May 12 2013 – When two legends of rock share the stage, you know you are in for an incredible night. On Friday May 10th at Toronto’s Rockpile a packed house enjoyed a very unique show named Drum Wars by the Appice brothers.
In one corner Carmine Appice (66 yrs old) whose recording resume reads – Vanilla Fudge, Rod Steward, Beck Bogart & Appice, Cactus, Paul Stanley, Ted Nugent, Pat Travers and Pink Floyd. In the other corner his brother Vinny Appice (55 yrs old) whose discography resume reads – Black Sabbath, Dio, Heaven & Hell, John Lennon, Rick Derringer and more. You get the idea right? These two epic rock drummers have played with the cream of the rock crop. We interviewed Carmine Appice before the show and you can read that here.
Their current tour puts them front and center in a Drum War format. They basically play a few song each, a few songs together, and they emulate a drum battle against each other in a loud display of showmanship. The stage set up has a unique setup – singer (Nick Guerin) off to the left of the stage. Vinny and Carmine in the center of the stage. Guitar (Manuel Iradian) and bass (Eddy Levitsky) behind them on an elevated platform.
The show was highly entertaining and as previously mentioned very different than any other rock show. The drummers were the centerpiece and these guys really delivered. The show kicked off with Black Sabbath’s Dio Era scorcher Mob Rules which transformed into a major drum spotlight featuring both the Appice bros. Vinny stays on for a couple of Dio songs Holy Diver and We Rock. A very unique drum heavy Flintstones was next that started off with a crowd singalong. Carmine took center stage for a kick ass solo and then Ozzy Osbournes’ Bark At The Moon and Rod Stewarts’ Do You Think I’m Sexy. One more Dio era Sabbath song with both Vinny and Carmine for Lady Evil was the appetizer to a second drum war which led into a Vinny solo and another showmanship based battle. The night ends with more Ozzy/Sabbath goodness with Crazy Train and Paranoid (a song they both played with Sabbath we are told). We were treated to a second and unplanned encore of a song Carmine recorded with Cactus called Evil (a Willy Dixon 1954 Chicago blues scorcher).
The Rockpile is easily the best bar in Toronto for classic hard rock acts to make a stop in our city and Drum Wars was another epic show with excellent sound (as always) mixed by their resident soundman Jake Disman.
Verdict: 4 out of 5 – Incredibly high entertainment value with 2 icons of hard and classic rock. We loved the Sabbath/Dio/Ozzy heavy setlist but the drum wars themselves were the clear highlight of this show. Highly recommended show that we hope keeps touring for a long time.
Note – the guys hung around after the show to sign autographs at the merch table and I was able to get a picture with them both! Vinny on the left, Carmine on the right. We leave you with some pictures of the night. Don’t forget to read our Carmine Appice interview here.
