First Avenue and Rose presents… Anthrax with Testament and Death Angel.
Forget the big four I will take the big 3 any day. Opening the show is San Francisco Bay Area’s Death Angel. They started way back in 1982 with their first album released in 1987, Ultra-Violence. Their rise to the metal scene took a few years but when they got here it was great. Opening with I Choose the Sky from their latest release Relentless Retribution(2010). The new album rocks. Too bad they were not around from 1991-2000, could have had some more metal. Next up was Evil Priest, Claws in So Deep, Relentless Revolution, Seemingly Endless Time, The Ultra-Violence, Thrown to the Wolves(04). Even though Frolic Through the Park was ignored they still put on one hell of a show.
The excitement for Testament was crazy. Standing up front, I met a lot of people who stood in line for 6 hours to get there. In mid-October in Minnesota that can be tough but the weather was perfect today so no worries on their part.
Testament ripped right into The Preacher off the album Practice What You Preach. Chuck Billy came out banging his head just as he always does but this time had a light up mic stand. Using it for most of the show as an air guitar, he looked so furoscious on stage. Glad to see him still kicking after the health scare he had in his life. Alex Skolnick on lead guitars is one of evryones favorites. His guitar playing ranges from jazz to metal. The New Order, The Percecuted Won’t Forget, Envy Life, Over the Wall, Souls of Black were in the middle of the set list. Eric Peterson is the only original member since 1983. Chuck joined in ’86 after a stint with a couple of other vocalists. Up next was Into the Pit from The New Order. I had already moved into the back of First Avenue, and was glad I did. Man did the floor explode on that one. Electric Crown, Henchmen Ride, More Than Meets the Eye, D.N.R., 3 Days in Darkness, and Disciples of the Watch ended out their set. This is a band that knows how to entertain 1500 metal heads. I can not wait for their new cd The Dark Roots of Earth scheduled for release in early 2012.
For VIP tickets that include meet and greet check out their web page.
Set change was taking quite some time, and as a result the fans were getting restless as this was happening. This made it even more exciting when Anthrax took the stage. Jumping into Earth On Hell and Fight ‘Em Till You Can’t from their latest release Worship Music. Anthrax appeal is all over the board which I believe is their punk thrash metal sound. They have that extra sound that some of the other bands are just missing. Scott Ian has a lot to do with that from his guitar sound. Caught In A Mosh, Madhouse and Antisocial were up next. Nice classics in the middle of the set. Mosh got everyone going and did see a couple people get kicked out. Fun is fun but some can’t be doing what they were. On that note, I have to say that First Avenue’s security is great. They know exactly how to react when someone gets out of hand and when we are all just having fun. Keep it up guys. They then jammed into I’m Alive and their other new one Devil You Know off Worship Music. It was a great surprise to hear this album and think it is exactly what Athrax should sound like. Frank and Charlie were right on. It took a bit to get the sound right because of the long set change but it got going after a few tunes. Any drummer has to respect his drumming, incredible. They went into Got The Time, which is a great cover of the Joe Jackson song. When I first hear this back in 1990 I was blown away to think they would do a cover from Joe Jackson. They were ending it off with anther new one and Only ended the set. Cool to see Joey sing one of John Bush’s songs from Sound of White noise. Bush took over one vocals after Joey left in 1992. Their encore consisted of Among the Living, Metal Thrashing Mad and I Am the Law. I have seen Anthrax a few times at First Avenue, 1986, 2006 and now 2011. They sounded as if it was back in the day at the show in ’86.
It is strange to think that it has been 21 years since their last album with Joey. What a joy to hear the band perform again and have a new album to tour with.
Don’t miss THE BIG 3.
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