due for release next year. Throughout their set, Joakim was the most energetic, using all the space available to him and, on occasions, even the stage wasn't enough to contain him as he ended up in the photo pit getting up close and personal with his adoring public – and loving every minute of it! That's not to say the rest of the band were left in his shadow however, as guitarist Vic Zino gave a stunning performance song after song, thoroughly enjoying the moment with his smile hardly dropping throughout their set. Drummer Magnus Andreasson may have been stuck at the back away from the rest of the band but his precision drumming anchored the band's sound down, and he even invited his son onstage at one point to join the party. 'Touch The Sky' showed Joakim in commanding mood while it seemed like every single member in the audience were waving their hands in the air. 'Dear Old Fame' was another popular cut with its ballad-like intro before the guitar and thundering drums kicked in, and Joakim even made an extra effort by changing the lyrics to "Dear Old Glasgow", which was a nice touch. Of course the loudest cheers were saved for two staples of their set, 'Last Call For Alcohol' which had the audience shouting along before some laughter all round as Joakim spectacularly failed to spray some champagne over the audience leaving Vic to do the honours, and the anthemic 'We Don't Celebrate Sundays' which closed off their set. This was an unusually short set due to time constraints but with them preparing a new album for release in 2018, I would put money on the band returning to Glasgow sooner rather than later for a full headline show I have a feeling that the show might well sell out given their rapturous response here. Hardcore Superstar Set List: Beg for It Liberation My Good Reputation Dreamin' in a Casket Touch The Sky Sensitive to the Light Dear Old Fame Have Mercy on Me Above the Law Last Call for Alcohol Moonshine We Don't Celebrate Sundays Hardcore Superstar are: Joakim Berg – Vocals/Harmonica Vic Zino – Guitar Martin Sandvik – Bass Guitar Magnus Andreasson – Drums Fozzy are a band that slipped me by, but having realised they've been on the go for well over fifteen years, I thought it was about time that I checked them out to see if I was missing anything – and it seems I've missed quite a lot. The band's intro music, 'Stayin' Alive' by the Bee Gees hyped up the already excited sell out audience, and as the band finally hit the stage, they went wild. It was plain that, as with Hardcore Superstar before them, there'd be no mucking around and time wasting as the quintet got straight down to business with 'Judas', the title track of their latest album, which was quickly followed by 'Drinkin with Jesus' from the same album. The final track from the 'Judas' album aired was 'Painless' leaving the rest of the set to be pulled from the band's later albums. "It's great to be back in one of our favourite cities in the world" said front man Chis Jericho after 'Painless', adding with pride, "sold out for over a fucking month!" which was answered not by a cheer but loud chants of "Fozzy Fozzy Fozzy" making his smile even bigger. Obviously touched by this, he mentioned that "(I've) been to this city so many times I know how to pronounce your name - none of this Glass-gow shit" though he did have trouble pronouncing Buckfast (a popular brand of tonic wine in Central Scotland for those who don't know), but he got there eventually. 'Sin and Bones', the title track of the Atlantan quintet's 2012 opus had bass player Paul Di Leo and guitarist Billy Grey having some fun at their side of the stage while drummer Frank Fontsere punched out the frantic beat at the back. 'Spider in My Mouth' from the same album had Chris displaying a light up jacket to illustrate the spider's legs; pretty ingenious. The roar from the audience told me I wasn't the only one who thought so, while some plumes of smoke added a little extra to the atmosphere during the fast-paced number which had the headbangers down the front going at it. A quartet of tracks from 2014's 'Do You Wanna Start A War' was kicked off by the title track with its slow but heavy pace, a highlight of their set for me before the pace picked up once again with 'Lights Go Out' which had the place jumping. The insertion of a cover of the ABBA track 'S.O.S.' was warmly greeted and it was a different interpretation of the song for sure, but a good one none the less. Let's not forget Helloween covered ABBA's 'Lay All Your Love On Me' back in 1999 and the results were similar here, with crunching guitar and heavy drums replacing the keyboard sounds. 'Bad Tattoo' was the heaviest of the set thanks to Frank's incredible double bass and it has some good crowd involvement as the band battered through it, only too aware of the early curfew. Instead of the usual guitar solo, Rich Ward made use of what looked like a Theremin for his solo which was both impressive and different. There was no running off stage before the encore here as the band completed the evening with 'Enemy', featuring the best guitar solo of the night from Rich, followed by 'Sandpaper' before the band posed for the inevitable pictures in front of the crowd, which were posted all over their social media pages. I didn't really know what to expect but Chris and the boys are the real deal. They have great songs, fun onstage, there's no ego and they certainly know how to rock! Fozzy Set List: Judas Drinkin with Jesus Sin and Bones Painless Spider in My Mouth Do You Wanna Start a War Lights Go Out S.O.S. Bad Tattoo Enemy Sandpaper Fozzy are: Chris Jericho – Vocals Rich Ward – Guitar Long hair Billy Grey – Guitar Paul Di Leo – Bass Guitar Frank Fontsere – Drums