The Metal Files

Wow.  Where to begin.

I love Testament.  While I haven’t liked all of their albums, they are one of the best live bands I have ever seen.  Friday’s

Exodus

show was I think the 7th or 8th time I have seen them since 1987 when they opened for Anthrax on the original Legacy Tour.

Let’s go back a little further with Megadeth.  I first saw them in 1986 on the Peace Sells tour with Overkill opening up on their Taking Over Tour(!!!).  What a night that was!  Friday’s show was my 5th(?) time seeing them and I’ve never been disappointed.

So a few months back when this tour was announced, I was pretty excited.  Two bands that I love to see live and one that I have never seen, albeit not a major fan of either.  While I like Fabulous Disaster and Pleasures of the Flesh a lot, Bonded By Blood and all of their other albums never did a thing for me.  But, I was going to get to see them.  They are legends, even with only 2 original members left.

When I purchased tickets, there was a meet and greet package available and I figured what the hell, I’ll drop the cash on it.  Why not?  Either I misread the original advertisement or it was misrepresented when I bought my ticket, but I thought it was for all 3 bands, not just Testament.  Don’t get me wrong, Testament are badass dudes and Chuck Billy is nice as hell.  I met him in 2000 on The Gathering Tour at Jaxx in Springfield, VA.  So yeah, I paid the bucks to meet Testament.  Whatever.  Early birthday present to myself.

I had to be in line for the meeting before 5pm on Friday and there were a few others ahead of me.  I really expected it to be a small crowd of people who bought the special pass but it ended up being about 35 or so.  Good for Testament.

random fat guy with Testament...ok, it's me.

Dudes can’t make money on albums anymore, so make it through these kinds of deals and through merch.  Good on ’em!

Met this cool dude from Oklahoma City who saw them the night before in Houston.  We hung out most of the show and I lost him during Megadeth.

We get to the backyard part of Stubbs and get herded like cattle through the line to get our shit signed.  We were given a poster that the band could sign and most everyone brought other personal stuff.  of course I had “the book” with me.  As we’re going through the line, Glen Drover signed the poster and I spoke with him briefly about seeing him with King Diamond several years ago and how much I liked the first Eidolon CD.  I also saw him with Megadeth 2 years ago.  Eric Peterson and Greg Christian were next and I had them both sign their photo in the book.  I got the usual reaction, “What the hell is this and where do I find a copy?”  Got to Paul Bostaph and had him sign on the Forbidden Evil section.  Seems to be a relatively quiet dude.  When I got to Chuck, he saw that he had signed it and asked when and where.  I told him it was at Jaxx in 2000 and the other guys in the band all said, “Jaxx!  Fuckin Jaxx!”  It was pretty funny.  I told Chuck that my first Testament show was the Legacy Tour at the Boathouse in Norfolk, VA.  “We played that place a lot over the years.”  Yes, I know.  I was there for almost every one of them if not all of them.

Anyhoo, we get herded again to do photos with the band and then a couple of shots with the band and the whole meet and greet group.  One cool thing was that we got to get to the merch booth before they let the crowd in.  We were able to buy one t-shirt for $10 and one hoodie for $20, as opposed to the $35 and $60 they were priced.  I bought one of each.

As we were sitting in the venue waiting for them to let the crowd in, I saw my friend Jay West who is an incredible rock photographer.  His brother is the guitar tech for Exodus.  Jay worked some magic and got the Exodus page signed by Tom and Gary.  Jay grew up in the Bay area and knew those guys when they were still just a local band.  Pretty cool.

I live next door to the venue and took my swag and the book back to my place.  Didn’t want to lug it around all night.  Luckily I know one of the security guys and he let us get right back in the venue without having to wait in the long ass line.

So the crowd gets let in and it’s a sold out show.  Austin’s been getting a lot of good metal shows lately.  Kreator was last night!  I didn’t go.

Exodus hit the stage while the sun was still up and in general they sounded great.  I only recognized a handful of songs but their performance was great.  As the new singer was introducing the band, he noted that Lee Altus was one of the guitarists.  HEATHEN?!?!?!  Shit!  I should have had him sign the book as well.  Dammit.  Oh well.

When Testament was getting their drums soundchecked, you could tell that they were having some difficulties.  Unfortunately their sound was shitty for the whole show.  All you could hear was mostly drums and some semblance of guitars.  I could, however, hear Drover’s solos and he sucked.  Learn Skolnick’s solos.  You’re playing the whole Legacy album…LEARN IT!  Overall, They were good, from the best that I could tell.

Mustaine as shot by Jay West

They never disappoint live.

I ran home to change shoes between bands.  Stuffs has an unevenly sloped gravel floor and it was killing my feet, knees

Megadeth

and legs.

Megadeth hits the stage and were great.  Mustaine is a guitar god.  Love him or hate him he’s a badass when it comes to guitar riffs.  I’m in the minority, though, in that I never cared for Rust In Peace or anything else from the Friedman era.  He bored me with Megadeth and Nick Menza’s drumming was the most boring.  Shawn Drover did a good job imitating it but sounded great on the other Megadeth stuff.  Dave Ellefson just returned to the band and was great.  I’m such a fanboy.  Chris Broderick’s solos were spot on as well.  Of course I would like to have heard more from Peace Sells, Killing is My Business and So Far So Good So What, but there just wasn’t time.  Megadeth delivered again, though.  Love em!  They also played a song from the new album that Dave stated had not been played live before that night.  Sweet!  The new album is great.  Go buy it!

Apparently after the show the Testament and Exodus guys were hanging out at Headhunters with my pal Billy Milano.  Had I know they were there I would have grabbed the book and got Altus’ signature in it.  I LOVE Heathen’s first 2 albums.  Oh well, hopefully they’ll come back again.

It was a great show and a fun night altogether.  Shows like this bring everyone out.  Ran into Rodney from Devastation which is always cool.  I was really glad that testament was able to do more than 25 minutes like the last time I saw them.

Megadeth

gift picks. why does Chuck Billy have his own pick? haha

Megadeath setlist:

She-Wolf
In My Darkest Hour
Skin O’ My Teeth
Holy Wars… The Punishment Due
Hangar 18
Take No Prisoners
Five Magics
Poison Was the Cure
Lucretia
Tornado of Souls
Dawn Patrol
Rust in Peace… Polaris
Headcrusher
The Right to Go Insane
Trust
Symphony Of Destruction
Encore:
Peace Sells

Testament setlist:

Over the Wall
The Haunting
Burnt Offerings
Raging Waters
C.O.T.L.O.D.
First Strike Is Deadly
Do or Die
Into the Pit
Souls of Black
Alone In The Dark
Apocalyptic City

Exodus setlist:

Bonded By Blood
Iconoclasm
Children of a Worthless God
Piranha
Braindead
Deathamphetamine
Blacklist
War Is My Shepherd
Strike Of The Beast
The Toxic Waltz

I think I got the setlists correct.  Someone please let me know if I missed something.