Fellow Steemian @calisay recently started up the idea of the tag #myconcertphotos as a way to share photos of concerts we have been to - I love the idea! It got me thinking and thought I would share some photos (and songs) from Zakk Wylde - the last gig I went to was Black Label Society (who feature Zakk Wylde as the singer and lead guitar player).

Zakk Wylde is best known as being the lead guitar player for Ozzy Osbourne from 1988 until 2007, founding member of Black Label Society, solo artists and occasional actor

Career with Ozzy Osbourne

After the tragic death of guitar player Randy Rhoads in 1982 (often cited as one of the best and most influential guitarists of all time), Ozzy Osbourne went through a revolving door of guitar players. In 1988 Zakk Wylde replaced Jake E Lee and performed on the record ‘No Rest For The Wicked’, and has been a mainstay, releasing 5 studio albums (and three live albums) including the 2007 album Black Rain. Zakk brought to Ozzy a unique and heavier sounds - recognisable for his pinch harmonics and use of pentatonic scales. One of the most recognisable Ozzy songs is the ballad Mama I'm coming home (featuring Zakk on guitar and some of those famous pinch harmonics):

The lineup for the 2001 album Down to Earth looks like a supergroup to me - Ozzy Osbourne as singer, Mike Bordin on drums (former drummer of Faith No More), Robert Trujillo on bass (who left to join Metallica, and Zakk Wylde on guitar. The last album to feature Zakk Wylde as the regular guitar player was Black Rain, released in 2007 - I went to one of the concerts on the Black Rain tour and it was brilliant! (sorry couldn't find any pictures from this gig). Here is the song ‘Gets me Through’ from the album ‘Down to Earth’:

Black Label Society

Zakk Wylde is a busy man - along with touring, recording and writing with Ozzy Osbourne he also managed to form Black Label Society (in 1998), and has released 10 studio albums - they are currently touring their ‘Grimmest Hits’. As I mentioned I went to the gig recently in Santiago De Compostella, Spain - apart from being an excellent gig, it was also one of the best venues I have been to - it was small (probably 1000 people), which made for an intimate show.

One of the highlights for me was the song ‘In this River’ - which is a song Zakk wrote and dedicated to the late Dimebag Darrell (from Pantera and Damageplan), who he knew well. Zakk plays piano and sings in this song and it is so emotional - they had some massive pictures of Dimebag on the stage:

During the show Zakk came right out into the crowd to give his fans a close up of his solos (he was arm's length of me - sadly he had his back to me during the whole solo, but still something I haven't experienced at a concert before!

Zakk wasn’t satisfied though, and decided to take the show to the upstairs crowd, and gave them a five minute solo! Something like this I have never seen in a gig before - I think what made this possible was that the venue was small:

With ten albums to choose from I decided to share one from the Grimmest Hits album - ‘A Love Unreal’, which highlights the killer guitar riffs, and has a really great video:

Solo Career

Zakk has also released two solo albums - ‘Book of Shadows’ and recently ‘Book of Shadows II’, released in 2016 - these solo albums are more experimental exploring folk rock and acoustic ballads. I highly recommend both of these albums as they show great depth and a different musical direction. Here is the lead single from Book of Shadows II ‘Sleeping Dogs’ Featuring Corey Taylor:

If you have any doubts about his ability to shred and play some awesome solos then I will leave you with the video below to make your own decision:

Thanks for reading!

References - Wikipedia