Black Label Society

Zakk Wylde always looks a little larger than life, and the vast festival stage and massive wall of Marshall stacks behind him only enhanced the effect during his band's Heavy MTL performance (and their collective BMI/beard mass index didn't hurt either). Black Label Society's performance was gritty and heavy aside from a short piano interlude, but Wylde was noisiest all on his own, especially during an extended solo that powered through minutes of explosive distortion into some first-class guitar wankery (that went on just a touch too long). When the rest of BLS rejoined him for a few more tracks they came out with a barrage of black beach balls plus a few blow-up dolls in Black Label Society shirts. By the time they wound their way to the end of "Stillborn," Wylde was pounding his chest and raising his logo-adorned vest like a pirate flag, concluding with as much testosterone-fuelled power as he began with.