BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, ZAKK SABBATH, DARK CHAPEL In Houston, TX With Photos!

Wednesday, September 9, 2026 at 1:19 PM

By Larry Petro @petrofyed

The American Crusade Tour Hits Bayou Music Center On September 3

All Live Photos By Larry Petro / Petrofyed Photography

When this tour was first announced my first thought was that they could have named this tour a number of things, the Double Duty Tour or the Maximum Exhaustion Tour are ones that came to mind as every member of headliners BLACK LABEL SOCIETY was pulling double duty each night. Zakk Wylde, bassist John 'JD' DeServio and drummer Jeff Fabb comprised the ZAKK SABBATH lineup while guitarist Dario Lorina opened each evening with his solo project DARK CHAPEL.

The Houston show was originally scheduled for the day before, September 2nd, but Tropical Storm Edouard made landfall between Houston and Beaumont on the 1st and with expected rainfall totals around 1-2' the band decided to err on the side of caution and safety. Luckily there was no event scheduled for Bayou Music Center for the following day so the concert was shifted to a day later, which still left the band time to get to the show in San Antonio the next evening.

I was granted early entry to the venue due to my being approved for press for the show and as I stood outside in the designated smoking area when the opened the doors for the common peasants I heard one of the ladies in charge of checking bags tell people as they were walking up, 'No knives, no pepper spray, no broken bottles'. Broken bottles? Seriously? I'm sorry, let me run back to my car real quick and put up the broken coke bottle I was carrying in my camera bag. I couldn't help but laugh out loud as she said that.

DARK CHAPEL, Lorina's side project band formed in 2024 and released their first album 'Spirit In The Glass' early in 2025, with Lorina taking front and center and showing off his vocal chops. Completed by guitarist Dylan Dyce, bassist Mike Leon and drummer Jeremiah Walker, the band wasted no time getting down to business, getting the metal-fueled evening started at precisely 7:30 with "Afterglow" from that debut album. Dario and company with locked-in and firing on all cylinders as the impressed the early arrivals with further tracks "Hollow Smile", "Sign of Life" and "Hit of Your Love". The piano-driven "Dead Weight" gave the crowd a brief respite before finishing their time onstage with brand new song "Burns The Flame", which was released in late June of this year.

Setlist:

"Afterglow"
"Hollow Smile"
"Sign of Life"
"Hit of Your Love"
"Dead Weight"
"Burns The Flame"

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At around 8:30 the lights dimmed as the strains of BLACK SABBATH's "Supernaut" filled the arena PA system, the BLACK SABBATH tribute trio known as ZAKK SABBATH took the stage. With basically the BLACK LABEL SOCIETY lineup sans Lorina, the band ripped into their 5 song set with "Children of The Grave" and the crowd went nuts. Zakk does his best Ozzy vocal impression as JD DeServio and Jeff Fabb hold down the low end of SABBATH classics like "Snowblind" and "Fairies Wear Boots". As the band performed the iconic "N.I.B." the crowd was exhorted to sing and they obliged willingly and loudly. Prior to the band's final song, "War Pigs", Wylde led the crowd in a chant of "Ozzy! Ozzy! Ozzy!" as he paid homage to his former boss and mentor. In the middle of the song, Wylde surprised everyone by making his way offstage and into the floor of the crowd near the soundboard as he ripped off an extended solo behind-the-head and then using his teeth to the delight of those seated in the back of the venue. If you get the opportunity to see this band, don't pass it up, especially if they're on a headline run.

Setlist:

"Supernaut" (PA tape)
"Children of The Grave"
"Snowblind"
"Orchid" (PA Tape)
"Fairies Wear Boots"
"N.I.B."
"War Pigs"

https://blacklabelsociety.net/zakk-sabbath/
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https://www.instagram.com/zakksabbath/?hl=en

At just past 9:30 (a little later than we were initially told), a BLACK LABEL SOCIETY tapestry draped the front of the stage as a mashup of LED ZEPPELIN and BLACK SABBATH called "Whole Lotta Sabbath" blasted through the PA. When the tapestry dropped the band blasted into "Funeral Bell" from the band's 2003 iconic opus 'The Blessed Hellride'. From there it was straight into a track from the 2026 album 'Engines of Demolition', "Name In Blood". If you haven't heard this new album yet, you are doing yourself a disservice as this is quite possibly BLACK LABEL SOCIETY's greatest effort yet, so check it out. "Destroy & Conquer" from the 'Doom Crew Inc' release followed, along with "A Love Unreal" and "Heart of Darkness". Wylde then came front and center and ripped into the guitar solo from Ozzy's "No More Tears", performing the song from that point forward to another rousing applause and chants of "Ozzy! Ozzy! Ozzy!" once again at its conclusion.

The evening then shifted to a more somber note as Wylde sat behind a piano for "In This River" which was dedicated to the memories of Dimebag Darrell and his brother Vinnie Paul, their pictures adoring either side of the LED backdrop. From there it was back to the balls-out rock as they performed the title track to 'The Blessed Hellride' and "Set You Free". "Fire It Up", a track I became familiar with in the first edition of the hugely successful 'Guitar Hero' game franchise, was next which included a dual guitar jam with Dario Lorina, each of them playing behind their heads in back-and-forth perfect precision, while inflatable beach balls bounced around through the crowd.

Entering the 'encore' stage of the evening without leaving the stage, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY torn through "Suicide Messiah" before the emotionally charged "Ozzy's Song", a deeply personal and moving number that also features an intense solo from Wylde and photos of a younger Osbourne displayed on the backdrop screen. And, per usual, the band closed out their evening with the smash hit "Stillborn", a track that originally featured Ozzy Osbourne on backing vocals. It was the perfect end to a perfect evening of metal music.

Setlist:

"Whole Lotta Sabbath" (PA tape)
"Funeral Bell"
"Name in Blood"
"Destroy & Conquer"
"A Love Unreal"
"Heart of Darkness"
"No More Tears" (Snippet)
"In This River"
"The Blessed Hellride"
"Set You Free"
"Fire It Up"
"Suicide Messiah"
"Ozzy’s Song"
"Stillborn"

This leg of the North American Tour runs through October 3 at Aftershock Festival before the band heads to South America. the group then finishes off their 2026 dates with two shows in Florida at the end of October.

Remaining U.S Dates:

Sep. 11 — Chesterfield, MO — The Factory at the District
Sep. 12 — Chicago, IL — Aragon Ballroom
Sep. 13 — Cleveland, OH — Jacobs Pavilion
Sep. 15 — Raleigh, NC — The Ritz
Sep. 18 — Pittsburgh, PA — Stage AE Outside
Sep. 19 — Grand Rapids, MI — GLC Live at 20 Monroe
Sep. 22 — Green Bay, WI — Epic Event Center
Sep. 24 — East Moline, IL — The Rust Belt
Sep. 25 — Waite Park, MN — The Ledge Amphitheater
Sep. 26 — Council Bluffs, IA — Harrah's Stir Cove
Sep. 29 — Garden City, ID — Revolution Concert House
Sep. 30 — Airway Heights, WA — Northern Quest Amphitheater
Oct. 2 — Bend, OR — Hayden Homes Amphitheater
Oct. 3 — Aftershock Festival