The worm-hole traveling Monsanto mutants of Mac Sabbath descended upon the Queen City for a night of metal music, comedic skits, and some crazy costumes to entertain those who dared step inside the iconic Woodward theater in OTR last night. Ronald Osbourne in this motley crew of musicians are traveling the country to celebrate their 10th-anniversary tour along with spreading the news of the evils of fast food, GMOs, and government control of food.
The anticipation mounts as the Mac Sabbath curtain covers the stage and is strong between 2 pillars with an evil-looking Ronald McDonald head, excuse me Ronald Osbourne head. I can see a purple head and the top of a burger peeking over the curtain while the crew got ready to unleash this sordid Sunday night affair. The curtain comes down, you get your first look at the spectacle that is Mac Sabbath. Breaking out into "'Organic Funeral," to kick off this show, the crowd immediately becomes entranced.
Playing many of their well-known spoof hits including "Sweet Beef," and "Drive Thru The Void," we are only further impressed by the musical ability underneath the Slayer MacCheeze and Grimalice costumes. Slayer can make many guitar changes during the show without missing a beat and always keeping the familiar sound of the original metal legend Black Sabbath song. Grimalice, keeping the baseline sharp throughout amazed me. I kept looking over from my side of the pit and wondering, how the hell is he doing that from under that massive costume?
Our emcee for the night was Ronald Osbourne himself. The incessant jokes flew as he interacted with the crowd all night long. There is no question everyone in this place was having fun. Claiming to be from Birminghamburger, England, and being Knighted the Four-fathers of drive-thru metal. Then further provided the first of many dad jokes of the night by telling us how they have played with Cinnabon Jovi, My Chemical Cool Ranch, and My Morning Jack-in-the-Box.
Continuing on the night with some more tunes, these guys make the brain a little confused. Not just because of the bizarre components of the show, but while trying to listen to the newly minted lyrics condemning the corporate food industry, I found myself trying to sing the original. "More Ribs" (War Pigs) was a sure favorite and got everyone pumped for this ongoing spectacle. “Chicken For the Slaves” (Children of the Grave) was another great comedic rendition that keeps this show light while sending a compelling message. This is likely the reason these guys have been so successful and keep crowds coming to their shows.
I do not want to leave out Cat Burglar from the musical commentary. He carried the drum kit like a champ throughout the night and had his own share of cracking jokes. Leaving the sticks behind a few times to come out to the front. He even threw down the first verse of “Beth” while giving us his best Peter Criss impression. This was not the only teaser during the show either. Mac Sabbath clearly likes to get the crowd riled up with songs we know and then…stop- to tell us they’re not playing that. We heard some Pantera(bread) riffs, the Crazy Train intro, and a chorus of “We’re Not Going to Shake Shack” to Twisted Sister.
One thing I learned at this show is that there’s a secret word at this Mac Sabbath show. Not sure if it happens at every show, but tonight the word was ‘cake.’ What that meant for us is that each time the cake sign came out, they would break into “The Distance” by you guessed it, Cake. By the end of the night, they got through most of the song picking up from where they left off the time before. This show is all it’s cracked up to be with extra characters who showed up like the employee of the month, filet of fish head, and several others in the cast.
Well, I have to say this is more entertainment than I usually expect for a Sunday night. But Mac Sabbath gave us what we asked for… even though we didn’t know what we wanted when we arrived at the drive-thru on the way home.
