Posts Tagged ‘sepultura’
Sepultura, Destruction, Arsis, Starkill & Headcrusher Concert Review, Austin, TX, June 10, 2015
Early shows on weeknights. I love ’em. Last night’s show was done by 10:30 and that was sweet.
To be honest, I was most excited about last night’s show to see Arsis again. They’re one of my favorites.
Prior to the show I got to meet Sepultura who were really cool. Got Paolo and Andreas in The Book. I’ve got no problem saying that if Beneath the Remains was the only album that they ever recorded, they could have been my favorite thrash band ever. But…
Headcrusher was the local support (originally from Bogota, Colombia) for the show and they played a tight energetic set on a hot stage going on right around 5:25. They crushed it to an unfortunately small crowd. Always a pleasure seeing them, even if I’m not the biggest death metal fan.
Chicago’s melodic death metal band, Starkill, was up next and to be honest, I couldn’t care. I had listened to a few tracks earlier in the day and they just didn’t catch my ear. They were pretty sloppy, too. Maybe the heat was too much. Don’t know. Can’t care.
Arsis came on next and did what they do best…SHRED. They played an intense 7 song set opening with Handbook for the Recently Deceased from their latest album, Unwelcome. Not only do I like their riffs, I really dig the lyrics. Malone writes some pretty cool stuff that goes outside of the “hey look, we love satan” type lyrics in a lot of death metal. Great show, but always too short for my tastes.
Destruction came on next and hit the growing crowd right in the face with Curse the Gods. They were tight but I could tell they were dying from the heat up there. I missed the middle part of their set as I went to the bar next door to sit down for a few minutes. My foot has been bothering me lately as well as my back (getting old!) and I needed a place to sit down for a little bit as Empire Garage doesn’t have seats anywhere. When I came back I caught The Butcher Strikes Back and Bestial Invasion. Shortly after their set, their tour manager invited me and 2 other guys onto their bus to hang out. Schmier and Mike were very welcoming guys. Schmier had made a comment from the stage about the Germany/USA soccer match from earlier in the day and I commiserated with him about it. We then got into a great discussion about Thin Lizzy. Mike is a huge fan. Good dudes. They also signed The Book! Seriously two of the nicest guys, along with their drummer, that I have ever met.
When I left the bus, Sepultura was already on stage. The crowd had filled in quite a bit. They sounded super tight, but I just couldn’t invest much time into them last night. They weren’t playing anything that I really cared to hear, so I went home.
Arsis! :)
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- Sepultura and Monkey Boy
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- Headcrusher
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- Headcrusher
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- Starkill
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- Sepultura merch. Loved that USA tour shirt, didn’t have my size. :(
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- James Malone of Arsis and some fanboy
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- Arsis
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- Arsis
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- Arsis
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- Arsis
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- Destruction
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- Mike from Destruction
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- Schmier from Destruction
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- Destruction and Monkey Boy
Meeting Sepultura 1994
Sepultura was on the Chaos AD tour with Fear Factory, Clutch and Fudge Tunnel in 1993/94. I get a call on 
the day of the show from my friend Steve who owns Skinnies Records in Norfolk, VA and he says he’s guestlisted +1 and offers it to me. Hell yeah! I didn’t really care for the Chaos AD album that much but not having seen Sepultura before, I was definitely interested. The other bands on the bill were not even mildly interesting to me.
I pick Steve up and it’s a cold rainy night in early March 1994. We get to the Boathouse (I miss that place!) and go to the will-call window. The girl hands Steve and envelope and tells one of the employees to see us inside. I don’t recall getting a ticket for this one as it’s not in my ticket stub collection anywhere. Steve put the envelope in his jacket and we go in.
The 3 opening bands were pretty dull. I think Fear Factory was on right before Sepultura and Steve pulls the envelope out and opens it. Two Sepultura after show backstage passes! Score! We were both excited and I remember Steve saying, “Damn, glad I decided to look in the envelope!” Me too!
Sepultura comes on and they were great. They mostly played stuff from Chaos AD and Arise but threw in Mass Hypnosis, Policia, My Inner Self and Beneath The Remains. Score! They were tight and entertaining.
After the show, we just hang out as people were leaving. Several of our friends stopped to say hello and we both kept the passes under wraps until most everyone had left. We then went to the backstage door with our passes displayed and got ushered in. Saw some folks we knew back there and talked it up a bit.
My favorite memory was hearing someone in a thick yet higher-pitched Brazilian accent ask, “Does anybody want a beer?” I turn around and right behind me is Max Cavalera holding 3 or 4 bottles of Beck’s beer. I jokingly said, “Hey man, you sound like a girl!” He laughed, handed me a beer and said, “Drink up!”
We chatted with him and the rest of the guys for a few minutes and I got them to sign the envelope that the passes came in. They were very amiable and joked around with everyone a lot. Steve and I were pretty worn out and left.
I’ve been pretty lucky meeting bands over the years. And this was definitely another great experience. Sepultura was very gracious and seemed to love playing in the States.
So, thanks to Steve and Sepultura for a great night of metal comradeship!
Sepultura backstage pass, Beck's bottle cap and autographs (click to enlarge)
