Danzig with Doyle

Sound Academy, Toronto ON, August 9

BY Cam LindsayPublished Aug 10, 2013

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If there was ever a time to see Danzig perform in the last 20 years, this was it. Celebrating the 25th birthday of their debut album, Glenn Danzig and his latest gang (Prong's Tommy Victor, Samhain's Steve Zing and Type-O-Negative's Johnny Kelly) have been touring to celebrate the milestone, but most importantly giving fans what they want most: a night full of classics.

Although he's pushing 60, Glenn showed few signs that age was catching up with him. The man's cantankerous reputation, however, was still very alive, chastising the Canadian border for denying their guitar tech entry for old drug charges, and addressing the music industry with a bitter "Fuck you."

Kicking off with two newer tracks, "Skincarver" from 2004's Circle of Snakes and "Hammer of the Gods" from 2010's Deth Red Sabaoth, Danzig then announced it was time to break out the "old shit." Anyone familiar with the set lists on this tour knew that this meant vintage Danzig, and the man kept his promise without any hitches.

Focusing on the first three Danzig albums, they ripped through "Twist of Cain," "Am I Demon" and "Her Black Wings," almost as if it was the line-up from those albums up on stage. Full of original fans, the crowd lost their minds, flashing devil horns and singing every one of Glenn's words. When he announced it was time to slow it down, he broke out "Blood and Tears" from Lucifuge and "How the Gods Kill" to prove he can still nail the ballads.

And then Doyle came out. Or Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein, as it says on his passport.

The long-time Misfits guitarist entered like a bat out of hell, shirtless and corpse-painted with a two-foot devilock, ready to shred through songs fans have been waiting 30 years to hear Glenn sing. And he sang, pummelling through a mini-set of Misfits anthems: "Death Comes Ripping," "Vampira," "I Turned Into A Martian," "Skulls," "Astro Zombies" and their greatest, "Last Caress." Like a possessed demon that feeds solely on muscle milk, Doyle sauntered back and forth constantly, clawing at his guitar furiously. At 48, he is an absurdly ripped and cut specimen. (Get his trainer's number, Glenn!)

For the encore, they reverted back to Danzig, and played three from the first album: "Soul On Fire," "She Rides" and the hit, "Mother." Acknowledging his still-potent pipes, Glenn hit out at the phoneys, saying, "This ain't no Beyoncé lip sync!" without any sense of irony.

To end it all, Doyle came back out for the raucous, Metallica favourite, "Die, Die My Darling," giving everyone one last Misfits fix, possibly ever, to chew on. Knowing Glenn Danzig, his stubbornness will prevent any sort of full-on Misfits reunion, but the fact that he was willing to go this far was enough to satiate the hunger of the thousand-strong followers on this night.

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