LYNCH MOB’S MR. SCARY MINI TOUR 2026 INVADES PROVIDENCE, RI

Photos by: Holly Roy Photography
Review By: Kat Gullage

The last time I saw Lynch Mob was on “The Final Ride” tour and word was they were going to continue working on music but no longer be touring. Was stoked to hear they’d be hitting the road again and I’d get another chance to see the absolute beast on the axe that is George Lynch again.


This mini tour had three consecutive dates: Manhattan NY, Albany NY and Providence RI - just days after the region had been slammed with record snowfall. The fiery line up for the last stop at Fête Music Hall included The Ben Cote Band, Dazr, All Sinners, Trixter, and Lynch Mob. The promoters, Reconditioned Media, incorporated comic relief into the mini music festival with comedians Jim Florentine and Don Jamieson.


The Ben Cote Band was a real draw for me. Caught em two years ago and was hooked from the first note. Ben is a seriously talented guitarist and performer and he teaches at Berklee, so ya know brainy too. Once again, he had the place rockin from the opening chords of AC/DC’s “Whole Lotta Rosie”. I am not a fan of covers in general but Ben and the band did a solid job, and in that rock club setting the crowd eats it up. They followed it up with an original, “Voodoo Queen” off of Celluloid Babylon. Ben addressed the crowd. “This is the last night of a three night run. NYC and Albany but it’s good to be home in New England. We’re gunna play one of our originals and if ya don’t like it we’ll say it’s written by someone else.” It was the title track “Get Your Licks In” followed by a cut off of Love At First Bite with “Too Much Of A Good Thing”. A cover of Ted Nugent’s “Stranglehold” was on deck. Ben shouted “This is the theme song of America right here!” and they fuckin nailed it. Ben handled vocals and showed off guitar theatrics playing behind his back and then with his mouth. Band members were introduced midway through the track with future Berklee graduate Jake Wakstein on drums and Ben’s high school friend and “one of the few people to be in my orbit and not go crazy, the love child between Lemmy Kilmister and Joan Jett, they had a baby” Dave Mansfield on bass and vocals. The set wrapped with “Nine Seven Six” from What The Doctor Ordered. Look y’all, I review a lot of bands and take my word for it, Ben Cote is fukin fire. Check em out, you won’t be disappointed. Go see him live and revel in his guitar wizardry while having a rockin good time.


I had pre-listened to South Carolina’s DÅZR and liked what I heard so was looking forward to catching them live. They didn’t disappoint and kept the theme of flashy guitar work rolling. The band is Matthew Shranko on bass, Shay O’Bryant on drums and brothers Austin Hendrix on vocals and Grant Hendrix on guitar. Just Hendrix and guitar in the same sentence is fire, amirite? I would describe their sound as 80s glam band mixed with influences of the 70s. I apologize for not having their official setlist, I tried to track it down. Their self-titled debut EP contains the tracks: “Unsatisfied”, “Night Lady”, “Can’t Take It Anymore”, “Tough” and “Hold The Line”. I can tell you they closed with a cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”. Personally I’m not totally convinced that’s the best song choice for them, but the crowd absolutely ate it up, cuz Black. Freaking. Sabbath. Might I suggest Blue Murder or Badlands for their next tribute? The rest of the set was solid. They’re great musicians and DÅZR was a perfect add to the night’s lineup. If you need a new dose of old school, DÅZR is your jam.


Boston’s own All Sinners had quite the contingent of fans in the crowd sporting their gear. The foursome brought their fresh take on unmistakable 80s influences, making them another appropriate pick for the night’s performers. Their set pulled heavily from We Own The Night, kicking it off with the title track. I appreciated their non-flashy, straight up pure rock and roll style and the fact that they run with two lead guitarists for that extra punch. They kept it rollin with “Dead To Rights” and “Lead Me Into Darkness” which featured a pretty killer guitar solo, followed by “Into The Flames” and “World That’s Burning”. They capped it off with a track from their self titled EP and it was actually my favorite, “The Hunted”. All originals, no covers. All Sinners is Mike Golarz on lead vocals and guitar, Bruce Morrison on bass, Nick Testone on the other lead guitar, and Roger Chouinard on drums. The band is clearly a local favorite and definitely worth checking out.


