It was a Heavy Metal Monster Mash as Lordi and his Horrific Legions took to the stage of The Fillmore NY tonight. They would bring along Lizzy Borden and that was bound to upgrade the game just a little bit more. We were on point for the main bands and shot a lot of photos for all to enjoy. Just scroll past the logo below to be taken to our item.

Artist: Lordi
Venue: Fillmore NY (New York, NY)
Opener: Lizzy Borden, Fixer, Ben Does
Date: 11/24/2008
Label: The End Records

I had a number of reasons for being excited about this show since it would officially be the first time that Lordi was going to do a headlining appearance in New York City, and they would be bringing along California’s legendary Lizzy Borden along for the ride. Clearly each of these bands are such great visual acts that make for easy live concert enjoyment and with both possessing new material for the hungry Metal head to sink their teeth into we were bound to have a fantastic time. Of course, sinking ones teeth into the Metal was also meant quite literally given the horror movie themed acts that this particular tour was going to present and it was all going to happen at the Fillmore NY, at Irving Plaza. For some odd reason my belief was that another The End Records band would be performing tonight, and I mean Stolen Babies who I had enjoyed during the “Hot Chicks Of Metal” tour a little over a year ago, but I was mistaken. Instead of that interesting band we had two other openers in Ben Does and Fixer. I missed Ben Does entirely and it seemed as though I was not the only one as the room was half empty while Fixer was on and while I am not one to knock down an opening act, I had to say that their set was arduous to get through. Maybe I need to see them on a different bill, but I just could not keep interest and was hell bent on enjoying some Lizzy Borden as each and every note of theirs went by. Fortunately they did not play too long and Lizzy Borden was going to hit the stage in moments.

Lizzy Borden: It’s been awhile since we had seen the guys in Lizzie Borden hitting NYC and this time around they have a couple of new faces in the lineup and are delivering the incredible “Appointment with Death” CD which comes to us care of Metal Blade Records. The lights went down and the band was attacking the stage within seconds and each of them was made up in garish visage and costume. The totally energetic opener that was being delivered got all the more dramatic when Lizzy himself appeared as the Grim Reaper and began to sing the first tune sporting a full face covered hood and flowing robes. Joining Lizzy in the band is Ira Black and Marten Andersson (guitar and bass), with Joey Scott Harges (drums) and live touring guitarist Joe Steals. Steals actually recorded the Starwood project with Lizzy and Marten but that sound is entirely different from what was going on right now. It was interesting to watch the crowd get as into the band as they appeared to be because they really deserve the positive attention for always being able to entertain and deliver a solid show. Soon Lizzy was out of the robes and in some kind of body armor and mask, giving us his own brand of Alice Cooper type of showmanship. Marten and Joe kept to one side of the stage for the most part while Ira was commanding his own section and really looked to be having the time of his life in the almost corpse-paint style that his makeup was done up as.

Lizzy while focusing on the new CD made time to address some of the more well known tunes from his repertoire and he also kept coming out in different masks and using different props which kept their short set really all the more enjoyable. At one point he was wearing a devil’s mask, was holding a skull (alas poor Yorick), and even came out of a prop television set. For American Metal he was wearing an American Flag and while he didn’t do “Phantoms” or “Master Of Disguise” I really felt that he would be able to easily do a headlining appearance over in these parts based on the full on show he was giving everyone. When he finished there was a lot of wild applause from the audience and many in the front had blood smeared on them from when the singer went down into the photo pit barrier and touched a number of the attendees faces with the obviously fake plasma. If you like stuff like Alice Cooper or even Wednesday 13 then you would enjoy the way that Lizzy’s show went down. Now it was time for the real Monster Mash to occur as Mr. Lordi and his band prepared to annihilate all who dared cross their path.

Lordi: While Lordi has been around for a number of years it was not until they signed onto The End Records that we even saw them touring in the USA. Since that time they have been over here twice and on a number of promising bills to boot. They did an appearance at Bamboozle if memory serves me correctly and then appeared on the main stage for the free Ozzfest from a couple of years ago and followed this by touring with Type-O-Negative. They are clearly one of the most visually interesting bands that I have ever seen and if you are standing close enough you might wonder if this is makeup and clever plastic or are they truly creatures of the night that you don’t want to run into in some dark alley. The band’s newest CD is entitled “Deadache” and it continues what they offered this regions fans on “The Arockalypse” which came to us a couple of years ago. The End Records also re-issued “Get Heavy” not too longer ago which is the bands debut and originally was released in 2002.

The bands set list was very well stocked with some of their older and established classics that the existing fans would know and what appeared to be a very healthy sampling of the new CD “Deadache”. Musically the band is Heavy Metal but all of their themes are Horror based and come off as rather quirky and kitsch in their lyrical content. Mr. Lordi is the main singer and the others offer up some backing vocals and it’s usually the imposing front monster that employs all of the additional effects during the shows set. He comes out with a number of decapitated heads hanging together on a rope and even shows off his large bat wings and a wee bit of blood but none of the bands signature pyrotechnics were done. This had to be the case based on the size of the venue and the close quarters that everyone was in. Had this been a more open space I am sure that we would have been treated to a lot more than mere smoke bombs and flashing lights. Having seen Lordi on the Ozzfest stage a couple of years ago, I had to admit that there is definitely something missing from the performance when they cannot add these particular stage enhancements. Mr. Lordi spoke to the crowd on a couple of occasions and of course he keeps in the horrific monster character which makes the whole thing all the more authentic. Like KISS in their early days, the band is never photographed without these costumes and masks and I like that they work so hard to keep the mystique in play. The new material doesn’t sound too much different from the last batch of stuff so if you liked that material then it is safe to say that you will enjoy what’s happening with “Deadache”. As the show drew closer to the end, we had the guest appearance of Jay Jay French of Twisted Sister, who comes out to play lead guitar during “It Snows In Hell”. The musician is on the album, but he did not come out in familiar Twisted garb and was just a regular citizen. I think it would have packed more of a punch had he come out sporting the regalia that we know and love him in so much. Oh well, we cannot get everything right? The finale was a rousing “Hard Rock Hallelujah” and everyone seemed to be holding fists and horns into the air as the band crushed with their closing notes.

All in all this was a very entertaining night and I am happy to report that I made it out of the monster’s cave with hardly a scratch on me. As I wandered bravely into the photo pit during the opening numbers you could almost sense that the band was wondering what photographer tasted like, and while the probable answer is chicken I was happy to not be aware of the final result. I was fine with this of course because I had to return to this very room in about twenty hours for the Dragonforce and Turisas show.

Lizzy Borden Set List:
1. Abnormal
2. Give ‘Em The Axe
3. Notorious
4. Live Forever
5. Rod Of Iron
6. Tomorrow Never Comes
7. Come out at Night-intro
8. There Will Be Blood Tonight
9. American Metal
10. Me Against The World
11. We Got The Power
12. Crawlin’

Lordi Set List:
1. Intro
2. Girls Go Chopping
3. Bite It Like A Bulldog
4. Who’s Your Daddy
5. Blood Red Sandman
6. Monsters Keep Me Company
7. Manskin Boots
8. Awa Solo
9. Bringing Back The Balls To Rock
10. Dr. Sin
11. The Devil Hides Behind Her Smile
12. They Only Come Out At Night
13. Devil Is A Loser
14. Would You Love A Monsterman
15. Deadache
16. It Snows In Hell
17. Hard Rock Hallelujah

Official Website: http://www.lizzyborden.com
Official Website: http://www.lordi.com