FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH Guitarist Sits Out Oslo Show; Band Performs As Four-Piece

Los Angeles metallers FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH performed at John Dee in Oslo, Norway earlier tonight (Wednesday, November 18) as a four-piece after the band's guitarist Zoltan Bathory was taken ill. Asbjørn Slettemark, the host of rock/metal radio show "Pyro" and host of mainstream TV show "Lydverket", told BLABBERMOUTH.NET, "After SHADOWS FALL had played their set, the crowd was gearing up for FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, and the crew did their changeover. When 5FDP was supposed to start playing, vocalist Ivan [Moody] appeared on stage, and told the crowd that Zoltan had gotten really sick, and had been taken to the hospital. Ivan asked the crowd if they wanted 5FDP to perform as a four-piece or cancel and come back sometime later. The 250-strong crowd scramed for the band to play, so Ivan told them that the band would be back to play in a couple of minutes.

"And so they did, and the show was actually a great success. It was 5FDP's first show in Norway, and the crowd sang along and moshed enthusiastically to 'Never Enough', 'The Bleeding', 'Hard To See' and the bands other crowd pleasers, and the band did a real good job despite being one man down. They will definetely play for bigger crowds in Norway when they return.

"I tried to find out what had happened to Zoltan, but nobody at the venue could tell what had happened. I did an interview with 5FDP guitarist Jason Hook a couple of hours earlier, and at the same time Zoltan was in the next room doing an interview with a Norwegian magazine, and at that time he seemed fine. During the gig the band didn't say anything about what had happened; the only reference to Zoltan was at the end when they asked the crowd to join them in a toast to Zoltan."

Slettemark's original report in Norwegian can be found at this location.