Jackyl in Sioux City: November 17

For now, my concert experiences have come full circle.  The very first rock concert I ever attended was Jackyl back when I was a junior or senior in high school.  At the time, Jackyl was going on an ambitious plan to play 50 shows in 50 days and they were playing a free concert in the parking lot of the local record store, back when we still had those in my hometown.  It was free, so I went, despite not knowing a ton about Jackyl.  I was a little late because I was at a basketball game before going, but I managed to catch six or seven songs, and again, it was free.

Now, Jackyl is not a metal band, but I figured I would make an exception for the blog, mostly because my wife really wanted to go to this one.  They were playing at the Hard Rock Casino, which makes three weekends in a row that I have attended a concert there.

The opening band was a group called Screaming for Silence from Omaha, Nebraska, and it is just like Nebraska to produce a band that is 15 years behind the times.  They were about as stereotypical a nu-metal band as you could possibly get, complete with guy with weird-colored hair, guy wearing sideways baseball cap, jumping around while playing, and vocalist wearing flannel shirt.  The green-haired guitarist was pretty decent, but by and large, the band was ultimately forgettable.

Jackyl took the stage next and played through all of the songs one would expect the band to play.  "Dirty Little Mind", "When Will it Rain", "Mental Masturbation", "Down on Me", and "I Stand Alone" are the band's biggest hits and were all played last night.  Jackyl sounded damn good for being a band that has been around for 25 years.  Their brand of southern hard rock has aged well and they can still bring it after all this time.  Jesse James Dupree's voice is as bourbon-soaked and raspy as ever.  Of course the band closed things out with "The Lumberjack" complete with chainsaw accompaniment, which was to be expected as they did the exact same thing when I saw them almost 20 years ago. 

I have never really been a big fan of Jackyl, but they do put on a pretty good show.  My wife really enjoyed it, which is the important thing.  I do kind of owe after that whole Mayhem concert thing.