Celebrating the musical legacies of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Iron Maiden, the King of the Monstours Tour cruised through The Fillmore in Charlotte, North Carolina, on a cool and drizzly Friday night in the Queen City. Headlined by Zakk Sabbath, which features Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde, and with support from Zoso and The Iron Maidens, this hosting 2,000-capacity music venue is housed in a 100-year-old fiber mill in the Fourth Ward area of Uptown Charlotte and is located in the heart of the NC Music Factory. It was also constructed in the tradition of the historic Fillmore San Francisco, making it the perfect post-Christmas indoor destination for rock fans to shake loose any lingering holiday hangovers.
Lead out by drummer and founding band member Linda McDonald, The Iron Maidens kicked off their evening at 7:00pm with “Aces High,” a popular single pulled from Iron Maiden’s Powerslave (1984), in front of an early general admission audience already pressed firmly up against the stage fence. Bookended on stage by guitarists Nikki Stringfield and Alyssa Day, The Iron Maidens were rounded out by Wanda Ortiz (bass) and charismatic Kirsten Rosenberg (lead vocals).
Formed back in 2001, The Iron Maidens are billed as the “world’s only female tribute to Iron Maiden” and for thirty electric minutes, delivered a resounding musical testimonial to Bruce Dickinson and his English heavy metal band. I was actually amazed at how much they squeezed in with such limited time, with attention to details that any Maiden fan would appreciate, including Rosenberg sporting flight goggles a la Dickinson, some Union Jack and American flag waving, and of course, the band’s own version of Eddie (Iron Maiden’s mascot) making an appearance on stage.
Not to be discounted by the theatrics, The Iron Maidens crushed familiar fan favorites, delivering emphatic, sing-along performances of Maiden tunes in “Wasted Years,” “The Trooper,” “Flash of the Blade,” and “The Number of the Beast.” The band then put the punctuation mark on their night by playing arguably one of Maiden’s most popular and well known songs in “Run to the Hills” off 1982’s Number of the Beast. It was a treat to finally catch The Iron Maidens live, and hopefully they find their way to Atlanta (where I am based) for a longer performance gig in 2025.
The Iron Maidens
Nikki “Davina Murray” Stringfield – Guitars, backing vocals
Linda “Nikki McBurrain” McDonald – Drums, backing vocals
Kirsten “Bruce Chickinson” Rosenberg – Lead vocals
Wanda “Steph Harris” Ortiz – Bass, backing vocals
Alyssa “Adriana Smith” Day – Guitars
Setlist
1.) Aces High (Iron Maiden cover)
2.) Wasted Years (Iron Maiden cover)
3.) The Trooper (Iron Maiden cover)
4.) Flash of the Blade (Iron Maiden cover)
5.) The Number of the Beast (Iron Maiden cover)
6.) Run to the Hills (Iron Maiden cover)
Following a quick equipment turn of just about 20 minutes, the venue lights faded to mood lighting to signify the start of Zoso’s set. Celebrated as “the ultimate Led Zeppelin experience,” Zoso founding members Matt Jernigan (lead vocals) and Adam Sandling (bass), along with long-time drummer Bevan Davies and recent addition Scott Hathaway (guitars), wasted no time diving into the Zeppelin catalog, launching into the 1969 single “Good Times Bad Times” to start their evening.
Immediately evident was just how tight and authentic Zoso was musically to Zeppelin, even with Hathaway only recently taking over guitar duties for such an established band. If you closed your eyes and just listened to the precise pace Davies and Sandling set against legacy Zeppelin classics, you would have been immersed in how elegantly Jernigan channeled and delivered his inner Robert Plant over the music on iconic tunes such as “Immigrant Song,” “Black Dog,” and “The Ocean,” just to highlight a few.
As the second act on the tour bill, Zoso’s set was a bit longer than The Iron Maidens, coming in at nine total songs. However, similar to The Maidens, Zoso benefited from an adoring crowd familiar with their live performance choices, singing along loudly with Jernigan throughout the entire night, which concluded with the 1973 Zeppelin track “Over the Hills and Far Away.” Lucky for me, Zoso returns to Atlanta on Saturday, February 22, 2025, for a headlining performance at the Tabernacle.
