Great White survives

“Tonight is not about Great White,” an emotional Jack Russell told the audience at Hollywood’s Key Club on Saturday. “It’s about helping and healing.”

Eight months after a fire that claimed the lives of nearly 100 fans at a Great White nightclub show in Rhode Island, the metal band played its first full hometown show, part of a tour to raise money for the Station Family Fund, an organization created by and for survivors and victims’ family members.

Back on the Sunset Strip, where the band emerged in the ‘80s, Russell said he didn’t want to “go into details about that tragic night” (the band’s pyrotechnics coupled with the venue’s allegedly unsafe conditions have been blamed for the blaze), but did call for a moment of silence for those who died, including the group’s rhythm guitar player, Ty Longley.

It was a poignant evening, but it wasn’t without raucous energy. The band, with a new bassist and guitarist joining Russell and original lead guitarist Mark Kendall, belted out big, bluesy metal tunes from its early days.

Though Great White lost its star power long before the Rhode Island tragedy, performing primarily as a nostalgia act for those wanting to relive the hair and hedonism of the metal years, it isn’t without talent. The band’s laboriously long guitar solos and dramatic choruses felt dated Saturday, but they were well executed. Russell’s voice was potent, a deep and passionate croon during the low-key moments and harrowingly high-pitched at the head-banging peaks. The mammoth metal anthems inspired the crowd, in which many looked as if they had never left the 1980s. For obvious reasons, the musicians’ garb and stage show were no-frills.