EXODUS

Exodus opened the show with a new number from their upcoming Goliath album. They came in hot and heavy with ‘3111’ with vocalist Rob Dukes coming out swinging. If you know anything about Exodus as a thrash unit, they play for keeps and go for the jugular with gusto. They followed that up with the classic ‘Bonded By Blood’, and my personal favourite from Tempo Of The Damned, ‘Blacklist’. The mosh pit was going hard at this point, so they tore into ‘The Beatings Will Continue’ and went straight into the fan favourite ‘Toxic Waltz’. I love how this added further fuel for the pit, but ‘Strike Of The Beast’ came next, and the band really went all in. It’s a great song to close out a solid opening set.

VERDICT
Short, violent and very high on the mosh-o-meter. I’m not a Rob Dukes fan, but you can clearly see the guy has passion for the music.

SETLIST
‘3111’, ‘Bonded By Blood’, ‘Blacklist’, ‘The Beatings Will Continue (Until Morale Improves)’, ‘The Toxic Waltz’, ‘Strike Of The Beast’

ANTHRAX

Anthrax started their set with Iron Maiden’s ‘Number Of The Beast’ playing in the background to set up the anticipation of what was to follow. When the lights went out, and the band burst onto the stage, it was bloody red hot. Joey was in fine form as he belted out ‘A.I.R.’ from Spreading The Disease. The crowd was loving the energy and feeding off the moshing goodness with songs like ‘Got The Time’ from Persistence Of Time and the old-school classic ‘Madhouse’.

Old-timers like myself came to hear seminal thrash classics like ‘Caught In A Mosh’ from Among The Living. Joey Belladonna lets his vocals rip, and the heavy riffing from Scott and crew turned it up a notch. ‘Fight ’Em Till You Can’t’ followed, but ‘Metal Thrashing Mad’ from their first record is perceived as a cherry on top sort of deal. It’s an oldie, but Joey’s soaring vocal range brought this song to life. My personal favourite, ‘I Am The Law’, really got the audience going nuts, and what’s not to like for all the comic book fans who grew up reading Judge Dredd in the 80’s?

The guys then dove into ‘Antisocial’ from 1988’s State Of Euphoria, but the part I hated was the tease of the new song from their upcoming new album. Man, it sounded so good, and it had Among The Living vibes all over it, but as expected, Scott stopped the proceedings and said we have to wait a few months. I won’t lie, I was bummed about that, but the band went back to playing ‘Indians’ from Among The Living to ease the pain a bit. The guys tried to lay this one on thick with the audience participation, especially when Scott Ian stopped the song before the colossal breakdown and urged everyone to make as much noise as possible for the “Wardance!” portion of the song. I give them full props for really augmenting the thrash energy at this point. The show closed with the Canadian National Anthem.

VERDICT
A really solid set of thrash songs done to perfection, along with Joey’s high energy and amazing vocal range to blow the mosh-o-meter sky high. My favourite set overall.

SETLIST
‘A.I.R.’ (With Among The Living intro), ‘Got The Time’ (Joe Jackson cover), ‘Madhouse’, ‘Caught In A Mosh’, ‘Fight ’Em ’Til You Can’t’, ‘Metal Thrashing Mad’, ‘I Am The Law’, ‘Antisocial’ (Trust cover), ‘Unknown’ (unreleased: snippet), ‘Indians’, ‘Ô Canada’

MEGADETH

Megadeth came on and started with ‘Tipping Point’ from their latest record. Obviously, it’s become a fan favourite in a very short time, so everyone in the arena approved. Dave followed this up with ‘Hangar 18’ and another popular one ‘Angry Again’. You could tell Dave was struggling with his voice early on in the set, but there’s no denying his playing abilities. We got ‘She Wolf’ next and the crowd became ecstatic when those familiar guitar cords started ‘Wake Up Dead’. I love this song, but Dave continued to struggle with the vocal delivery. I thought it was the same for ‘In My Darkest Hour’ when his vocals seemed to betray the bittersweet melody found in the song. I gave the man props for giving his fans important Megadeth songs they needed to hear live, though. ‘Sweating Bullets’ followed, and then we went back to a new song ‘, I Don’t Care’, which I witnessed many new and younger fans totally digging.

I thought Dave respectfully handled ‘Tornado Of Souls’ to the best of his abilities, but ‘Trust’ and ‘Skin O’ My Teeth’ were a bit off in my opinion. The newly popular ‘Let There Be Shred’ got everyone moving back in the right direction. This is the first time I am hearing it live with an audience, and I assume it will remain in the live set going forward. Next, we got ‘A Tout Le Monde’ which is a bit divisive for some of my friends, but I haven’t made up my mind if I like it or hate it. I thought this entry was a bit of a low point in the show, but ‘Symphony Of Destruction’ quickly brought it back up. Just from the audience reaction alone, you could tell people love it.

‘Mechanix’ was played to perfection, and I liked how Teemu handled all the lead parts. Then we finally got one of my all-time Megadeth favs, ‘Peace Sells’, to close out the show. Dave seemed very spirited here, and there was tons of audience participation singing all the words along with him. Once the song ended, the stage went dark, and the band disappeared for a few minutes. When Dave came back out, he took a few minutes to address his fans, although he was mumbling, and I had a hard time understanding what he was saying. I heard him say I love you all, before he announced the final number ‘Holy Wars’. Again, another classic played to perfection and a good song to close out the proceedings.

VERDICT
A show of high musical perfection and a strong enough set-list to keep fans happy. There was enough juice here to give old and new fans something to dig into. I give Dave credit for trying his best, despite his failing vocals at times. Probably not as high on the thrash-o-meter for me, but still worthy enough overall.

SETLIST
‘Tipping Point’, ‘Hangar 18’, ‘Angry Again’, ‘She-Wolf’, ‘Wake Up Dead’, ‘In My Darkest Hour’, ‘Sweating Bullets’, ‘I Don’t Care’, ‘Tornado Of Souls’, ‘Trust’, ‘Skin O’ My Teeth’, ‘Let There Be Shred’, ‘A Tout Le Monde’ (Tour debut), ‘Symphony Of Destruction’, ‘Mechanix’, ‘Peace Sells’, Encore: ‘Holy Wars… The Punishment Due’