Article and Photos By: Joshua Guerra

Hundreds of Berzerkers packed Emo’s music venue in Austin, Texas Sunday night to watch former Ozzy Osbourne Guitarist and Black Label Society frontman, Zakk Wylde. Two special guests appeared with Zakk Wylde on this tour, hard rock American singer from Wisconsin, Jared James Nichols and upcoming Nashville rock band, Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown.

Coming off a recent release of a new EP, Highwayman, Jared James Nichols began the show to a crazed crowd. The energy Jared James gave to the crowd made the atmosphere of the venue much better by getting the crowd to move around as he was performing. With a very unique guitar sound and voice, the crowd grew into his music and very much appreciated his performance. What really got the crowd going were his covers of “Cat Scratch Fever” by Ted Nugent and “Mississippi Queen” by Mountain, which he concluded his set with.

Coming off a recent gig opening up for Guns N’ Roses at Paul brown Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown ignited the crowd with another wonderful performance following Jared James Nichols. With a recent EP, The Wayside, out to the public since the end of last year, Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown was still out supporting the EP on this tour. They performed songs from that EP, such as “Criminal Imagination,” and Mojo Workin.” They even went a little old school and performed “House on Fire,” “Downtown Tonight,” and “Lipstick Wonder Woman,” from their album Wild Child. Nearing the end of their set, Tyler Bryant stood on the barricade by the fans in the front row and shredded his guitar right in their faces. They had a high energy set which got the crowd ready for Zakk Wylde.

In support of his second and long awaited solo studio album Book of Shadows II, Zakk Wylde took the stage as cheers erupted from the crowd. With his amazing shredding techniques and finger tapping, Wylde definitely built a show to remember for all the Berzerkers in attendance. He started off his set with “Sold My Soul,” which is off his first solo studio album Book of Shadows. You would think he would probably play a song or two from his Ozzy Osbourne days or even a song from his band, Black Label Society, but he played only songs from his solo albums. However, this did not disappoint the fans, as they enjoyed seeing him shred the guitar on stage for about two hours straight. Mid-set, Wylde decided to get closer to the crowd as he went off stage, led by security guards and into the crowd, where a circle formed around him. He spent a good 10-15 minutes shredding, finger tapping and showing off his amazing guitar playing skills; he simply melted faces during his heavy, hard-hitting performance. Zakk Wylde will continue this tour stopping at several more U.S. dates and a few stops in Canada.