I will sum up Sebastian’s performance and appearance on this night with one simple phrase: “Fat and sloppy”
Bob Suehs / Rock N’ Roll Experience
Rock N’ Roll Experience — Sebastian Bach played Rams Head Live 3 years prior and was on fire; he commanded attention, owned the stage, and gave a killer performance that left the crowd screaming for more. After that performance he went directly to the merch table and met every single person who wanted to say hello, take a pic, or get an autograph and he did it all free of charge.
Flash forward 3 years later and Sebastian returned to Rams Head Live with a new guitarist, new bassist, a bloated appearance, and asking his fans for $150 to meet him. A friend told me after the show she ran into Sebastian exiting the front of the venue with his daughter. She asked him if she could get a photo with him and his reply was, “No photos, I’m with my family, but thanks for coming out!”
We Love The Underground opened the show and sounded much fuller than Sebastian’s band did because during Bas’s set the bass was overpowering the guitar at many moments in the set. We Love The Underground play a style of hard rock that’s slightly symphonic in it’s style and they closed their set out with a kick ass cover of “Welcome To The Jungle” which had everyone in the audience singing along.
I like Bas’s new guitarist’s overall tone BUT it’s not truly fitting to the classic Skidrow material. “Slave To The Grind” was the set opener and it sounded weak and thin. Skidrow always had a twin guitar attack which made the music sound powerful and thick; the guitar tone for this night was good BUT not metal. Sebastian is slowly mixing in more solo material to his sets and to be blunt with you it’s a mistake! People go to a Sebastian Bach performance to see Sebastian Bach sing Skidrow covers!
When Rob Halford left Judas Priest he released 2 solid records with his then new band FIGHT and they were able to perform a set of all original music and NOT rely on past glories; in Sebastian Bach’s case; he never truly surpassed what he did with Skidrow. Sebastian Bach’s audience want to hear all the Skidrow classics and his solo material is nothing more than filler because most of it is very generic compared to the Skidrow material.
The moment Sebastian took the stage every body in the room mumbled the same thing, “Oh my God, Sebastian is fat!” and it’s because you couldn’t help but notice Bas rocking a large beer belly.
At this point Sebastian Bach’s appearance is a cross between Bif Byford from Saxon and older Motley era Vince Neil. Bas can still sing but his performance was just not up to par on this night. Rams Head Live is a mid sized concert venue and Sebastian’s performance was meant more for a small club stage.
Sebastian performed “Dimebag’s favorite Skidrow song” “In a Darkened Room” and gave a boring rant about playing Hammerjacks and Network back in the day; he would later motion to an older woman to flash her boobs, then grabbed a fans cell phone and shoved it in his mouth.
Towards the end of the set Sebastian and co. delivered a brand new song called “Push Away” to the crowd which he said had never been played onstage before and it was the part of the set where they were going to “Get all musical on your asses now”. The song was mellow and brought the room to a stand still; musically I enjoyed it BUT it was more of a b-side which you’d listen to at home and never really want to hear performed live because it was just so/so.
When Sebastian played Rams Head Live 3 years prior he took off his shirt and exposed his giant belly button which I described as “a small penis” because it stuck quite a bit. He did not take off his shirt due to his weight gain on this night BUT you could clearly see the “tiny penis” aka his belly button sticking out and the mic cord would occasionally rest on it as you can see in the pick below.
A word to the wise Mr. Bach; clean your act up because you are one happy meal and a few word skips away from Vince Neil, if you look sloppy onstage people will laugh and this review simply reflects what was presented onstage. I like the new backing band, your legacy will always be Skidrow but after seeing this show I am glad the original Skidrow is NOT together because it would tarnish what the band was in their prime.
Sebastian Bach Set List: Slave To The Grind, Hell, Temptation, Threat To Society, Creep/Piece of Me, 18 and Life, Tunnel Vision, In a Darkened Room, Monkey Business, Tomorrow, Push Away, I Remember You, Youth Gone Wild