Location: Ljubljana / Channel Zero / Slovenia
Date: 11/29/2011
We finally got it, a Lizzy Borden show in Ljubljana! The Lizzys had already announced a Ljubljana date as part of a mini European tour for last December, but just like the whole tour, it got scrapped after some dates fell through and the financial hit that followed. Ever since, there’s been this hope that the show would happen one day after all, and with Veseli Dihurčki promoting, Lizzy Borden finally made it to Ljubljana at the end of November, to Channel Zero on Metelkova, no less.
This is an American heavy/speed/glam metal outfit from California that rode a run of excellent albums between 1985 and ’89 to massive popularity back home, but reduced activity and the nineties slump in traditional heavy metal slapped the “forgotten band” label on them. Since their latest album “Appointment With Death” (2007), Lizzy Borden have been trying to put themselves back on the map with new European tours and win the spot in the sun they deserve. But reality is anything but easy.
Before the stars of the night, TomCat took the stage, right now one of the hottest hard/heavy rock acts on the home turf. In recent months TomCat have played a whole constellation of gigs all over Slovenia, and the one they probably remember best is the August show at Metal Mania in Komno. Back then they were still tuning their instruments and getting to know each other on stage, but since then they’ve made a huge leap forward and now come across as a real team. In the meantime they’ve “hired” vocalist Denis, while rhythm guitarist Luka left because of lack of time. The changes did them good, because this TomCat show was by far the best I’ve seen from them. The backing vocals worked great this time, the stage chemistry too, and the quartet just exploded all over the venue and filled the club with the kind of energy that used to fill British metal dives at the turn of the seventies into the eighties. With Luka gone, the whole guitar workload landed on Rok’s shoulders. On the left side of the stage Rok handled his new role really well, nailed the solos without any audible mistakes, and most importantly, he knew how to fill the apparent gap in the overall sound. TomCat were wrecking it – heavier than ever, and the raw stage attitude of the Rok / Šujo guitar tandem had a lot to do with that. New frontman Denis has clearly settled into the band too, and with a looser performance he took a step forward compared to the Murska Sobota show two months earlier. So the support act did its warm-up job with flying colors, and I’ll be glad to watch how TomCat develop from here.
Lizzy Borden have been built around two constant members since the start in 1983, frontman Lizzy and drummer Joey Scott. The core of the lineup is rounded out by bassist Marten Andersson, a member for the last 20 years, and the “greenhorns” on guitars, Dario Lorina and AC Alexander. Greenhorns in terms of tenure in the band, of course.
The Americans opened the show with a single from their latest album, Tomorrow Never Comes, before taking us back to the eighties for the first time that night with Red Rum. Scott then took the reins with a short drum solo, and the brief break served one single purpose: so Lizzy could change his outfit and show up on stage in a different costume. There was no shortage of costume changes that night, as the short frontman built the band’s cult following long ago on shocking “horror” stage shows that usually leave the crowd breathless. And how could it be otherwise, when the band’s concept comes from the story of a ruthless American girl who, at the end of the 19th century, split her father and stepmother’s skulls with an axe, a mysterious tale that frontman Lizzy still presents on stage today. This time, though, it didn’t go without a flaw. The low-budget tour left two buxom blondes back home, the ones who usually add to the stage show and, of course, easily keep the drooling male part of the audience in the front rows. Despite the stripped-down set, we still got a proper show, and during There Will Be Blood Tonight Lizzy pretended to slash his face with the axe and sprayed the crowd with blood.
The night was full of classic hits. Eyes Of A Stranger, Me Aginst The World, American Metal and Rod of Iron blended with newer tracks from the aforementioned “Appointment With Death”, which still digs deep into the set list. My personal highlight of the show was Voyeur (I’m Watching You), a dreamy heavy metal wrecker of epic proportions that the Americans have put back into the live repertoire with this tour. Lizzy’s vocals have stayed practically intact despite the passing years. The only minor gripe is the backing vocal help from the two guitarists, who neglected their vocal duties because of their dynamic performance and quite often stood too far from the microphones. The hour-and-a-half journey through the Lizzy Borden legacy was closed by the ancient Give ‘Em The Axe, the title track of the 1984 EP of the same name.
The night was a success in every way: Lizzy Borden’s first-ever gig in Slovenia delivered on everything the band has to offer. The only complaint is the small crowd. In my book, a bit under 100 people is just not the turnout a band of their caliber deserves. How are we supposed to expect bands like Riot, Fates Warning or Crimson Glory around here if the potential audience is too numb to show up to one of the rare heavy metal gigs happening literally right under their noses…
author: Urban Bolta
photos: Martin Prezelj
