One of the great things about the NAMM show is the fantastic shows that are all around town, like Bonzo Bash, NAMM Jam and many others like parties hosted by endorsers of brands of music equipment. Lizzy Borden was hosted by Epihone/Gibson Guitars along with Rock n Roll Industries Magazine, at the Tikki Bar in Costa Mesa about 30 min from the NAMM Convention. Dive Bomber and Archer opened the show.
I have seen Lizzy Borden on numerous occasions and its always nothing but one of the best “Shows” in rock. Lizzy has been around for 30 years and is on his 30th Anniversary tour in 2014. Borden has always pushed the limits of what you can do onstage to “shock” his audience. Whether it be slicing a beautiful blonde girl’s throat, or biting her throat, or giving her the ax, Lizzy has always brought blood to his fans. In more ways then one. During “There Will Be Blood Tonight” one of Lizzy’s fiends, brings him a bucket or skull full of fake blood as he proceeds to “Blood” everyone up front of the stage. Its is a very sticky concoction and is hard to get off until you shower it off. It is a “Rite” of passage for his fans, to be up as close as possible to get your face smeared with the sticky goodness that Lizzy provides. If you have seen “The Omen”, you will remember when Damien has his first kill on the hunt, his father smears the blood of the fox on his young face as a rite of passage of becoming a man.
Lizzy has had many excellent musicians grace the stage with him and his last great guitarist, Dario Lorina, left to play with the mighty Zakk Wylde, who recently played the Randy Rhoades tribute on the next night as Zakk’s new guitarist for the first time. One of Borden’s ex band mates, Ira Black stepped in for this tour and it was like he never left. The man is a monster on guitar and ripped through the songs like a maniac! If you know the old Lizzy Borden, he always had two guitarists back in the day and Dario had to play for two as well when AC Alexander left a few years ago. Now Ira has to take up the slack and play by himself yet again. He did an immense job and blew the crowd away. Marten Andersson, who has played bass for Lizzy for most the bands life, is always smiling and doing his kick ass bass solo like a boss! Joey Scott, who is Lizzy’s brother is always hitting that kit like a madman with those crazy spikes of hair that has become his signature look. The only thing that left me a bit bummed was no Steffi Scott onstage, dancing and getting murdered like she has been doing for years. She is a sweetheart and I missed seeing her onstage doing her thing. (Lizzy, bring her back on!!!)
They did a killer set with many mask changes and different props that he likes to use. Brandishing a bat or an ax, Lizzy always gets the crowd headbanging. He has a new mask that the crowd loved with three sides of his face, which was creepy and cool as hell. Lizzy Borden ripped the stage apart at the Tikki Bar, which wasn’t hard to do as it was a small stage, and got all the fans sweaty and splattered with blood. From the looks on their faces, they didn’t mind one bit!!
Set List:
Abnormal, Master of Disguise, Notorious,Live Forever, Rod of Iron, World is Mine,Tomorrow Never Comes, Under Your Skin, There Will Be Blood Tonight, Me Against the World, American Metal, Only Ones and encore, Born to Be Wild
