When I saw Gigantour was making a stop in Chicago at the All State Arena, one of the bigger venues on this tour, I marked my calendar. Chicago can be a tough sell for metal shows and with Justin Bieber in town, it seems like people decided to turn in their devil horns and take their kids, leaving only the true metal fans to support.
With a strong lineup of members from former bands and side projects Newsted, Hellyeah, Device, Black Label Society and the one and only, Megadeth.
An early start time of 4:20, opening band Death Division had a sparse crowd which kept growing as the night went on. Each band received great lighting and sound production and worth coming out early.
Former bassist for Metallica, Jason Newsted has joined with Staind guitarist, Mike Mushok to bring a killer sound and familiar faces for a crowd hungry for new music.
Up next was Hellyeah, whose last album Band of Brothers came on with the attitude to wake the crowd up, daring them to bring it and form a circle pit, which they did. Singer, Chad Gray talked about Chicago being his home and loving the Blackhawks and this city better not disappoint them, as he raised the energy in the room. Along with Vinnie Paul on his huge drum kit, Hellyeah for sure brought out the heavy.
Super group Device, led by singer for Disturbed, David Draiman who calls Chicago his home, with a heavy industrial/electronica side of metal, Device’s self-titled album has been climbing the charts. Draiman was in fine form and walked the stage knowing he owned this town as Virus on guitar and Will Hunt on drums provided a soundtrack to David’s voice. Twice during the show, a few people in the crowd received the ire of Draiman, at one point telling two fans that if they are going to be in the front row of a rock show you better act like it, otherwise go across town to see Justin Beiber.
This is the third time seeing Device and each time, they just keeping sounding better and stronger. Be sure to check them out.
How do you top all those bands that opened? You bring out the mad man himself, Zakk Wylde of Black Label Society. Known for their wild fans, Berzerkers, the crowd roared as BLS came on stage.
Wylde looks like a hard core biker with a size that towers over most guitar players in rock and demands your eyes to his attention. Opening with Godspeed Hell Bound, you are hit with the full onslaught of heavy metal. Over the years Wylde has worked on his live vocals and it has shown to pay off. There is no denying the influence of Wylde on the guitar-world, with many disciples who call on him as their influence. While at time his solos can become more about speed, when he hits that groove you can’t help but get caught up and throw your horns up.
They ended with Concrete Jungle and Stillborn. If you’ve never seen a BLS show live, you owe it to yourself and this is a great tour to catch them on.
With a new album, Super Collider, Megadeth have released their 14th album and have been putting together Gigantour since 2005. With 30 years of history behind them, they have become one of the Big 4 of Metal and command stages with hit after hit. They opened with Trust and continued with Hangar 18 and the new single, Kingmaker.
Between the blistering riffs of Mustaine and Chris Broderick, you can’t help but start to pull out the air guitar and head bang to the heavy bass of Dave Ellefson & Shawn Drover. Putting together a great lineup, they have been adding a jam of some of the other bands and recently, had Slash come on stage to jam. They ended the night with Peace Sells and an encore of Holy Wars, The Punishment Due.
For any fan of Metal, this is a tour to check out and while the first few dates have not been the best in attendance, word of mouth is growing and starting to pack the venues. So do yourself a favor and check this tour out and be sure to get there early to not miss the great bands opening the show.
Review & Photos by Peter Lizano
