Introduction by Metal Walt:
Experiencing something cool in life does not always have to be planned in advance, but instead “right place, right time” things do in fact happen, well just because. On a blustery & windy night, here I was rushing in through the back door of the venue, only to be faced directly with the legend himself, Ice-T, just by happenstance. The Body Count Singer was as cool & nice as we all know him from TV or radio, same guy, same personality. I had maybe 3 minutes with him alone & I was honest in revealing that this would be my first time seeing Body Count live in my 35 plus years of attending concerts. He explained to me to expect the evening to include some Metal, some Rap, some Hip-Hop, lots & lots of cursing & laughter, some nasty jokes & plenty of uncomfortable topics exposed. Well, did they ever live up to that promise! He also shared that this was a one-off concert only to coincide with the Jimmy Fallon TV appearance the night before & this gig was the “Merciless” album release party with no other US dates planned at the moment. Oh yeah, & he also hand-picked the three support acts because he said Jersey deserved it! “Click click” with a few cell phone pictures together & on went the evening. What a start!
Concert review by Vince McDowell:
Led by the impish wig-wearing Jimmy G, Murphy’s Law performed a fun lively set of East Coast punk crossover songs. Showing no signs of a broken rib suffered during their European tour, Jimmy immediately made a dash for the photo-pit to sing “Quest For Herb” with the ready-for -action crowd. Jimmy, acting like WWF wrestler Steve “Stone Cold” Austin, drank and crushed cans of beer during “Beer” and hammed it up during “Don’t Bother Me’. He finished the set crowd-surfing and singing “Somebody’s Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In”, before a heartfelt and tearful thanks to the fans.
Wearing a Santa hat, Cro-Mags founder and lead singer/bassist Harley Flanagan walked to the mic while smoking a joint, greeting everyone with a “Ho, Ho, Ho Motherfuckers” before bursting into “We Gotta Know”. The chiseled 57 year old Harley prowled the stage and flailed his bass like a demonic Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Interspersed with stories of positivity and overcoming adversity the band crushed hardcore classics “World Peace” and “No One’s Victim” with Body Count’s Vincent Price holding down the bass lines for “Hard Times”.
The air raid siren intro to Body Count’s “Civil War” blared as Vincent Price wearing a kabuki- styled hockey mask led the band out before breaking into “Body Count’s In The House.” The crowd erupted as Ice “Muthafuckin” T emerged from the side stage to introduce the Slipknot- sized band: guitarists Ernie C. and Juan of the Dead; drummer Will “Ill Will” Dorsey; backing vocalist Sean E. Sean and backing vocalist/hype man Little Ice, Ice-T’s son. The band seamlessly took it to another level with Slayer’s “Raining Blood/Postmortem” which went over well with the “Slayerville” NJ crowd. The quick jab of “Point the Finger” followed with Price handling the vocals laid down by the late Riley Gale of Power Trip. “There Goes the Neighborhood”, the defiant announcement to the metal world that Body Count was here to stay, led to the first set break followed by Alice Cooper type theatrics as Ice-T donned a nylon mask and an alter-ego while he stabbed, beat and bloodied a shocked Little Ice during “Psychopath” after which Ice-T asked “What happened? I blacked out.” Politically charged currents ran through “No Lives Matter”, “Fuck What You Heard” and two Exploited covers “Disorder” and “Let’s Start A War”. Ice-T brought his young daughter Chanel Nicole to the stage to ask her what she should say to bullies to which she replied “Talk Shit Get Shot” and continued to sing the chorus as Little Ice walked her around the stage on his shoulders to the amusement of the crowd. The infamous and controversial “Cop Killer” was next as the band led the crowd in “Fuck the Police” chants. Afterwards a woman from the crowd threw a drink at Ice-T and was ejected from the venue. He told some off-color jokes to alleviate the situation and get the band back on track. After a “virtual encore” in which the band pretended to leave the stage, Ice introduced the title track to their newly released album “Merciless” and finished with their cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.” One could feel the electricity in the air as Ice-T, who has risen above his status as a star in two extreme musical genres to a true multi-media icon, made an appearance with Body Count and his hand-picked opening bands to bring his love of punk, hardcore, and metal genres to the middle of New Jersey. As he recounted a story of how the show came about he jokingly said “Where the fuck is Sayreville New Jersey?”. But as he later acknowledged, the crowd brought the fire and enthusiasm that only New Jersey metal fans can bring and Body Count returned it ten-fold. Ice-T made good on all the promises he made to Metal Walt backstage about what to expect from the show as expected. Body Count was in the house and the neighborhood will never be the same!
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