Watch Zakk Wylde Shred Through Almost Every Second of the National Anthem at Chicago Bulls Game
It's been nearly 50 years since Jimi Hendrix delivered his legendary performance of the "Star Spangled Banner" at Woodstock. Throughout the years, plenty of rock artists have saluted the U.S. with unique performances of the National Anthem and Zakk Wylde, who has done so in the past, got another chance to do so, shredding his way through the ceremonial song at last night's (Jan. 3) Chicago Bulls game.
Standing mid-court, Wylde's monstrous tone roared through the arena as he tore through a transformative version of the National Anthem. Throughout the performance, the guitarist alternated from bursts of fret-melting notes to piercing leads that stay true to the song's original cadence. While the guitar gods of yesteryear flicker in the distance, Wylde gave everyone at the NBA game a stirring reminder of how powerful a guitar can be in the most capable of hands. Just check out the video below and you'll see why.
The stop at the United Center in Chicago came before Black Label Society's show at the House of Blues last night as the band is in the midst of a headlining tour as fans await the release of Grimmest Hits, which will be out on Jan. 19. "Room of Nightmares" and "All That Once Shined" have offered a glimpse at what kind of riffing tectonics to expect and to get the live dose of it all, check out the remaining stops on the tour here.
"I always say, as far as writing goes, the running joke with Blasko is, 'Yeah, it's going to be a great Black Sabbath album," Wylde recently told us when discussing the new BLS record. "Everything's always riff driven anyway. I always say, 'Here's two strings, let's see what you can write,' because then you're forced to have to write riffs. If you were just writing on a bass guitar, that's all, you only have four crayons. How many color combinations can you come up with? You're forced to have to, because it's just got to be riff-driven."
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