Trixter was the last stop before the main event. I am a bona fide music junkie and I’ll admit, I didn’t know who these guys were. I did my research and saw they broke out around 1990/1991 and in my defense, Alice In Chains. I watched their official video for “One In A Million” and they had that classic 80s hair band sound but were sporting flannel shirts. They literally were the living breathing crossover from glam bands to grunge. Despite their fair share of employee turnover and two hiatuses, the band has five studio albums and continues to bring their hits to the Trixter loyals. The current band is a trio made up of Steve Brown on lead guitar and vocals, P.J. Farley on bass and drummer Ben Hans. Their set fed their fans exactly what they came for, the hits, with most of the songs pulled from their self titled debut LP: “Give It To Me Good”, “Heart Of Steel”, “Line Of Fire”, “Surrender” and their biggest hit, “One In A Million”. I heard some fans around me singing that one word for word. We also got a track off of New Audio Machine with “Tattoos And Misery”. These guys obviously still love what they do and had a lot of fun out there. They made sure to show their crowd appreciation several times and Steve exited with “Rock and roll is alive and well! Thank you so much!” Are you into Trixter? They’re still out there ready to bring you back in time.

George Lynch is a bona fide beast on the axe. He’s ranked #10 on Gibson’s Top Ten Metal Guitarists of All Time. Best known for his tenure with the 80s band Dokken, which produced a series of platinum selling albums, George has been credited on sixty five recordings including nine studio LPs with his band Lynch Mob. For these dates, the fans got a rare treat: a dose of both bands, with two sets customized for the mini tour. For this show, George was joined by Rikki Thrash on bass - who apparently still fits in the outfit he wore during his Steel Panther days - Ben Cote on guitar (my boy!) and Jackson Davenport from the band Void on vocals. The seven song pulled from three classic Dokken albums: three from Tooth & Nail and two each from Back For The Attack and Under Lock & Key. They kicked things off with “It’s Not Love”, where Jackson got the crowd going with a little back and forth chant, followed by “In My Dreams”. George really flexed his chops on “Mr. Scary” and then things slowed down with the ballad “Alone Again”. I couldn’t look at Jackson’s white leather fringed jacket without smiling because my sister had the exact same one. She got it from a male stripper and I always busted her ass about it. Jackson stopped to give enthusiastic shout outs to all of the bands on the bill. Next up was “Dream Warriors”, written by Lynch and Jeff Pilson for the movie “A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors”. The Dokken tribute wrapped with “Just Got Lucky” and “Into The Fire”. It was a blast watching these guys perform live, the sound quality was solid and the crowd was fully into it. I was intrigued by Jackson and checked out some of his Void stuff, he’s got an impressive range and dare I say a touch of King Diamond in there? I saw a couple of comments on videos like “they didn’t quite get it right” or “it was a little off”. I chatted with Ben Cote during the show. You know how much practice they got in before they played live? Two fucking hours. Those of us that were there live were groovin.


The night’s festivities wrapped with a nine song set from Lynch Mob. A promo video that Jaron and George did promised “licks and shit” and they absolutely delivered. The Dokken material didn’t stop because you hear it at Lynch Mob shows, so the opener was the title track “Tooth & Nail”, followed by the first of five off of Wicked Sensation with “River Of Love” and “For A Million Years”. This set really was the highlight of the show. George was backed by our friend Jaron Gulino on bass, who seems like he’s 10’ tall and never stops moving, vocalist Andrew Freeman from the supergroup Last In Line, and as a surprise treat our drummer for the night was Will Hunt from Evanescence. They dipped into Rebel with “Testify”. I’ve seen George switch out axes at previous shows, but on this night he stuck with his trusty tiger striped one. They served up “Hell Child” and then another Dokken tune, “The Hunter”. It really is amazing to see Lynch play live, I was entranced by the dexterity of his fretwork at one point. And this mother fucker is seventy one years old. Remarkable. There was no slowing down as they powered through “Street Fightin’ Man” and “Unchain The Night”. It was over in a flash as they closed with a flawless rendition of the title track “Wicked Sensation”.


Ya never know when it’s actually gonna be the Final Ride, and I see George and Jaron and friends are still out there playing dates, so I encourage you to witness the legendary George Lynch live.


Don’t remember Dokken or Lynch Mob? Check out the band KXM featuring George, dUg Pinnick of Kings X and Ray Luzier of Korn (wish they would tour!). There’s also the side project Ultraphonix where Lynch teams up with Chris Moore, Pancho Tomaselli and my favorite singer of all time, Corey Glover. Just to name of few of the collabs Lynch is involved with. Guy never stops playing.
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The legendary axe man is serving up something for everyone.

BEN COTE

ALL SINNERS

DAZR

DOKKEN

TRIXTER

LYNCH MOB