The American Carnage Tour (2010), Part II: Testament, Megadeth, & Slayer!

Post # 165
Picking up where I left off from part I of this review (post #146), my new friends and I left the VIP suite as Megadeth bid us farewell as they went backstage to prepare for the show. We were granted early entry to the floor-level and vendors. I made a short detour to get a souvenir tour T-shirt (I chose the Megadeth: RUST IN PEACE 20th Anniversary Tour shirt). Then I entered the arena floor and got right up close to the front barricade. There was one row of people in front of me, and I had a great view of the stage. This was sure to be an awesome show!

Time seemed to drag for a while. I conversed here and there with other fans, and watched the crowd slowly fill in the standing-room-only floor level. But finally the wait paid off: Testament took the stage to deliver their set of killer thrash-metal!

When it comes to thrash metal, everyone probably think of the Big Four first, particularly in the last couple years when they have been performing select shows together for the first time. However if there was a 5th thrash band on the totem-pole when it comes to significance in the genre, it is probably Testament. Their energy, bone-crushing heavy riffs, and seriously fast-paced tempos served to prove that they were right at home with two of the Big Four whom they were opening for.

They opened their set with the intro from their latest album The Formation of Damnation. This album was a true return to form for Testament, and they are helping bring traditional thrash back to prominence in today's metal scene. Inevitably, with the break-neck pace of their music came the break-neck intensity of the mosh-pit. It had erupted about 3 or 4 rows of people behind me, and the people who opted out of moshing crammed more closely together. The physical pressure of being packed so tightly together and close to the front barricade built to an uncomfortable level many times, but I'd be damned if I was going to give up this close spot before I had my chance to see Megadeth this close. So I toughed it out, and managed to hold my own through their set.

Testament delivered a killer set, too! I recognized such classics as 'The New Order' and 'Practice What You Preach' before it was all said and done. My favorite moment, though, had to be during their performance of the title-track 'The Formation of Damnation'. The band paused before the closing thrash segment and gave singer Chuck Billy a chance to direct the crowd into a face-off mosh, and he directed the crowd to spread out to either one side or the other of the stadium floor, then when the music kicked back in, they charged each other with as much of their furious abandon as they could manage! After they finished their set we all had a few minutes to catch our breath and prepare for Megadeth...

Many of us knew they were intending to play the entire Rust In Peace album on this night. I for one, couldn't wait. This has long been my favorite Megadeth album, perhaps my favorite metal album of all time! You can go back and read post #1 if you don't believe how much I praise this album for it's technical, speed-driven riffs. Before long, the band took the stage...

Dave Mustaine, one of the founders of the thrash-metal genre, walked to center stage. Clad in his trademark plain white, light weight shirt and jeans, with his signature flying 'V' Dean guitar, he muttered a quick, 'Here we GO!' and instantly flew into the opening riff of 'Holy Wars... The Punishment Due'. For the next 45 minutes there was no looking back...

My adrenal glands got the best of me, and I was helpless to sing along to one of my all-time favorite thrashers, 'BROTHER WILL KILL BROTHER! SPILLING BLOOD ACROSS THE LAND! KILLING FOR RELIGION, SOMETHING I DON'T UNDERSTAND!' I think I sang along for the entire first song. I could see Dave up at the mike, and I could hear the crowd behind my own voice, also singing along. For all I could hear, Mustaine could have been lip-syncing. I could see his jaw moving, but his mop of blond hair kept his face partially obscured. Dave Ellefson and Chris Broderick were thrashing along, keeping perfect time... the band seemed so tight! The fast-paced, complex riffs that overflow the Rust In Peace album seemed second-nature to Megadeth. This was a technical masterpiece of heavy metal being brought to life for the lucky fans that attended this tour.

