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08/29/2016

Zakk Wylde’s ‘Book of Shadows’ stops at The Roseland delights Portland Chapter

By RUBEN MOSQUEDA // Zakk Wylde rolled into The Rose City on August 28th with Jared James Nichols and Otherwise in tow. While people tuned in to the West Coast feed of The MTV Music Awards and watched Britney Spears lip sync to some new song the Portland Chapter made it out for some post Sabbath entertainment.

Zakk Wylde rolled into The Rose City on August 28th with Jared James Nichols and Otherwise in tow. While people tuned in to the West Coast feed of The MTV Music Awards and watched Britney Spears lip sync to some new song the Portland Chapter made it out for some post Sabbath entertainment.

Jared James Nichols [and band] were thoroughly entertaining. From the moment the three piece band hit the stage I was captivated. Are they classic rock? Are they blues? Are they boogle? The answer is ‘yes.’ Wylde’s people selected the right guy to open the show on this tour. The band threw in two classic rock covers “Mississippi Queen” and “Cross Roads” the band was joined by Black Label Society bassist John DeServio for a smoking rendition of the blues staple. The standout original “Can You Feel It” brought house down.Jared James Nichols is part Ted Nugent, part Peter Frampton and part Rick Derringer. He and his band were simply ‘incredible.’

Jared James Nichols would be a tough act to follow. They simply upstaged Las Vegas’ Otherwise. This was my third time seeing the band and I felt just as indifferent about them as I did the first and the second time seeing them as direct support to a national act. The best way that I can describe Otherwise is like this; they are a ‘slightly heavier’ version of Daughtery. If that’s your thing have at it.

When Zakk Wylde announced early this summer that he’d be touring behind ‘Book of Shadows II’ I was excited for two reasons; first I didn’t catch the first ‘Book of Shadows’ tour and second I was extremely curious what this tour would differ from a Black Label Society show. My assumptions were wrong in that the backing band was in fact Wylde’s BLS band. The band was simply playing material from the two ‘Book of Shadows’ albums. Wylde opened with an ‘explosive’ rendition of “Sold My Soul” with an extended guitar solo. Wylde shredded his way through the song and kicked it into overdrive playing his ‘Warhammer Bullseye’ guitar behind his head, then playing it with his teeth before ultimately ending with it slung back around his shoulder. I kid you not when I say had the show ended right then and there I would have been thrilled. Such was not the case and the show went on and Wylde and BLS tore through song after song [from the 'Book of Shadows' albums] with the highlights; “Sold My Soul,” “Between Heaven and Hell,” and “Sleeping Dogs.” Wylde and Co left the Portland Chapter feeling extremely satisfied.

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