CONCERT REVIEW: In-person experience at Fozzy “25th Anniversary Tour” concert with Chris Jericho this weekend

FOZZY 25TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR
APRIL 19, 2025
COLORADO SPRINGS, COL. AT SUNSHINE STUDIOS

As a person who values live entertainment, I’ve always had the passions of seeing concerts, plays, and wrestling events. I have a way of telling other people that I’m not going to give you a very good conversation when it comes to sports. I tell them, “I prefer my sports predetermined, I’m a pro wrestling fan.” But anytime I get a chance to see a live game, I always have a fantastic time.

There’s something about being a member of a crowd that’s come together to enjoy the same thing. Honestly, it’s one of the last types of human interaction many of us have in the year 2025, when work, shopping, and communicating can all be done without leaving your couch. There is something powerful in stopping to enjoy simply seeing people enjoy life and no one arguing over life’s issues. We need more of that.

So when I had the opportunity to combine two of those loves, and see a professional wrestler lead his band in concert in my hometown, I was there! Fozzy never was my thing musically, and the vocals are from an era prior to me an I am more of a punk rock and hip-hop fan. I just wanted to see Chris Jericho in his rock star element as someone who was quite the Jericholic at a certain point on my fandom.

I missed the last couple of opportunities, and who knows how many times they’ll be through. I was so excited to see them come back to Colorado Springs, that I bought the tickets not realizing it was the same night as night one of WrestleMania! I probably would have waited for the next show, and I started to wonder what the turnout would be considering not only WrestleMania, and a large amount of Fozzy fans, in my view, would be crossover wrestling fans, but Easter weekend comes with a lot of travel, family commitments, and early church services we either attend or are dragged to.

My son and I arrived half an hour before the first band started because I wanted to people watch for the purposes of this article. Well, that plus it’s a cheap and entertaining way to pass time. I watched for wrestling apparel and noticed a few people sporting the type of gear you see on the diehards. I saw a Y2J jersey, an AEW hoodie, and one wearing a hoodie from Terrifier. A few returning Fozzy fans were spotted wearing T-shirts from previous purchases as well. I was there in my Andy Kaufman inspired “Women’s Wrestling World Champion of the World” T-shirt, but I dress nerdy all the time. It’s my brand… (cheap plug for http://nerdstalgia.shop for your collector needs!).

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For the most part, early impressions were casual concert attendees, as it was sponsored by the local hard rock radio station (because people apparently still listen to those?). I only noticed two minors, and one was my son, which makes me sad on multiple levels. All ages shows are there to hook the next generation to keep it the art form alive. That is also a sign that Jericho’s audience isn’t a young audience. While that makes sense because of his age and tenure, it makes me question if you want to use him to get younger talent over if he has a falling number of young fans.

I do wonder what the turnout could have been like on another weekend since there is a strong wrestling scene in Colorado between Rampage Pro, Lucha & Laughs, and CWC even had a show in Vegas for Wrestlemania weekend, pulling a lot of potential audience.

There ended up being slightly under 200 in attendance when the opening act, The Nocturnal Affair, took stage. A band that dressed like metalheads and played nu-metal sounds with similarities to Cold and Staind. You could put 500-600 in here and I’ve seen it sold out for concerts and indie wrestling shows for CSW (which are returning soon if you’re in Colorado).

The second band was Liliac, a female fronted post metal hard rock band (side note – there are far too many ways to describe music genres). This was the reason the people in front of me were at the show, so they had some type of draw as an opening act. There were a noticeable number of people who were here to sing along with Liliac. Although, when I came into the venue, I wondered how big their following was. While they did have a line at their merch table before events began, it was obvious that the crowd was still mostly here to see Fozzy.

After Liliac played – and wow is there some talent in that front woman’s voice – Fozzy took the stage. Then venue was half full by this point, actually exceeding my expectations based on the circumstances. The crowd got tighter around the stage as a long pre-show presentation leading to Chris Jericho coming out last in his obscenely expensive sparkling shirts from his attitude era wardrobe.

I’ve been to more concerts than I could even start to imagine, and I’ve watched Jericho perform on many wrestling related gigs, so I knew what to expect. Jericho doesn’t have a voice that is ever going to make Fozzy a mainstream breakout band, but we live in a time where that does not have to be one’s endgame to call themselves successful.

Halfway through the show, there was a jacket change to his Painkiller jacket. I was afraid the jacket and we were going to see shirtless Jericho on stage, and at this stage of life, I would only see him as Iggy Pop who worked out more and took less drugs.

One final jacket change before coming out for the encore with Judas, which did get a strong response, and my 16-year old impressively sang along with every lyric. I wanted to add his perspective, but getting anything more than “it was good” out of a kid at that age is a lot tougher than writing this article.

Chris was able to use his natural charisma and crowd-controlling techniques he’s picked up as a wrestling veteran to put on a fantastic show. The vocals, while not top shelf, aren’t near embarrassing. He’s the perfect performer for a festival where a large crowd is simply looking to be entertained, opening for a larger act and warming the crowd, and can also have a strong, respectful career playing clubs for 200-1000 people and live out his rock star dreams. I sure wish I could live mine out in the way he has the opportunity to do!