Metal Community Comes Together To Rock Dimebash 2011

By Andrew Bansal

Dec. 14th 2011, Key Club, Hollywood CA: As soon as the second annual Dimebash was announced, I was eager in anticipation of the event and I was curious to find out if the organizers stepped it up a notch and made it better than the first ever Dimebash which took place late last year at the very same venue. For those of you that don’t know, Dimebash is an event done for two purposes, to celebrate Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell’s memory, and to raise money for the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund. The Key Club was sold out for this in 2010, and indeed it was sold out this year as well. The line-up of performing musicians confirmed to participate this year was looking great on paper, and it remained to be seen as to how good the actual show would turn out to be.

The show started at 8 PM with hosts Eddie Trunk, Jim Florentine and Don Jamieson from VH1 Classic’s “That Metal Show” coming out and giving everyone a short intro on what to expect. Shortly after, the opening act Kill Devil Hill, featuring Rex Brown on bass and Vinny Appice on drums, took the stage and played a 45-minute set. I was glad they got a long set, and it was in fact longer than the two headline sets I’ve seen them perform. They had a few more new tunes as compared to the last time, and these sounded great in my opinion. The crowd was getting more and more into their music as each song went by, and Rex did his best to pump up the crowd. Even though the newer tunes were great, “Gates Of Hell” was still my favorite tune of the set. All in all, Kill Devil Hill’s set provided a very heavy beginning to the night’s proceedings.

But the real fun was about to start, in the form of all-star jams. The first group to appear was made up of Whitesnake drummer Brian Tichy, Machine Head’s Phil Demmel, Prong/Ministry/Soulfly bassist Tony Campos, Nick Bowcott and Jose Mangin, and they played the Pantera song “Mouth For War”. That certainly got this crowd going, the majority of whom were Pantera fans, which was no surprise at all. Anthrax’s Scott Ian then replaced Bowcott as the group jammed on “A New Level”. The next song was one of the highlights of the evening for me, as John 5 and Tim Ripper Owens joined in to perform the Iron Maiden classic “The Trooper”. Ripper did a fantastic job on vocals, and this was the first of many great contributions he made to this event. Next came DevilDriver’s Jeff Kendrick and ex-Megadeth bassist James Lomenzo for Judas Priest’s “Grinder”. It was an absolute delight to see Ripper singing a Priest tune. The next group consisted of guitar maestro Richie Kotzen, Alice In Chains’ Jerry Cantrell, Duff McKagan, Pearl and Scott Ian, and they performed Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here”. They did a brilliant job on this one and had the audience captivated. This set of jams ended with Disturbed frontman David Draiman joining in to perform the Guns ‘N Roses song “It’s So Easy”. This had already made the event better than last year’s, and we were just getting started.

The hosts came back out to introduce the next act on stage, Dio Disciples, a Dio cover band made up of Ripper on vocals, Craig Goldy on guitar, Scott Warren on keyboards, Rudy Sarzo on bass and Simon Wright on drums. They did two songs “Man On The Silver Mountain” and “Heaven And Hell”, and both of them were done to perfection. I’m really glad they chose Ripper for the vocalist position, because he sure as hell sounded like the right man for the job. They left the stage but promised to be back later in the evening.

While the next batch of musicians prepared for their jam, a 10-year old guitarist by the name of Nik Kai entertained us for a few minutes. That kid was amazing, as he played a guitar that was bigger than him and showed his entire array of skills, from shredding to soloing to finger-tapping. He gave us a glimpse of what he’s capable of, and his future looks exciting. I’m sure he will go on to make the Los Angeles music community proud in the years to come.

Next up was Sebastian Bach as he joined Armored Saint’s Joey Vera, John 5, Ginger Fish and In This Moment guitarist Chris Howorth for two Van Halen songs, “Unchained” and “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love”. Bach was killer on those vocals right from the outset, and continued to enthrall and delight the audience for a major part of the evening from that point on. John 5 once again proved that he is a complete natural on the guitar, and simply loves playing his instrument. It’s always fun to watch Joey Vera. He seems to enjoy being on stage so much that it just rubs off in his playing and onto the audience. It was a bit of a surprise to see Dug Pinnick from King’s X take the stage next. I certainly didn’t expect to see him as part of this, but he did Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak” along with Laura Christine and Nick Bowcott on guitar and left the stage. I wish he stayed to sing a couple more tunes, but that did not happen. Howorth, Lomenzo and Tichy returned to the stage for Ted Nugent’s “Cat Scratch Fever”, and this session came to an end with Bach, Vera, John 5 and Scott Ian doing AC/DC’s “Girls Got Rhythm”. This was another fun-filled segment, and the crowd was loving it.

