We were scared to death, it was like throwing someone off a boat who’s never swum before and saying sink or fucking swim and we swam.” They asked us to do headliners – I told them to fuck off. Zacky: “We didn’t want to come back and carry a show. And it was emotional and it was rough, you have all these nerves and you’re thinking about all these things on the first night, you know, ‘What are we doing?!’” They all knew it was our first show back, there were signs, there were kids chanting ‘Rev’, so it was like, OK, it made us feel better because they weren’t expecting greatness, they had context for that first show back, let’s just get this one over with. What happened was that when Nightmare started it was so loud from the kids that we all felt a lot better. It was very nerve-wracking for all of us. Shadows: “I know, 20,000 people in Montreal. We were missing Jimmy, we were so sad, and now we’re just ready to demolish things that’s how it is.” We were up there just trying to get through the set, we were so nervous, my hands were shaking so badly, but I didn’t care, it was me connecting with the fans again. We went on and kind of rehearsed on stage to be honest. It was the scariest time of my entire life as a musician. Zacky: “We rehearsed for about one day before the tour. Nothing like jumping off the deep end, then… Due to Mike Portnoy’s erratic schedule they only got to rehearse a handful of times together before they stepped out on stage. They played a handful of shows alongside Rob Zombie and Korn, starting in Montreal. To prepare themselves for Uproar they jumped on the bill of Rockstar’s other summer tour, Mayhem. This tour’s only five nights old, but they’ve been playing live again without The Rev since late July. Zacky sports two new tattoos, the new album title – Nightmare – on his upper arm, and on his neck one simple word: Forever. Shadows will later admit that every night that it appears he wells up behind his impenetrable mirrored shades. Everything stops for an almost eerie silence when they play So Far Away, and the backdrop moves to one side to reveal a huge image of The Rev’s tattooed back, his bandmates’ arms embracing him. His sheer will to make it and the show work is remarkable he doesn’t miss a note in the hour they play. They sound incredible, their reputation as a head-turning live act remains intact, even more so considering that the bug that had laid guitarist Zacky Vengeance low in Chicago a few days before meant that Shadows had no voice at four that afternoon. It’s a rare moment of levity in a charged set. As the flames from their enormous gothic stage set – imagine an imposing Victorian mansion from your darkest dreams and you’ll be close – lick around him, he places a marshmallow on his drumstick, leans over his kit and toasts it. The Rev’s favourite ride cymbal sits among Mike Portnoy’s daunting-looking kit he’ll use it every night on this tour.
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