At this point seeing Jackyl at Bike Week is becoming an annual tradition for Rewind It Magazine. And while we weren’t expecting to see too much change as far as the set list goes (can pretty much call the order of the tracks by now), our third straight year catching the guys at Destination Daytona this past Saturday, March 11, was by far the most unexpected and entertaining show of theirs we’ve caught yet.
Last year, the guys brought along a fairly generic cover band from Georgia (whose name already escapes me), but this time they pulled out all of the stops. After an introduction by new Destination Daytona owner Teddy Morse, Nashville, TN’s Beau Braswell kicked things off with a surprising mix of rock and country, introducing himself to the crowd with the twangy original “Whiskey I.V.” and a cover of Johnny Cash’s “Flosom Prison Blues.” He followed this up with the slightly corny (yet more than appropriate for Bike Week) “Bikers, Babes, and Booze.”
“Drinking Alone Again” sounded like something I might have wrote myself back in my playing days. A cover of The Georgia Satellites’ “Keep Your Hands to Yourself” followed before closing with another barroom anthem in the form of “I Need a Drink.”Braswell and his band then took their bows, and you could hear the sincerity in his voice as he thanked the audience for their time.
Three stunt bike drivers then entered the “Globe of Death” one-by-one located in the center of the pavilion as the danger-ridden sideshow served as an intermission in between acts. A couple of lovely female dancers also showed off their acrobatic skills for the crowd around this same time (to the delight most male attendants), too.
And finally, the mighty Jackyl emerged once again with a triple whammy that included “Blast Off,” “My Moonshine Kicks Your Cocaine’s Ass,” and “Get All Up in It,” with the typical banter from frontman Jesse James Dupree mixed in as usual for good measure.
Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and Jesse James Dupree on stage with Jackyl in Ormond Beach on 3/11/23.
A one-two punch of “Down on Me” and “Back Off Brother” from their first album followed before seguing into “Push Comes to Shove” and a cover of Grand Funk Railroad’s “We’re An American Band.” It was at this point the band paused to award a Harley Street Glide to one lucky contestant with the right key. Once again the winner’s name escapes me (sorry!), but I do know it was the very last of ten contestants that ended up driving off a lucky winner.
The band then came back to play some classic country with a cover of Hank Williams Jr.’s “A Country Boy Can Survive,” as well as their own “Just Because I’m Drunk.” But it was after this that things got truly interesting, with one of the most epic surprise guests in the history of Bike Week. Hip hop pioneer Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of Run-DMC fame came out to blow the roof off the joint.
Surprisingly, the band actually launched into a new song with DMC; of course I once again did not catch the name (I want to say the title was along the lines of something as simple as “America”), but McDaniels and Dupree assured fans it was something they were “hearing for the very first time.” As if that was not enough, the five musicians then tore through the classic Run-DMC hits “It’s Tricky” and their version of the staple Aerosmith track “Walk This Way.”
The night could’ve easily ended right then and there on that high note, but it wouldn’t be a true Jackyl show without hearing “I Stand Alone,” “When Will It Rain,” “Dirty Little Mind,” “Redneck Punk,” and of course “The Lumberjack” (complete with Dupree’s chainsaw-wielding frenzy that finds him annihilating a bar stool every time). It was, is, and always will be the only fitting way to end a Jackyl show.