FOZZY - WOLVERHAMPTON KK'S STEEL MILL, 23.02.24

BY SHARI BLACK VELVET

October 2023 saw American rockers Fozzy release a new single, ‘Spotlight’. It aptly coincided with a U.S. tour named ‘Spotlight On North America’, followed by a February 2024 UK tour, ‘Spotlight On The UK’. The 10-date UK tour saw the band switching things up – instead of hitting Birmingham, they visited Wolverhampton, while Northampton, Buckley and Bradford were also on the itinerary.  

After entertaining sets by Pistols At Dawn, a quartet from Atlanta, Georgia (Will James, in particular, is a wizard on the guitar), and the UK’s own infectious, female four-piece, The Hot Damn!, which saw two giant inflatable unicorns as stage décor, while the girls performed bouncy tunes such as ‘Live Laugh Love’ and ‘I Didn’t Like You Anyway’, chants of ‘Fozzy, Fozzy’ came from the crowd. The band kick off their set with the new single, making it even more appropriate that the tour is named after it. 

Many bands call themselves rock, but Fozzy really epitomise that. Fronted by renowned wrestler Chris Jericho, and the brainchild of guitarist Rich Ward, Fozzy come armed with heavy-duty tunes in the form of ‘Bad Tattoo’, ‘Painless’ and ‘Lights Go Out’. They use CO2 jets and sparkular special effects to add to their show, with Chris picking up his infamous CO2 gun to spray over the crowd during ‘Do You Wanna Start A War?’ Their cover of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s ‘Relax’ is a pumping tour de force; Chris comments that it’s the first time he’s seen a moshpit for Frankie Goes To Hollywood. He gets the crowd to chant ‘Fozzy Friday’, although the audience at KK’s Steel Mill don’t seem used to chanting. “You can chant whatever you want tonight, it’s a rock ‘n’ roll party,” says Chris. He puts his hand behind his ear in between some songs, waiting for the crowd to chant, but they generally just clap or cheer, appearing a little more reserved. Maybe tonight’s Fozzy crowd is just full of rock fans rather than wrestling fans, unlike Birmingham on the band’s last tour, where the audience enthusiastically chanted all sorts of funny slogans. 

‘Sane’ is another powerhouse hit in the band’s arsenal, while ‘I Still Burn’ sees Chris telling the room, “If we can make our dreams come true, all of you can make your dreams come true as well. If you’ve got a dream, a passion, a goal, go make it happen.” The song is about “having fire and passion inside of us to do great things,” and is one of the highlights of the set. The screen at the back of the stage features lots of fiery flames. 

‘Enemy’ sees guitarists Rich Ward and Billy Grey come together for an impressive extended solo, which showcases their skills. We also notice Rich’s quality backup vocal singing – he’s definitely a man of many talents. The show ends, after the band’s hit ‘Judas’, which sees the most number of audience phones pop up to film it, with a cover of the Ramones’ ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’, rounding the set off on a punk party high, with the chant of ‘Hey ho, let’s go,’ signalling the end of the show. 

We definitely enjoyed a bop at this show. If only every Friday was Fozzy Friday. 

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