GODSMACK/EXTREME – LIVE – THE OAKDALE THEATER
By Kat Gullage
Godsmack with special guest Extreme perform at the Toyota Oakdale Theater in Wallingford, Ct.
Two Boston area bands converged to feed the music loving masses on a Wednesday night. Extreme hit their peak in the 80s and, with the exception of a coupla breaks, continue to create harmonies for their fans. Godsmack formed in the mid 90s and kept their foot on the gas, full speed ahead, never looking back.
After touring for about a year in support of their new album Lighting Up The Sky, with acts like Staind, I Prevail and Atreyu, Godsmack added Extreme as their opener for the last four dates. I don’t know if this is the reason there was an issue with ticket sales or not, but I saw comments on Facebook and someone at the box office complaining that they bought tickets as soon as they went on sale and found that comparable seats were going for less money day of show.
The performance was in the main theater of the venue with some seats removed to allow for a pit, as it always should be at a hard rock concert. I got held up at the box office because the staff could not locate my ticket (these things happen, it must be difficult for them to keep track of all the photo, press, radio winners, comp tickets, etc.). Shout out to my partner in crime Holly Roy Photography who found the tour manager that solved the mystery and allowed my entry.
The first thing I noticed as I dashed in to see Extreme (already in progress) was the overpowering sound. Forget “if it’s too loud, you’re too old”, it was so loud it drowned out the true musicianship of the band. Extreme on this night is Gary Cherone (Lead Vocals), Nuno Bettencourt (Lead Guitar and basically everything except percussion), Pat Badger (Bass) and Kevin Figueiredo (Drums). Extreme has six studio LPs, their latest Six released in June 2023.
I remember devouring their greatest success, Extreme II – Pornograffiti, back in 1990. Great fusion of rock and funk. Apparently Extreme is extremely aware of this because half of their setlist is drawn from this fan favorite. After “#REBEL” off of Six they churned out “It’s A Monster” and “Decadence Dance” under the oppressive sound. Cherone is lean, fit and flexible. “More Than Words” makes it clear that he can still sing as it’s just him and Nuno with an acoustic guitar. The crowd knows every word and their voices resonate through the room like a choir.
Back to the too weighty sound that ruins their rendition of James Brown’s “Get Up – I Feel Like Being A Sex Machine” which morphs into “Cupid’s Dead” off of their LP III Sides To Every Story. Pat throws out a ton of picks. Cherone bounds all over the stage and you can see the top of his ass crack when he folds himself in half. Nuno slaps at the drums. Nuno declares “Summer’s finally over! No more mosquitoes, buzz, buzz, buzz….” enter “Flight Of The Wounded Bumblebee”. Even with the bad sound this showcases his amazing guitar work, which segues into another classic that has us reliving the heyday of our youth, “Get The Funk Out”.
Gary addresses the fans, “Connecticut! Meet the baddest motherfucker on the planet!” as he motions to Nuno. They wrap up the set with their single from Six, “Rise”. Extreme still looks fantastic. If they could fine tune the sound quality to match the acoustics of the venue, it would greatly improve their live show.
I got godsmacked by Godsmack. Godsmacked can be defined as “God smacking you for something you’ve done.” Back in 1998, the LP Godsmack had just dropped and I eagerly consumed it. I caught them playing a coupla bar shows. They were the headliner amongst bands like Sevendust and Kid Rock, who had just released Devil Without A Cause.
I’ve walked out on Godsmack’s live performances, twice. Like a person who just had bad sex, awash with disappointment. They didn’t sound anything like their studio stuff. Through the decades that followed I continued to like most of their studio stuff but never went out of my way to attend one of their concerts. I would catch them playing with other bands like Shinedown, but would retreat to the back or hit the beer line when they took the stage. I do recall the last time thinking “Huh, they’re showing some improvement”. That’s why I wasn’t even sweating it when my ticket couldn’t be found earlier in the night. Figured it would be a bit of serendipity if I wasn’t allowed in to see Godsmack.
But alas, I was allowed in, so I entered with a completely open mind. My seat was fucking awesome. I love this job! Right outside the pit, I leaned on the barrier fence. Allowed me to feel all the pit energy but I could concentrate on taking notes. The venue, which holds approximately 4600 including pit, seating and balcony, had filled in nicely so this was 100% a Godsmack crowd.
Before serving up fourteen songs from seven of their eight studio LPs (nothing from IV on this night) they primed us with a prerecorded video from Mix Master Mike, better known as the Beastie Boys’ resident DJ. His presentation fired the crowd up with snips of Queen’s “We Will Rock You”, Beasties’ “Whatcha Want”, Rush’s “Tom Sawyer” and Aerosmith’s “Dream On”.