At some point I cut back on the singing-along, perhaps because my throat was getting dry. This was in early August, remember, and the mass of bodies was making the heat more and more apparent. When they got to 'Poison Was The Cure', the band went back-stage to swap instruments, while Ellefson kept us entertained with the song's bass-intro. Shawn Drove returned to the drum-kit and added the next ingredient, closely followed by Dave and Chris on guitar. Then, right on cue with the song, the intensity was back, and the crowd resumed undulating with headbanging and moshing!

Megadeth continued to fly through this masterpiece album! Some other highlights of the performance for me were Dave Ellefson's bass spotlight during the track 'Dawn Patrol'. During that number, David Ellefson was alone on-stage, while Dave Mustaine spoke the dialog/lyrics from back-stage somewhere. Also, this was the part of the show where Vic Rattlehead walked onto the stage and pointed intimidatingly at us. After this number concluded it was on to 'Rust In Peace... Polaris', the last track on the Rust In Peace album.

Megadeth still had more for us, and they played about 5 more numbers from the rest of their catalog. They saved 'Peace Sells' for their closing number, but it came with a nice twist this time... As the song was about to end, they surprised us by jumping back to the guitar solo from 'Holy Wars...'! The band jammed a few more minutes on that number, during which Dave Mustaine introduced the band, traded several solos with Chris Broderick, and then wrapped it up as 'Holy Wars...' ended: "Next thing you know, they'll take my thoughts away!"

I couldn't imagine a better way to see Megadeth for the first time, except maybe for a longer set! During this intermission, I finally chose to give up my front-row location to seek out the water fountains- I was pretty dehydrated! I found them, and waited through the line to get replenished, then returned to the arena floor. By this time I think I had lost track of some of my new friends, but before the show resumed I did bump into one of them again. But now, it was time for SLAYER!

In slightly different fashion, Slayer kick off their set with 2 tracks back-to-back, from their newest album: 'World Painted Blood', and 'Hate Worldwide'. Then, the anticipated 20th anniversary celebration of their classic album Seasons In The Abyss began as Tom Araya shouted, "WAR ENSEMBLE!"

Seasons In The Abyss (which I reviewed earlier this year already) starts off with 3 tracks that, on the recording, pick up after each other with barely a pause between the tracks. To the best of my recollection, Slayer played them live in a similar fashion: 'War Ensemble', 'Blood Red', and 'Spirit In Black'. They continued through their classic album, with true-to-the-recording accuracy, much like Megadeth had done before them. Again, they added a few of their best known songs after the Seasons In The Abyss performance was over.

To me this was a legendary night of thrash-metal icons performing at their best! From the golden opportunity of meeting the members of Megadeth, and hanging with the before the show, to the KILLER performances of all three bands, to the new friends I made on this day, I'm tempted to say this was the best concert of my life! I hope to catch each of these bands again at points in the future. For now, I'll leave you with their set-lists so you can listen for yourself to at lease some form of this night's great metal music!

TESTAMENT
-For the Glory of...
-More Than Meets the Eye
-Dog Faced Gods
-The New Order
-Practice What You Preach
-Into the Pit
-DNR
-3 Days in Darkness
-The Formation of Damnation

MEGADETH

~RUST IN PEACE: 20th ANNIVERSARY~

-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

-Trust
-Head Crusher
-A Tout Le Monde
-Symphony of Destruction
-Peace Sells/Holy Wars (reprise)

SLAYER
-World Painted Blood
-Hate Worldwide

~SEASONS IN THE ABYSS: 20th ANNIVERSARY~

-War Ensemble

-Blood Red

-Spirit in Black

-Expendable Youth

-Dead Skin Mask

-Hallowed Point

-Skeletons of Society

-Temptation

-Born of Fire

-Seasons in the Abyss

-South of Heaven
-Raining Blood
-Aggressive Perfector
-Angel of Death

The American Carnage Tour (2010), Part I: VIP Meet-N-Greet with Megadeth!