Everyone took a short 10-minute break. After that, comedian Craig Gass came on to speak a few words, and then came another epic jam segment. Gene Hoglan made his first appearance of the night as he was joined by Draiman, Demmel, Bowcott and Campos for Pantera’s “This Love”. It was cool to see Rex Brown as he was watching in admiration from the side of the stage. Lomenzo replaced Campos and Ripper joined Draiman on vocals as they did Metallica’s “Seek And Destroy” next.

Bach, Rex and Tichy were part of the next group as they did Black Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan” and Pantera’s “Cemetery Gates”. It was simply awesome to see Bach pull off such tunes, because I had never imagined he’d do such a killer job on these. As promised, Dio Disciples made a return to the stage, this time with Glen Hughes on vocals and did “Catch The Rainbow”. I was absolutely stunned by Glen’s performance of this song at last year’s Dio Public Memorial, and last night was no different. It was spellbinding, to say the least. Just as he took the stage, I told a friend of mine standing next to me, “Wait till you hear his voice. You’ll be shocked.” And shocked he sure was. His mouth remained open as he watched and listened to Glen in amazement. That guy’s voice is just unbelievably good. After this wonderful cameo, Glen left the stage and was replaced by Robin McAuley, another pleasant surprise I must admit. They did “Rainbow In The Dark”, and then Ripper returned with a truly epic rendition of “Stargazer”.

Everyone took another 15 minute break as they got ready for the final jam session. Jose Mangin came out to pick the raffle ticket winners in the meanwhile. Miniature statues of Dimebag and Dio, and a guitar were the prizes given away. Another big surprise followed, as System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian appeared with Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello, to perform “The Ghost Of Tom Joad”. Right before the song, Morello gave a little speech on Dimebag and Dio, which was a nice touch. He is simply such a great spokesperson that he gains new admirers just by opening his mouth.

Geezer Butler appeared on stage, much to everyone’s delight, as he jammed with Draiman, Appice and Morello for “Mob Rules”, after which Bach, Demmel, Tichy and Bowcott joined him to play a Black Sabbath song that he hadn’t played on stage for 30 years, yes 30 years. The song was “Hole In The Sky”, a song I’d been wanting to hear since forever, and I went absolutely nuts. Bach did look nervous up there sharing the stage with the mighty Geezer Butler, which resulted in a slight fuck-up in the lyrics, but it was quickly forgiven and forgotten because Sebastian Bach truly was the star of this show, and the biggest surprise of them all. To see him do those Sabbath, Pantera, Van Halen and AC/DC tunes made me respect and admire him even more than I already did.

Suicidal Tendencies frontman Mike Muir appeared as the final guest for the night, as he did “War Inside My Head” with Demmel, Campos, Hoglan and Scott Ian, followed by Pantera’s “Fucking Hostile”, which induced the biggest circle pit of the night. These boys were then replaced by Kendrick, Tichy, Rex Brown, Howorth, Bach and Jose Mangin for “Cowboys From Hell”, and finally, almost all guests joined in to close the night with “Walk”.

It was a successful event, without a doubt. It was much better organized and executed as compared to last year’s event, because even though it lasted for about the same duration, there was a lot more music and a lot less wait time. Everyone who performed up there did a great job, although I could have done without David Draiman who did nothing but butcher the vocals of whatever songs he performed on. But other than that, it was a fantastic gathering of the Who’s Who of metal, one that was befitting of the magnitude of this event. The choice of venue was also perfect in my opinion, and I actually hope it stays with the Key Club for years to come. Moving it to a bigger venue might result in the loss of this intimacy which is what makes the event so special, the chance to be able to see these musicians from such a close distance.

All in all, an amazingly memorable night filled with heavy metal legends playing heavy metal classics, a night that would have put smiles on the faces of the late greats Dimebag Darrell and Ronnie James Dio.

Rating: 9.5/10

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