Godsmack Bring it Home To Worcester
Saturday April 30th Worcester Ma.
It’s been 2 years in the making but Godsmack finally got to play the WAAF Boston Rock Radio show to celebrate their 50th anniversary at the DCU Center in Worcester Ma. A lot has happened in that time since the show was scheduled including the demise of WAAF and the show being rescheduled twice but that didn’t stop them from eventually playing the show. The lineup of bands had changed just prior to Saturday nights show. Three Days Grace one of the bands scheduled to play ended up not playing which was kind of a bummer because I was looking forward to seeing them. The show consisted of Lilith Czar, Wage War, Black Veil Brides and Godsmack.
The first time I heard Godsmack was in late 1997 or early 1998 the song was ‘Whatever’ and it was on WAAF. I immediately fell in love with their music. It was hard, heavy and they played with massive amounts of raw emotion and energy. I’m happy to say that since my first time seeing them in 1998 in local venues like Sir Morgans Cove and the Espresso Bar in Worcester I have seen them around 40 times live and they have only gotten better, a feat not a lot of bands can attest to.
Their set started with a video of the Beastie Boys Mix Master Mike DJ’ing to Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’, So What’cha Want, Rush’s ‘Tom Sawyer’ and another local band by the name Aerosmith’s song ‘Dream On’. The curtains came down and the band ran out on stage and started right into the high energy song ‘ I Stand Alone’ and it didn’t stop there. ‘When Legends Rise’ was up next then they sped into ‘1000 HP’. These guys were having a blast playing a hometown show and you could definitely tell. Singer Sully Erna was all over the stage as was bassist Robbie Merrill and guitarist Tony Rombola interacting with the crowd and each other. Sully frequently went back to drummer Shannon Larkin and was making faces at him and Shannon would respond by making faces back and beating his drum kit harder, clearly they were having a blast. The crowd definitely was enjoying it as well. Erna thanked the sold out crowd several times throughout the show for being part of their journey from the very beginning of Godsmack. The show was a mix of songs that spanned across their entire catalogue from their first self titled album up to their last release ‘ When Legends Rise’. The show included a couple of cover songs as well. Joe Walsh’s ‘Rocky Mountain Way’ and the last song of the night was a “party song” AC/DC’S ‘Highway To Hell’. The show was incredible and I will say I had so much fun it should almost be illegal.
And check out our gallery from the show here
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