It was never supposed to happen.
No one who has listened to heavy or punk music in the last thirty years could have imagined The Misfits would reunite with Glenn Danzig. It seemed impossible. Then along came Riot Fest. Word spread quickly across the internet that the, “Original Misfits would reunite for two shows in Denver and Chicago. The Denver show was hugely successful and within moments of the band taking the stage, videos were streamed and spread over the internet. Fiends from all over were excited with what they heard and looking forward to Chicago.
For the second time, Danzig, Jerry Only and Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein took the stage together to perform a blistering set of songs about John F Kennedy, martians, and “hacking the heads off little girls.” The night started off quickly with the break neck speed of “Death Comes Ripping” and the crowd exploded. As the Misfits played some of their more popular songs, the crowd was eager to join in singing along to the “whoah ohs” and asking, “Mommy, can I go out and Kill tonight?
And Danzig looked like he was having as much fun as the crowd telling them, “Sing or scream along or do whatever the fuck you want.” Jerry Only who has been performing his own version of The Misfits for the past twenty years, took a step back to focus on playing bass and adding backing vocals. Doyle, or as Danzig refers to as, “Monsterman” took to his usual stomping of the stage as he literally beat the ever living shit out of his guitar. The new guy in the group, Dave Lombardo (former drummer of thrash titans Slayer) added an extra punch to already great songs such as “London Dungeon and Green Hell.”
As the show came to a close, Danzig told the crowd that if they did not make to see them in Denver or Chicago, “They fucked up.” As these will be the only shows they will do. Many fans have speculated that The Misfits will continue to tour together to hit more cities around the US and possibly even more.
When the time came for an encore, Jerry asked if they could play Lombardo’s favorite song, Bullet. Before they launched into the song, Danzig reminisced about stealing artwork for Bullet’s original album cover with Jerry Only from their local library. Since most Misfits songs are less than two minutes, The Misfits treated fans to two more songs. “Attitude” and “She.” Danzig recalled it may have cost, “around $60” to record “She.”
Have we seen the last of the Original Misfits? With as much fun as they had on stage, I do not think we have. Besides, you can never keep a good monster down. They always come back for more.