Zoso – The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience
Bevan Davies – Drums
Scott Hathaway – Guitars
Matt Jernigan – Lead vocals
Adam Sandling – Electric bass, keyboards, and mandolin
Setlist
1.) Good Times Bad Times (Led Zeppelin cover)
2.) Communication Breakdown (Led Zeppelin cover)
3.) Heartbreaker (Led Zeppelin cover)
4.) Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin cover)
5.) What Is and What Should Never Be (Led Zeppelin cover)
6.) Bring It On Home (Led Zeppelin cover)
7.) Black Dog (Led Zeppelin cover)
8.) The Ocean (Led Zeppelin cover)
9.) Over the Hills and Far Away (Led Zeppelin cover)
With the clock creeping in on 9:15pm, the house lights went briefly dark over the sold out screaming crowd as Zakk Sabbath drummer Jeff Fabb made his way behind his kit. Once positioned, spotlights shone down on Fabb as the band’s Black Sabbath introduction music of “Supertzar” teased what was to come. Moments later, the immediately recognizable kilted guitarist/singer Zakk Wylde appeared with bassist John “JD” DeServio and Zakk Sabbath’s night began in high gear with “Supernaut,” a tune pulled from Black Sabbath’s fourth studio album, Vol. 4 (1972).
Wylde’s musical legacy might be mostly tied to his time with Ozzy Osbourne, but he has remained busy for decades with his other projects, including Black Label Society (a band he founded back in 1998, of which both DeServio and Fabb also perform in), as well as supporting Pantera. In fact, the Fillmore was littered with fans sporting their BLS shirts, patches and hats.
Following “Supernaut,” the power trio then blasted through three more consecutive songs pulled from Vol. 4, including “Snowblind,” “Under the Sun,” and “Tomorrow’s Dream.” Zakk Sabbath is an appreciation of Black Sabbath’s deeper catalog cuts, so if you are hoping to hear popular radio hits in “Paranoid” or “Iron Man,” you should probably stay at home.
Over the course of their entire 90 minute hair swinging and fist bumping set, Wylde vocally lead the band through a celebration of Black Sabbath’s musically influential early 1970s releases, performing tracks from that band’s self-titled debut (1970), Paranoid (1970), and Master of Reality (1971). However, it was the final song of the night that really put the audience into a frenzy.
It only took a few initial guitar chords for the Fillmore fans to realize that the band was moving on to the iconic 1970 tune “War Pigs,” arguably considered one of Black Sabbath’s — if not heavy metal’s — greatest songs. The crowd’s collective voices echoed through the venue as they sang along with Wylde, who then treated the audience with an extended guitar solo that he played behind his back as he navigated through the sea of people to the center of the floor. Upon wrapping up the song back on stage, the band then took a bow to thundering adulation, closing out the first night of the tour following a week-long Christmas break.
Following two earlier postponements due to medical advice addressing Wylde’s temporary vocal loss, the original tour schedule had to be modified to accommodate those dates, with this second US leg now wrapping up on Wednesday, January 15, 2025, at The Hall in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Zakk Sabbath
Zakk Wylde – Lead vocals, guitar
John “JD” DeServio – Bass
Jeff Fabb – Drums
Setlist
1.) Supernaut (Black Sabbath cover)
2.) Snowblind (Black Sabbath cover)
3.) Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes (Black Sabbath cover)
4.) Tomorrow’s Dream (Black Sabbath cover)
5.) Wicked World (Black Sabbath cover)
6.) Fairies Wear Boots (Black Sabbath cover)
7.) Into the Void (Black Sabbath cover)
8.) Children of the Grave (Black Sabbath cover)
9.) Lord of This World (Black Sabbath cover)
10.) Hand of Doom (Black Sabbath cover)
11.) Behind the Wall of Sleep (Black Sabbath cover)
12.) Bassically / N.I.B (Black Sabbath cover)
13.) War Pigs (Black Sabbath cover)
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Elliott is a music photographer covering shows in Atlanta, Georgia, and the surrounding area. The highlight of his photography career was back in the early ’90s, when he sold Neil Diamond the rights to his negatives from a show and then purchased a set of tires for his 1979 280ZX during college with the money.
