If you’ve ever seen Lamb of God live, you know frontman Randy Blythe is a beast on stage. He stomps around with a facial expression that suggests he wants to own your soul. His intensity is unmatched.
So it’s a shock when you see him come on stage smiling and highly personable. He’s like an excited kid who has a captive audience to tell his stories to. His metal god persona is dropped for the friendly nerd. Less Lamb of God, more Weezer.
This tour is in support of his book Just Beyond the Light, a brutally honest account of his path to sobriety. As someone who has been sober for 11 years, I was quite excited to hear about his path to recovery first hand.
He started off with a few stories about Canada, apologizing for “the orange man” and saying that most Americans don’t feel like he does about Canada. We know Randy, but thanks for stating it. It’s also a great way to endear yourself quickly, in case being Randy Blythe wasn’t enough.
He then launched into stories of how he wound up at rock bottom. Stories about alienating those close to him and the helplessness of addiction. He told these stories with humility, often laughing at his former self. There was a pretty lengthy story about being “kidnapped” by a former heroin addict who frequented the diner he worked at and followed along for the drugs.
The stories continued to the rise of Lamb of God and the easy access that gave to drugs and alcohol, leading to levels of abuse that could’ve killed him. All this led to the moment where he realized he needed help, somewhere in Australia, while on tour with Metallica. After sharing this, the next logical step would’ve been to outline his path to recovery, but instead, it took a bit of a weird turn.
The next 45 minutes started with a story about the first time Lamb of God played the UK, opening for Slayer. There were some funny anecdotes about being an American confused in a foreign land, which, while entertaining, kinda lost the plot of the story. At no point did he really mention the steps he took for recovery or the impact it had on his life, other than saying he’d likely be dead by now.
So it kinda went: I did a lot of crazy things on drugs, here are some funny stories about it, then I decided drugs are bad and then in honour of Monty Python, here is something completely different. I kinda feel like the story was missing the best part: the triumph. It felt like I was watching a funny horror movie, say Evil Dead, where a guy is fighting demons with some comedic effect. We get to the part where the protagonist is down and out and seemingly defeated, but then, before he beats the demons, someone changes the channel to the BBC.
So, while it was entertaining, it was a little long at two and a half hours. And if you’re gonna be vulnerable enough to share your tribulations with us, share your triumphs, too. Those are what really inspire people to do better themselves.
Review – Richard Brunette
Photos – Steve Gerrard