Post # 146

The American Carnage Tour that took place in 2010 was perhaps the greatest gathering of thrash-metal veterans on one tour since 1992's Clash of the Titans. Testament, Megadeth, and Slayer had metal-head audiences at their mercy on this tour. Aside from the handful of festival appearances of The Big Four (Metallica-Slayer-Megadeth-Anthrax), shows on this tour have been the only ones to feature as many thrash metal pioneers on the same stage. And this tour hit several major cities across the North American continent as opposed to a few select appearances.
It took a lot of effort and persistence to pull this tour off. Already it was a follow-up to the Canadian Carnage Tour, which featured the same bands. However, shortly before the scheduled start of the tour, Slayer announced that their singer/bassist, Tom Araya, needed to have back surgery, and the tour was canceled. Much apology was issued to ticket-holders from all the bands involved, and a rescheduling was promised.

Several months passed, during which Megadeth and Testament scheduled their own co-headlining tour and added fellow Bay-area thrash veterans Exodus as an opening act. This was Megadeth's 20th anniversary tour for the Rust In Peace landmark album. In honor of RIP, they performed the entire album, plus a few more Megadeth classics. Testament took the opportunity to feature their complete The Legacy album in their set as well.

After Araya had recovered from back surgery, a rescheduled American Carnage tour was announced. I was lucky enough to be among those who had tickets for the original original tour, thanks to my beautiful wife and her mom, who went in together to get these tickets for me as a gift. The tour promoters were true to their word, and after refunding the old tickets, and reissuing new ones, I was all set for the show. But the most amazing thing that had me in total shock was the fact that they were VIP tickets with an opportunity to meet MEGADETH! For this opportunity, I will be forever indebted to my wife, for it is truely a once-in-a-lifetime type of opportunity!

For those of you who've been reading this blog from the beginning, you know how devoted I have been to Megadeth as a fan. I've reviewed all of their studio albums on this blog and intend to add some reviews of their live material soon. Megadeth, and Dave Mustaine in particular, have always been atop my list of heavy metal musicians I idolize. The chance to meet them in person was honestly like a dream come true for me. I couldn't wait for the show (though I had already been waiting for almost half a year!)

When the day of the show finally arrived, I made my way to the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, IL, and made sure I was plenty early. I got in line with the other die-hards who also had VIP tickets and were anxiously awaiting their chance to meet their heroes of heavy metal. Always excited to converse with other like-minded fans, I struck up conversations with everyone who was in line close to me. We all discussed our favorite Megadeth songs, albums, band members, etc, as we waited for them to open the doors to the Pavilion.

Having nearly an hour of time to kill, I got to be pretty good friends with several of these strangers who were waiting in line. I met people from other Chicago suburbs and downtown. Others had travelled great distances for this opportunity to meet the band; from places as exotic as Mexico, Peru, and (get this) Egypt! Whatever our cultural differences may have been, we were united on this day by our fanaticism for heavy metal in general, and for Megadeth in particular!

At last the doors opened and our event coordinator from 'I Love All Access' gathered us together, checked our tickets, and explained how the meet-&-greet was going to work. After the plan of events was drawn out, we proceded to the 2nd level private sky-boxes where drinks, snacks, and air-conditioned comfort awaited us. There was Megadeth music playing to set the mood, and we were minutes away from meeting the band!

The hostess handed out our merch bags (everybody got a special back-stage pass, a Megadeth dog-tag, Megadeth skull-cap, and long-sleeve Megadeth shirt). We were told to help ourselves to drinks and snacks, all on the house. After a few minutes of mingling, we were told to get ready, line up, and get out our chosen item for autographing. So I get in the back of the line, only to realize we were facing the wrong direction, and from behind me I hear the hostess say, 'Here they are! Megadeth!'

