Mondo Generator dropped off Ozzfest, thus dropping off all the side dates. But, we would persevere. I mean, though I’d never heard anything from Circus Diablo, I love the Cult and Billy Duffy is part of Circus Diablo, it could be pretty awesome still, right?

Well, after sitting through some pretty bad bands, who we will discuss in a minute, it was finally time for Circus Diablo to hit the stage. First, I saw the dude from Fuel grab the bass. Yeah, Scallions quit a band headlining large venues to play bass for a band pulling in upwards of 35 people in the front room of the Meridian. I guess he must really be in it for the music.

Flanked by the rest of the dudes, who were in the dark, the band strapped on instruments and vocalist Billy Morrison tried to get the sparse crowd stoked up by inviting them into his little world at the front of the stage. Once everyone filled in the gaping space at the front of the stage, the lights went up and the band started playing. It was then, I noticed something wrong with the band.

I ran to the bathroom area to read the flyers to confirm I hadn’t dreamed something, but it was soon confirmed…my worst fears. On this night, we would be hit with a shortage of Billy Duffy. After searching the dark recesses of the band’s message board, I found a note about a “touring guitarist.” However, on all flyers, ads, etc, Billy Duffy was there front and center.

Had the severe lack of Billy Duffy been avoided, would we have liked the show more? No, for as awesome a band as the Cult is, Circus Diablo is a bunch of dudes having fun playing drop-D riffage to fit into the new day Ozzfest crowd. They were worthy of their sparse attendance.

Before this complete let-down of a set, we were tortured by a few other bad bands, the worst of which being The Tattooed Millionaires. These dudes refuse to believe that it’s been 15 years since grunge killed glam rock. Imagine if CC Deville left Poison and started his own band with a bunch of other squeaky voiced attention whores who can only sing lyrics about drugs, sex and tattoos and you would have a band still better than these dudes, but comparable.

Usually if you pull it out on a work night and stay at a club until 1, you expect to see something that is life changing or mind blowing. Instead, we were treated to something that gave us days worth of inside jokes. So, I guess it wasn’t a complete loss!