Anthrax

Live Nations presents… Anthrax with special guests Testament and Death Angel at the Burton Cummings Theatre Sept 25th at the Burton Cummings Theatre in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Well September 25th was a night full of long hair, devil horns and a whoooooole lot of speed metal. It was my first time seeing any of these bands. I will not pretend to be well versed in the goings on in the metal community but I do know who Anthrax and Testament are and I was very excited to see both of these legendary bands. Starting out the night though was Death Angel is a thrash metal band that has been around since the early 80’s. I had never heard of these guys so my interest was peaked what they sounded like. The doors to the show had been scheduled for 7pm and for some weird reason that is when Death Angel took to the stage. Now usually if doors are at 7 the show begins at 7:30 or 8 to allow time for the audience to actually fill the venue. So when I showed up at 7:15 Death angel was already 2/3 songs into their set. So when the set was about 3/4 over someone from back stage said to them that they can play for an additional hour if they like because of the screw up at the door. So guess what they did played for another whole hour picking songs from their back catalogue one song that hadn’t been played live since 1987. These guys simply shredded for an hour and a half there is no other real way to explain what was going on. Thunderous drum beats that were simply unrelenting and a sonic assault of guitars that left you wondering had they made a some kind of deal with the devil to get this good.

Up next Testament. Another thrash metal band that has been around since the early 80’s. Again my knowledge of this band was I knew their name I wouldn’t have been able to pick out one of their songs had you played it for me. These guys played like a well oiled machine. There was no real crowd banter they just played hard loud and fast for 60 mins. They did mention more than afew times that every time they come to Winnipeg they get their ass kicked and tonight was no different. Testament left it all on the stage for their fans this night.

Now the head line act. Anthrax. My first experience of hearing or rather seeing Anthrax was on the TV show Married With Children. Other then that it was hearing them from time to time online or on a movie soundtrack. These guys played very well for a hour and a half as well. One thing I was disappointed with though was how much the lead singer pandered to the crowd. More than afew times he held the mic out to the crowd so that they could “sing along” I have seen pop acts do this but never ever seen a metal band. Now that being said is my only criticism of the evening. I have seen bands that are bigger then these guys that do not have a 1/4 of their talent. Every song was a tight knit, well played onslaught of metal thrash. All in all a really great night of music.