The anticipation ended when Godsmack erupted with “When Legends Rise”. My notes literally read “Godsmack makin a fool of me, sound good”. Sully yelled “Get those hands up!” during the song and 70% of the fans obliged. They let off some powerful pyro (you can feel the heat off those things up front!) and by the end of the song fists were up all the way to the rafters. Sully “Tell ya what, back in the 80s, when no one was listening to us, we were still going “1000 hp” and that’s what this song is about!”
The band: Sully Erna (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Piano/Percussion), Tony Rombola (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Robbie Merrill (Bass/Backing Vocals) and Shannon Larkin (Drums), is a tight unit, they have perfected their art, and even though it’s the end of the tour, they don’t seem tired of doing it. “Cryin Like A Bitch” has Sully on this weird old timey mike. The song is rumored to be about “some rock star garbage” that occurred when they were on tour with Motley Crue around 2010.
Sully starts a “Hey – Hey – Hey – Hey” chant back and forth with the fans before “Well fuck yeah, Good evening Connecticut! We got a lot of fuckin music to play for you tonight. Everybody good tonight? It’s a weeknight. Hope you have our new record!” “It’s been a while since we’ve been here, gravity pulls ya back to the ground ya know? We retained our youth, not through some government serum shit, it’s this” (he gets handed a big bottle of tequila). He fills a solo cup with a heavy shot, hands it to security and asks for it to be “handed to someone 21 or over.”
Listen, we’ve been doing this for twenty-five years and it’s never fucking perfect” (holy shit, is he talking directly to me?) “But we are an old school band, no computers, no clicks, we play our fucking instruments.” “Wanna hear some new Godsmack?” Not happy with the response, “Are you gonna be the worst crowd on the tour?”
The band then dished out four tunes off of their new LP, Lighting Up The Sky which was released in February this year. “What About Me”, “Surrender”, “You and I” (great groove, coulda done without the weird echoes) and “Red White & Blue”. The crowd quieted a bit for the new stuff with the exception of the solo during “Surrender” and when Sully demanded a response. “I thought returning to New England would be explosive, are you guys too tired to be here or is Wallingford ready to party with Godsmack?!”
A too long weird intro leads to “Awake” which awakens a small mosh pit and four crowd surfers. The vocals weren’t perfect on this one but the music was flawless. They lit off indoor fucking fireworks at the end of the song. Between the pyro, the fireworks and the light show, the pageantry did not disappoint. Sully again “Thank you very much! I’m not in the mood to talk anymore. You’ve had enough of the new shit, you get the picture”.
Three from Godsmack are up next, “Keep Away”, where the fans participate in a sing-a-long and a line was added with nothing but Sully on vocals that I loved. “Voodoo” mellowed the audience. Enter the drum solo. But you won’t be going to the bathroom or beer line for this one. As Shannon flexes his percussion muscles, a second drum kit emerges, Sully commandeers it and “Batalla de los Tambores” or “Battle of the Drums” commences. They go back and forth with complementary grooves before trying to out drum each other with bits of AC/DC, Aerosmith, Metallica, Led Zeppelin and Rush, accompanied by Tony on that part. You can’t look away. Or should I say Keep Away?
As the secondary drum set was being put back in place, Sully “There’s only two shows left and that wraps up a year of touring for us. So I’d like to wish you all a Happy Holiday season now. That’s the nice side of me. We sing and dance and wiggle our fucking asses. We have no shame.” He then picks a handful of kids out of the crowd and brings them on stage. “Say Hello to the future of rock & roll and thank you for twenty-five years!” This part of the show wraps with “Whatever”. Very quickly an encore is prompted.
Sully introduces us to the Scars Foundation by reading their mission statement: “The Scars Foundation has been established by Sully Erna and Godsmack to help raise awareness of the mental health issues that so many are faced with today. With the rise of suicides, bullying, addiction, abuse and so many other challenges, The Scars Foundation is dedicated to providing resources and tools to educate and empower people on a global level that struggle with these burdens.” “We are all imperfectly perfect! If you can’t afford to donate, then please, just be kind.”
This made it official for me, I now love Godsmack and their message. Obviously this led to “Under Your Scars” with Sully on piano. I saw some bad asses in the audience reduced to tears. People are very touched by this song, a tribute to people we’ve lost. After tears were dried and snots wiped away on t-shirt sleeves, we were treated to a fantastic rendition of “Bulletproof”. I took a video of it and I’ve watched it a zillion times. The set ended with “I Stand Alone” from their LP Faceless.
There ya have it faithful readers and music supporters! I became a fan of Godsmack live right when they announced that their new LP Lighting Up The Sky is probably their final collection of new material. Catch em live if ya can and let me know whatcha think. If you like Extreme, check out their new LP Six.
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