So this past weekend, as I stated in my previous entry,I had the pleasure to go to one of the better metal shows I've seen in a long time. Anthrax, Testament, and Death Angel. Let's break down the bands playing:
Death Angel-I don't have much exposure to their material. Many, many moons ago I had one of their albums (Act III) and wasn't really impressed. There was one song on that album that I thought was OK but could do without the rest. So when they took the stage I wasn't sure what we'd see. Wow. That's all I can say. Death Angel kicked some serious ass. I was both amazed and overjoyed at how heavy their set was. I am converted and have already checked out their older stuff.
Testament- The band I was the most excited to see. I've missed Testament many times over the years. The worst being in 2010 when I saw them play a show with Exodus and Megadeth. I opted to buy a shirt during Exodus and figured I had plenty of time to make it back in for Testament. Thanks to the fucktard working the merch table I made it back in for the LAST song of Testament's set. So when Testament blasted onto the stage the whole place went nuts. What can I say? They were simply amazing. Not one dud song in the whole set. Chuck Billy,Testament's singer, introduced the song "Over the Wall" by daring fans to come over the security rail. Not two notes into the song and one person was being pulled out by security. Billy kept count during the song of how many people came over. In my 21 yrs of attending metal concerts, never have I seen more insanity or the power of metal and thrash displayed. It was simply the purest definition of what this music is about. In my opinion, Testament stole the show. The crowd was insane from start to finish. There wasn't one fan in attendance that wasn't headbanging or slam dancing (I refuse to call it "moshing" just because that's what trendy fucks label all wild concerts with).
Anthrax- This being the fifth time I've seen Anthrax, I somewhat knew what to expect. Over the last 10 yrs Anthrax hasn't changed their set list much. Most of the same songs were played from the other times I've seen them. The only real new addition was the songs from Worship Music, which were great. Seeing some of the songs from Worship Music live has renewed my interest in the album. It's not that I don't like it, the album in general just didn't click with me. I guess I'm still stuck in the '85-'87 era of Spreading the Disease and Among the Living. Speaking of the album Spreading the Disease, I was ecstatic when Anthrax played the track "Medusa". This song is a rare gem that was pretty much put to rest after the Among the Living tour in 1987-88 with sporadic performances during the reunion tour. Again, wow. Note for note perfect and it couldn't have been better. It's like someone popped a copy of the Spreading the Disease CD into the PA. Joey Belladonna is the voice of Anthrax.This old metal head smiled for the entire 4-5 minutes of the song. I'm a die hard supporter of that man as a singer. He seems to be getting BETTER with age. In fact, I didn't listen to Anthrax for about 6 yrs after Belladonna was fired in sheer protest. John Bush was OK, but it just wasn't Anthrax when he was singing.
Now that my review of the show is over, let's talk about a few things. Metal shows, and especially thrash shows are wild. Sometimes they are just fucking insane. I've seen fist fights, people crushed on the security barrier, even garbage cans thrown on stage during the show. My point being is that it's nuts. So to the woman that was close to the front who started throwing punches during Anthrax: what did you expect? It's wild. People are slam dancing and head banging. It's inevitable that you going are going to get pushed around and slammed into. Was she expecting fans to just stand there? I don't know and I don't get it. It's just a given. You have to fight to keep your spot. If not you'll find yourself pushed to the back very quickly. And on the other end of the spectrum was the fact of how many younger fans were in attendance for these bands that have been around for 20+ years. All three bands had three albums out before some of the younger fans were even born. But, it shows that there's a new generation of metal heads. That this music will go on into the future. Enough rambling. Cheers
P.S.- If anyone dares read this follow me on Twitter @troll827
No comments:
Post a Comment