So there I was, unexpectedly first-in-line, with merely a few seconds to gather my thoughts and try to think of something un-stupid to say to the living legends I idolized standing right in front of me. First up was David Ellefson. What to say? "Hey Dave. How's it feel to be back?" (David Ellefson had only returned to the band prior to this rescheduled tour. In fact, if it had gone through when originally scheduled, I might not have met Ellefson, but James Lomenzo instead! Perhaps this is some manifestation of fate?) In response, he kinda smiled and nodded and said, "Feels good!" Okay, nothing too spectacular I admit, but I was there, and I got to shake his hand! Then I hand him my item to autograph: a limited, promo edition of Rust In Peace in a coffin-shaped box with a pop-up Vic Ratlhead inside. Dave says, "This is pretty cool!", signs it & passes it back.

Next: Shawn Drover, the drummer. Hand shake. Sign the little coffin. Pass it back. "Hey dude" is said back & forth between us. Then it's Chris Broderick, lead guitarist. Repeat formalities. Then I step back, feeling like I should say something more substantial to these guys. I say, "Shawn, Chris, I've been a fan for years, but I really like how you guys fit in the band. You keep things really tight." (This is true, you can see my old reviews of Megadeth on this blog & see how I've praised Megadeth's newer material.) They both respond with a smile and a 'thank-you'.

Now, I am merely inches from Dave Mustaine. I'm star-struck to silence, but force myself to get past it. "You're.... You're YOU!" I say, lamely. I pause a second to realize how that must have sounded, shake my head and look down at my hands, which are holding the aforementioned RIP-coffin-case, and in my other hand a brand-new copy of Dave's autobiography, 'Mustaine'. Within a second or two my mind debates trying to beg for him to sign 2 items, but the rules we were given specifically said only one item could be signed. So, making a split-second decision, I hand over the RIP-coffin, wanting to complete the set of the whole bands' signatures, and hope that I may get another chance for Dave to sign the book some other day.

Dave takes the little coffin, turns it over in his hands and looks me in the eye and says, "Wow. You know, these are really rare." Then he signs it. Hands it back. At this point Chris Broderick actually leans in and asks Dave what the coffin-shaped box actually is. Mustaine explains that it was a limited run that was distributed mainly to critics & promoters, and that there aren't that many around. How lucky I am to have such an item, and have it signed by the band, no less, does not escape me. I say thanks and shake his hand, and immediately thank him again for having the band do this whole 'meet-n-greet' in the first place.

Then I remember a clever question I had (or so I thought), and ask him if it's true that he named the Gigantour Tour after the anime entitled Gigantor. He says, "Yeah. Yeah, I did." Taking a shot in the dark, I asked him if by chance he still follows any anime (Japanese animation. I'm actually a big fan of it myself). He just looked back at me and said something to the effect that he's too old for that stuff now.

At this point I began to feel self-conscious of having been the first-in-line. I realized that everyone else was waiting impatiently for their chance to meet and converse with Megadeth, so I almost walked away without getting my photo taken with the band (included with the VIP packcage.) The event coordinator grabs my arm and says, "Hey, don't you want your picture?" Of course I did! So I walk back to the band, Dave Mustaine puts his arm around my shoulder, the other band members pose in a line, and 'CLICK!', the photo is snapped... right as one of the caterers walks right in front of the camera.

"Hey man, what the hell are you doing?" Dave shouts at the guy. So we repeat the photo. I guess I was lucky that they took the time to take a second photo. It would have sucked if my pic with Megadeth was just a guy in a catering uniform blurred while the band and I are obscured in the background. So, in the end, I got my photo just fine:

Then I hung around and watched the other fans file through the line, getting various memorabilia signed. Vinyl LPs, CDs, posters, T-shirts. One guy even had a VMNT guitar (Dave Mustaine's signature model from Dean Guitars)! My new friend from Egypt came over after he got through the line and we talked some more. Since we were both at this event by ourselves, we agreed to stick together throughout the show. (Mosh-pit buddy-system you know, have to have some one looking out for you, and someone to look out for.)

We're still in touch to this day. We had a great time at the concert. But those details I'll save for another post...