FOZZY: A Novelty Act Gone Horribly Wrong!

Admittedly, I am not a FOZZY fan, nor am I a Chris Jericho fan of wrestling. The loudmouth, conceited, bloated self-prclaimed "Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla" (does he still call himself that?) tries with all his might to be a decent frontman and instead comes off like a suitable clown in the same vain as his WWE character.

My expections of last night's show in BB King were not high to begin with, and true to form, FOZZY did not deliver. Instead, we're seeing Jericho (aka Chris Irvine) pretend to be a metal god and failing miserably. From his microphone coming apart to his opening his shirt and exposing a very noticable beer gut, it becomes painfully obvious that Jericho is trying to segue himself away from Vince McMahon's school of torture in pursuit of childhood fantasies. He should stick to his former vocation and leave the music to the pros who know how it's done.

Somehow Jericho has developed some credibility with the metal community when Vinnie Paul, fat and bloated drummer of Hellyeah and formerly of Pantera and Damageplan, comes out onstage with a tray of cocktails for the band. He even delivers a brief speech saying that FOZZY are "alright," which isn't much of an endorsement coming from a crook like Vinnie Paul Abbott. Jericho hangs on to the likes of Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, who performs drum duties, on their final number, as if to demonstrate more of FOZZY faux metal credibility.

Oh, did I mention he namedrops like crazy? He brings up Anthrax mastermind and local idiot Charlie Benante is in the house, as well as Anthrax flunky Frank Bello and former captain Joey Belladonna, who performed with a previous band earlier. Solidifying Jericho's attempt into metal history is the validation from the ubiquitous appearance of portly and the always-annoying radio host Eddie Trunk and pet stoolie Don Jamieson, minus Jim Florentine (the former Mr. Robin Quivers).

At one time, they even pay homage to the much-maligned Nü Metal genre by pogoing and pronouncing Korn-style vocals, courtesy of guitarist Rich Ward. All in all, FOZZY is not fun or funny. They have musical ability, with the exception of Jericho who tried in vain to channel his inner Rob Halford during the encore to Judas Priest's "Freewheel Burning". Needless to say, it was a lousy night indeed - overpriced and very overplayed - and should be forgotten quickly! FOZZY have no hope of ever being taken seriously and should just stop now. Your 15 minutes are up!


Set Grade: C





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