John 5 And Doyle’s Mad Monster Tour Goes Bowling In Ventura, CA

John 5 & Doyle
November 8, 2015
Discovery- Los Angeles, CA

Rob Zombie guitarist John 5 and ex-Misfits axeman Doyle teamed up for the Mad Monster tour. Two great guitarists came together to deliver a night of guitar shredding and amazing musicianship. The bowling alley, Discovery in Ventura, California was one of the stops on this shred-tastic tour.

Doyle was up first on this tour and plenty of fans wearing their Doyle/Misfits merch could be seen. Doyle released his debut solo album titled Abominator on July 30, 2013 to positive reviews. Doyle‘s band members came on stage one by one and Doyle’s guitar could be heard being played before he made his way on stage stomping while strumming his guitar. The show started with the title track from the debut album, Abominator. Singer Alex “Wolfman” Story has a great stage presence and a great singing voice. Another new song Learn to Bleed was played and the fans were receiving it quite well. Being that Doyle is a former member of horror punk band Misfits, no Doyle show would be complete without a few covers. The first Misfits cover to make an appearance was Wasp Queen followed by Skulls. These songs were met with excitement from fans as they sang along to these classics. The show went on with two more new songs, Headhunter and Dreaming Dead Girls. Doyle has a very entertaining stage presence while performing. He’d stomp and walk around like a monster, smack his guitar while playing it, yet be all smiles at certain times. All while chewing bubblegum and blowing bubbles. Green Hell and Devilock are two more popular Misfits songs that was played and Story executed the songs just fine to perfection. Close to the end of the show, Doyle surprised everyone by playing a cover of the KISS song, Strutter. Fans could be seen and heard singing along which was a great feeling. Now that the show was coming close to an end, it was time to bring out the heavy artillery in Doyle‘s catalog. Last Caress was played and is one of Misfits‘ best songs. Misfits fans enjoyed singing along to this, especially when the pause in the song came and everyone sang out loud, “ooone laaast caaaress!”. Die, Die Die My Darling is another Misfits classic that fans were overjoyed to sing along to as they all sang along, “Die! Die! My darling!”. Even Story came out to the middle of the crowd to lay down and….die. The show came to a closing end with the final track from Doyle‘s Abominator album, Hope Hell Is Warm. Doyle finished the show and left the stage as only half the show was through.

John 5 released his seventh solo album Careful with That Axe on August 12, 2014 and is still actively touring the album. Jonh 5‘s performances are special because his music is all instrumental with no vocals. One might wonder, how do you pull off a show with instruments only and no vocals? Well, only someone like John 5 will explain it to you using his amazing guitar skills. The lights went out and fans cheered as John 5 and The Creatures made their way to the stage and started the show with Flight of the Vulcan Kelly. John 5 was on stage with full attire in robe and makeup. The next song was Villisca followed by the single from the new album, This Is My Rifle. John 5 mainly focused on his guitar playing and would run his hands and fingers up and down the neck of his guitars which was a graceful sight to see. El Cucuy is one of the best songs on John 5‘s new album and people of hispanic heritage will appreciate the guitar in this since it is Spanish guitar playing. It will make you feel like you’re at a party and want to drink up and dance. Other songs included in John 5‘s setlist from his various albums are: Portrait of Sydney Sloan, Six-Hundred and Sixty Six, and Behind the Nut. One of the main highlights of the show is John 5‘s guitars. Compared to most guitarists live, John 5 brings with him an assortment of different guitars. When it came to playing the Mad Monster part of the show, John 5 would bring out different guitars to display his different styles of playing. His first guitar was a miniature guitar and fans could be heard laughing at the sight of such a small guitar. John 5 played the guitar with ease and still managed to wow the crowd. The next guitar was a banjo and John 5 played a bit of bluegrass that was a joy to hear. The best guitar he brought had to have been his lava lamp guitar. He would play it and swish it around to make the green lava inside the guitar move and make it an impressive sight. Close to the end of the show, John 5 played his cover of Michael Jackson‘s Beat It. No vocals were sung for this cover, but fans would sing the song anyway and it went perfectly with the cover. To finish the show, John 5 and The Creatures played a medley of classic rock and metal songs. Some of the songs included in the medley were: Van Halen – You Really Got Me, Black Sabbath – Heaven and Hell, Metallica – Enter Sandman, Iron Maiden – Run to the Hills, and White Zombie – Thunder Kiss ’65. John 5 ended the show by thanking everyone for coming out to the show and was glad to see everyone.