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[Live & On Record]

GODSMACK:
TV EYE

The sold-out Godsmack show at the Centrum in Worcester last Friday would have been special even if the band hadn’t been filming it for an upcoming home-video release. It was the hometown heroes’ first show in town since the October release of their second disc, Awake (Republic/Universal), and one of the first stops on their biggest headlining tour to date. But with the cameras providing what amounted to an international stage, the concert took on an aura of greater importance. It was like a Red Sox playoff game at Fenway Park — regardless of how much you like the guys playing, it was damn near impossible not to feel a huge sense of civic pride about the whole thing.

The significance was not lost on Godsmack’s Sully Erna, who proved a gracious and funny host from the get-go. He spent most of the show jumping around the stage like a madman, pausing occasionally to strap on a guitar and praise the crowd for its enthusiasm. The stage set was as dark and monolithic as the band’s music: several gargoyles sat perched along the massive stone wall that stood behind the group, while a metal replica of the band’s Alice in Chains–derived sun logo spat fireballs overhead.

Godsmack plowed through most of the new album before finishing off their 90-minute set of unpretentious caveman rock with the string of hits that powered their breakthrough debut, Godsmack (Republic/Universal). Harking back to his early days as a drummer on the Boston club scene, Erna pounded along on a miniature percussion kit when drummer Tommy Stewart took a solo on “Get Up, Get Out!” The crowd mugged feverishly for the cameras all night, then got to sing the choruses of “Keep Away” and “Voodoo” by themselves. Erna took back the mike for the closing “Whatever” and worked the mosh pit into one final frenzy before saying goodnight.

The Springfield group Staind played a couple of stellar new songs in their opening set, which started off on the right foot with the mosh-friendly hit “Mudshovel.” Singer Aaron Lewis has been all over the airwaves lately with a live version of the solo acoustic track “Outside,” which the band recently recorded for their upcoming sophomore album, Break the Cycle (Elektra). Lewis’s sullen demeanor was as off-putting as ever, but judging by the loving response that greeted his performance of “Outside,” making new friends is one thing he doesn’t have to worry about.

BY SEAN RICHARDSON

Issue Date: March 8 - 15, 2001