Here's the review I did for the next issue of my mag:
"Dungeons busy touring schedule this year has served them well. If you thought it wasnt possible for one of Australias best live bands to get even better, this was proof to the contrary. Dungeon has always been good to watch, but often togetherness has been sacrificed for the benefit of putting on a good show. All that has changed. If this was a killer band before, they are beyond that now. The months on the road with some of the worlds greatest metal bands has created a monster with a tightness previously unknown to them. The crowd, many of whom must by now be reasonably familiar with this band due to a recent string of opening slots, went nuts for them. Reciprocating and feeding off the vibe, Dungeon put together a faultless set that may not have quite matched the headliners in terms of energy -- though of course there was plenty of it -- but surpassed it for memorable material. Dungeons knack for hooks is undeniable. Now they also have a ducks arse tightness on the live front thats almost scary. (This review was written a day before it was learned that this gig was to be the bands fourth-last ever.)
The first thing you notice when Fozzy hits the stage is how short Chris Jericho is. Built like a brick shithouse he may be, but the guy is quite a few inches short of six feet. The second thing that grabs the attention is that, for a band that started as a joke, this is one professional unit.
Its impossible to fault the playing of Fozzy live. The rhythm section is immaculate: Rich Ward, Sean Delson and Bud Fontsere lay down a perfectly even keel and lock effortlessly into a groove for Jerichos mid-range voice and occasional bursts of economical lead guitar from Michael Martin. They are note-perfect, and at the same time capable of delivering a non-stop, enthusiastic and energetic show. Ward in particular is a dynamo performer, at one point all but crowd-surfing while never missing a single riff. Jericho is a natural showman, an affable and livewire frontman, coercing the crowd into silly chants of Fozzy, Fozzy, Fozzy, Oi! Oi! Oi!. Ward wields his guitar with a furious abandon and at one point offers himself as a springboard for part of the stream of stagedivers, one of whom somehow manages to leave his phone on the stage. This proved to be a low point of the show when Chris picked it up, announced the contents of the most recent text message to the crowd and proceeded to punch in a reply. At that point, the phone was claimed by some wanna-be wrestling idiot who pulled a roundhouse kick on the singer only to receive a death-stare in return, followed by some rough justice at the hands of the moshpit shortly after.
Fozzy merely rolled on unperturbed, and even this random morons actions failed to dampen Jerichos enthusiasm for crowd interaction, climbing the PA to get close to the under-agers upstairs and later on diving into the audience. At one point, the mischievous Ward even stirred the Gaelic into a rousing rendition of Fuck Jet! As proficient and as entertaining as they are, however, theres no getting around the fact that Fozzys music is actually not that brilliant. A few songs stand out like Enemy and Nameless, and the set-closer To Kill A Stranger is easily the best song this band has written. The rest of the songs are merely OK however and even the covers of Free Wheel Burning and Eat the Rich dont really set the night afire; indeed its hard to imagine why the one tune Fozzy has truly nailed, Accepts Balls to the Wall, isnt part of the set. In a way though, its probably just academic because for all of that Fozzy is still one fun band to watch and it would be a hard judge indeed who couldnt come away more than slightly impressed by a band that puts as much into a live set as these guys. Now if only they could churn out a few more memorable songs, Jericho would never need to wrestle again."
BTW, did anyone try to watch that clip I posted?