Down live!

Down
House Of Blues, Chicago
Wednesday, October 10, 2007

“Fucking Chicago, we’re Down” frontman Phil Anselmo roared as he and his all-star crew of bandmates — guitarists Pepper Keenan (Corrosion Of Conformity) and Kirk Windstein (Crowbar), bassist Rex Brown (ex-Pantera), and drummer Jimmy Bower (Eyehategod) — took the stage at House Of Blues. Not exactly poetic or elegant, but a to-the-point introduction for the triumphant return of Down, and more specifically, its troubled singer.

Anybody that saw Anselmo and Superjoint Ritual at Ozzfest 2004 in Tinley Park probably gave up hope on him. Anselmo was an incoherent mess who spent more time beating his chest and boasting about his stature than he did performing. It was a pathetic display that characterized his post-Pantera career. Once a mighty icon, Anselmo had become a bumbling, stumbling buffoon who could hardly stay awake during interviews, let alone command an audience.

Wednesday night, though, we got a different Anselmo.

It became apparent only a minute into the band’s first song, “The Path” (from the group’s new record Down III: Over The Under) the rumors of a reenergized, rejuvenated, Anselmo were true. He appeared young and healthy (the product of a long overdue back surgery) and looked and sounded like the Anselmo of early-’90s Pantera. Coincidentally, it only took two songs for Anselmo to mention slain Pantera bandmate “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott: “This song goes out to Dimebag fuckin’ Darrell” Anselmo told the completely sold-out crowd before “Lifer.”

It was fitting because Dimebag’s death has, fairly or not, cast Anselmo as a monster in the eyes of many, including the guitarist’s brother and former Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul, because of questionable comments Anselmo made prior to Dimebag’s murder. The best, or at least most honest, moments of the night were songs from Over The Under like “The Path,” “I Scream,” and especially “Mourn” (which the frontman wrote about being barred from his former bandmate’s funeral) where Anselmo deals with the subject head on.

That’s not to say Down, were party poopers, though. Keenan and Windstein, both frontmen in their other bands, said little, but the smiles plastered on their faces said everything. With Superjoint, Anselmo often bullied audience members, approaching gigs like weightlifting competitions. But the physically and mentally purified Anselmo is having fun again. He joked about being a marijuana (the only illegal substance he allows in his body anymore) advocate before “Hail The Leaf,” convinced a fan to throw a homemade “Evening With Down” banner onstage after “Lysergik Funeral Procession” (Down played a surprising amount of material from Down II: A Bustle In Your Hedgerow, an album many fans and critics feel inferior to their debut, NOLA), interrupted “On March The Saints” a few seconds in to clarify it “ain’t no football song,” and announced “I’m gonna take a leak, we’ll let you decide if you want to hear some more” before Down’s encore. Longtime friend and Skid Row guitarist Dave “Snake” Sabo was even ushered onstage to celebrate his 49th birthday as Windstein, Keenan, Brown, and Bower bashed through a few measures of “Youth Gone Wild.”

Don’t mistake a new-and-improved Philip Anselmo with an unconfident Philip Anselmo, though. There weren’t any absurd proclamations like when he used to call Superjoint Ritual the only heavy metal band that mattered, but he did inform the audience twice there isn’t any band out there like Down. Brazen, for sure. But with the release of their best album in Over The Under and Anselmo on top his game again, not an exaggeration.

— Trevor Fisher

Category: Live Reviews, Weekly