The name Sully Erna first broke into the mainstream in 1998 with his hard rock band, Godsmack, but what a lot of people don’t know about Sully is that he is much more than just the front-man for the 4-time Grammy-nominated rock band. He is an established drummer, pianist, published author, and a father.
As a song writer, Erna had written a lot of material that he felt was not material he would use for Godsmack. Most of this material was released on his first solo album, ‘Avalon,’ in 2010. After a successful tour promoting ‘Avalon,’ Erna has now released his second full length solo album, ‘Hometown Life.’
Erna and two accompanying musicians, Chris Lester and Tim Theriault, spent two hours in Detroit’s Majestic Temple playing songs from both of Erna’s albums, along with some Godsmack songs and covers of some of Erna’s favorite musicians.
The show opened with imagery that really set the tone for what was in store for the evening: a video rolling through space with a deep voice guiding your mind though a story of what music is and how it can affect us. How it starts as only a vibration, but that small vibration moves our soul, enhancing us in our good times, and nurturing us through our bad. It can do so much for us as humans, but never asks for anything in return.
After the intro, Erna made his appearance to a roar of applause, and moved right into the title track from his first album, Avalon. After a few songs, Erna stopped to address the crowd and talked about his new album, his writing process and that this album was a lot darker than what his fans may be used to. He then moved into some new tracks, not missing a beat in between songs, really preventing the audience from having any break of the roller coaster of powerful vocals and emotion that he was belting out, all while captivating the stage at the Majestic Theater.
A steady stream of applause happened when Erna took a break from his own material and performed “Nutshell” by Alice in Chains, while a slideshow of deceased musicians scrolled in the background.
After about an hour of constant music, he started a very popular song from his first album, ‘My Light’, which is a song Erna wrote for his daughter, Skylar. The song was accompanied by an emotional video montage of the musician and his daughter together as she was growing up through the years. After the song ended, Erna talked to the audience for a while about the hurdles he has faced raising Skylar while being a touring musician, and now that she is getting older he is learning the traditional teenage daughter obstacles that every father has to go through, like buying feminine products from the local CVS or who the latest boy at school is piquing her interests.
After a few more songs, Sully addressed the rumor of a Godsmack break-up by announcing that a new album and tour would be coming in 2018, the 20 year anniversary of the band. He followed the announcement by playing Touché and Running Blind, from the Godsmack catalog.
Sully rounded off the evening with an incredible mash-up of Aerosmith’s “Dream On” and “Hey Jude” by the Beatles. As Sully faded out from the speakers, he left only the audience singing. After several moments of only the crowd singing that familiar chorus of ‘Hey Jude’ Sully reached for the microphone for a final time, leaving the singing crowd with one final quote that gave everyone something to think about. “That feeling that you have inside of you right now, that is the gift of music. Take that home with you.” A simple quote that tied the entire evening together, and reminded everyone that music is a gift, a miracle.
Set list:
Avalon
Sinners Prayer
Your Own Drum
Eyes Of A Child
Don’t Comfort Me
Fall To Blame
Nutshell (Alice in Chains cover)
Blue Skys
Broken Road
Father of Time
My Light
Nothing Else Matters (Metallica Cover)
Different Kind Of Tears
Running Blind (Godsmack song)
Another Brick In The Wall pt. 2 (Pink Floyd cover)
Touche (Godsmack song)
Until Then
Dream On/Hey Jude (Aerosmith/Beatles covers)
