Zakk Wylde announced a few months ago the long-awaited ‘Book of Shadows II’ tour: a tour filled with the most wonderful and calm songs. Only four locations were chosen for Germany, and one of them was at the wonderful Serenadenhof in Nürnberg. Zakk Wylde started his show with the classic track “Sold my Soul” as an opener! As every hardcore fan knows, he plays his show with structure and always follows his plan, so nobody expected what happened next. Zakk left the stage while I sat on the floor and came near me as I lay below him with my camera. He blazed the hell through his guitar, and it seemed like he had a lot of fun doing this. This was a precious moment I just could not describe, except for the fact that I had equipped the wrong lens, which played spoilsport to the picture.
Zakk went to the middle of the crowd and continued his riffs as usual. A circle built up around him, and the happy faces of the people were obvious. A fabulous energy emanated from him during the set. It’s uncommon to see Zakk so near, but Phil, once from the crew of his best friend Dimebag Derrell (Pantera), took his job seriously and kept an eye on the people around Zakk. He saw the deadly shot fired at Dimebag years ago. Back to the stage, the securities asked the crowd to get back to their places. The expressions of the people were clear; nobody was happy about this, because who wants to sit at a concert? Standing in front of the stage is better. The cluster of people eventually broke up, and all of them get back to their chairs.
The concert was followed by “Autumn Changes”, “Tears of December”, “Lay me down”, “The road back home”, “Yesterday tears” (what a wonderful song), “Somewhere between “Heaven and Hell”, “Darkest Hour” (from ‘Book of Shadows II’), “Throwin’”, “Dead as Yesterday”, “Eyes of Burden”, “Way Beyond Empty”, and finally, “Sleeping Dogs”. With two hours of guitar, drums, bass, piano, and even his harmonica, coupled with genius sound, fine lights, and a great set-list, Zakk made this evening an epic, worthwhile moment. Nobody in the audience would ever forget this emotional day. Some people planned to follow Zakk to Berlin, because it was going to be his last show in a church.
Zakk Wylde and his bandmates played for two hours in Nürnberg at Serenadenhof, spread pure energy to the location, and delighted the crowd. The sound was crisp and the lights by Jeremey Skoorka (a past crew member of Type O Negative) were perfect. The set-list couldn’t be better, and the organization of the gig was also very fine. It was not only a concert; it was a unique evening, because the Book of Shadows Tour with the albums one and two wouldn’t be repeated next time. However, this was a memory to cherish!