Today's review is from our friend Brian.
This past Saturday night, I ventured down to the Mohegan Sun Arena for the last minute, unadvertised and private Skid Row/Slaughter show hoping that the stars had aligned. Skid Row lost their most recent singer last month and hadn't named a replacement, the Guns 'n' Roses summer tour is happening and a reunited Skid Row would be the obvious choice for an opener, and this was one of the rare shows where Skid Row was headlining in an arena. It was the perfect opportunity for a surprise return show featuring Sebastian Bach (and to a lesser extent, Rob Affuso).
The show happened by chance. Def Leppard was booked to play the arena that night, but the show had been postponed due to Joe Elliot's health issues. As Mohegan Sun was promoting an 80s weekend, they made the smart move to fill the void with these replacement acts. Now, the show was not advertised at all and no tickets were sold. Only those who had Def Leppard tickets were given tickets to this show....and I did not have Def Leppard tickets. But I figured I'd head down to the casino and see if I could make my way into show, and I was luckily successful.
I assumed an 8:00 start time and was wrong. The show began at 7:00, so all I caught of Slaughter's set was "Up All Night." They sounded good and the crowd was clearly excited by their set. Also, to Mark's credit, he did a free meet and greet after the show, and he took pictures and signed autographs for everyone who waited in the line (I opted out, but the line was quite long, so good for him).
So the wait began between sets, and you could tell that there was a hopeful sense of excitement in the air. Then the lights finally went down, the people cheered, and out walked someone that no one knew. The disappointment was clear. Skid Row did not opt for the reunion, but instead got ZP Theart, formerly of Dragonforce, to front the band. The girls sitting to my right asked me if I knew who he was. The people around me sat back down in their seats, and we watched as Skid Row went through the motions, playing the most popular songs from the first two albums along with a cover of "Psycho Therapy." As I left my seat a couple of times to have my drink cup refilled, I noticed a fair number of people making their way to the exit doors during their set. I, however, stayed through to the end. Honestly, I wanted to like it....but I just couldn't. The voice was close but not right, and ZP lacked the attitude that would have made it great.
I understand that there is a rift that is about 20 years old between Sebastian and the band, but i was hopeful that, over time, cooler heads would have prevailed and they would have taken advantage of what may be their last great opportunity to reunite. In our small universe of 80s glam bands, Skid Row ranks pretty high on the hierarchy, as those first two albums are amazing. Sebastian is willing to come back, Rob has said he is in for the reunion. The timing with this summer's big tour and Sebastian's known relationship with Axl is the most fortuitous situation imaginable. Sadly, for me, the last glimmer of hope faded this past weekend.
Monday, February 22, 2016 at 12:01AM 