Down at the Fonda

On Friday night I saw Down at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Hollywood. The show was originally scheduled at the Santa Monica Civic Center but was moved a few weeks back. I arrived around 7:30 for an 8:30 show time. When I arrived there was a line to get into the club that was running about 3/4 of a block. It took nearly 45 minutes to get through this line.

The show was supposed to kick off at 8:30 but I'm assuming because of how long it took to get into the club things were delayed about 30 minutes. Just as Down did on the last tour there wasn't an opening act but instead an opening video that featured live performances from a number of 70s classic rock and hard rock bands. Between the live clips the movie showed footage of Down on tour and backstage. Some of the bands included in the opening video included Lynyrd Skynyrd, Thin Lizzy, Ted Nugent, KISS, Deep Purple (w/ Coverdale), AC/DC and a few others.

As the movie ended the video screen went up, smoke filled the stage, and Down came out and played a 2 hour set. They hit the stage at 10:05pm. I was seated the first row of the balcony, and considering the pit was active on the floor I was in a good place. As has become standard for LA the sound system was good and I had a perfect view of the stage.

Phil Anselmo looked great and was probably the first time I had seen him in concert where he was visibly sober. He was extremely interactive with the crowd and seemed much less pissed off then previous times I had seen him with both Down and Pantera. The band has a great live sound and were very tight live.

I must admit that their new cd Over The Under hasn't grabbed me like their first two. They ended up playing 7 tracks off the new album so I wasn't as familiar with the songs as I would have liked. The new material came off well live so I'll have to give the cd another chance. Since I wasn't as familiar with the new material it made for what felt like a long set.

New songs N.O.D., and Three Sons and One Star, and older songs like Stone The Crow, Lifer and Temptation's Wings were highlights of the set. During the final song of the set a group of females, possibly lady Down?, came out and took over the instruments and closed out Bury Me In Smoke. They actually sounded pretty close to the real band. All the Down guys were still on stage taking pictures and Rex was filming everyone with a video camera. At the end everyone did their final bow and only Phil was left on stage.

Phil led the crowd a capella through a lyric of Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love - "Way down inside, you need...."

Down
Henry Fonda Theatre
November 23, 2007
Los Angeles, CA

The Path
Lysergik Funeral Procession
Lifer (dedicated to Dimebag)
Three Suns And One Star
Hail The Leaf
I Scream
Ghosts Along The Mississippi ->
Learn From This Mistake
Mourn
Lies, I Don't Know What They Say But...
There's Something On My Side
N.O.D.
Temptation's Wings
Beneath The Tides
Losing All
(Lowrider - cover with Pepper and Phil screwing around)
On March The Saints
Eyes Of The South

Encore
Jail
Stone The Crow
Bury Me In Smoke (lady Down ended the song)
Whole Lotta Love (Phil leads "way down inside" lyric a capella to close out the show)