Nevermore January 16, 2000 Riley's Rock House Aurora, Illinois, USA Tradeable
1 DVD Audience Jim 1st NTSC 4:3 65 mins A B B+
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Next in Line This Sacrament Beyond Within The Death of Passion I Am the Dog Dreaming Neon Black Deconstruction The Fault of the Flesh The Lotus Eaters Poison Godmachine The Learning
Here is a VERY rare and uncirculated Nevermore video. I've been sitting on the VHS for 20-years simply because 1) I forgot I had it tucked away and 2) I was apprehensive about putting it out. This is singer Warrel Dane's "Miami" incident (of Doors lore). This album and tour took a mental toll on Dane, as it was a very personal conceptual album about the loss of a girlfriend to a religious cult and, according to legend, a serial killer. Warrel was in top form two nights before at Smiler Coogan's in Chicago and the night before this at J.J. Kelley's in Lansing, Illinois. This show was...disastrous. Warrel was exceedingly drunk, going on tangents in the middle of songs, hanging all over bandmates, warbling his way through the songs - an unmitigated nightmare. It was so bad that at the end of "The Learning" the band decided enough was enough and walked off, leaving a confused Warrel by himself on the stage. Not a finer moment, but...Warrel eventually succumbed to heart trouble after falling off the wagon again in recent years, so if nothing else, this reminds us that he was human.
A friend of mine taped this and wasn't in the trading circles at all, so this is the first time this video will ever reach the trading circuit. I knew Warrel and he was a great and generous guy, and I hesitated to put this out; I do so now not to further embarrass him, but to put out as much Nevermore material as possible because, in my humble opinion, this was one of the most underrated metal bands in history. While shitty, half-assed bands make millions of dollars pumping out crap, these guys all had day jobs and small businesses to keep going. Their legacy should never be diminished any more than it is criminally overlooked.
Apologies for the novel - the band means a lot to me, and hopefully you'll find some value in this otherwise gorgeous-looking video straight from the VHS master. RIP Warrel Dane - you are missed.
