Viernes 9 Oct 2009, 21:52

Fri 9 Oct – Slayer/Megadeth Australian Tour
Okay, that was a pretty awesome gig.

I got into the venue with about 10 minutes left of Double Dragon's set. They sucked; just a typical metalcore band with no interesting music to offer at all. After a short break just long enough to grab a beer and get back into position, Megadeth came on. They started with Set the World Afire which is a song I was not to familiar with, and the crowd seemed to agree, with just headbanging going on. I was about 6 rows back slightly right of centre which I was happy with. Plenty of Chris Broderick soloing was to be had over there. Wake up Dead came next, which the crowd loved and there was a bit of movement to be had. We were thrown a different song in Devil's Island, which is a song I have loved for the lyrics, which were sung in extremely quick succession. I think it was at this point (please correct me if I am wrong) where Dave cracked it and said "we will be back when someone fixes this fucking feedback" which killed the momentum the crowd was building up as the songs got faster, but then he came back 5 minutes later and said "you guys are just too important to hear our music like that" before ripping out the intro riff to She-Wolf, which was a crowd favourite.

One of my favourites is Hangar 18, and I was happy to hear it's inclusion yet again in the setlist, and it went off. Chris Broderick should be commended for his solos. The guy is easily 'Deth's best guitarist since Marty Friedman. Dave looked emotional as always when he played In My Darkest Hour, his tribute to the late Cliff Burton. The crowd sang along very proficiently. Another strange inclusion was Rattlehead, one of my least favourite songs from their debut album, but it got everyone going pretty crazy. By this stage I had drifted over to the centre of the pit, and got my circle on.

Dave tried to get people to sing along to Headcrusher, but for some reason nobody seemed to know how it went, and kept finishing the second "Headcrusher" before Dave even started it! This was frustrating for me, but noticably moreso for Dave. The song went down pretty well, so I was happy with that. Tornado of Souls was a song I was hoping to hear so badly, and when it started up the crowd seemed to agree with me. I jumped straight into the nearest pit and just lost my shit. I got knocked down once or twice but it always feels good to have a few people come to your aid straight away. It was pretty crazy for that song, but otherwise the crowd was fairly average, for a thrash metal gig.

Symphony of Destruction was awesome too, a great sing along and I was starting to feel tired of singing at the top of my lungs and running around like a crazy in the pit, but then once Peace Sells started I forgot about it and turned it up a notch, for the song that probably was the craziest in terms of crowd. I've got a few nice bruises from that song.

Last up was Holy Wars, every Megadeth fan's favourite song, and it was great. The whole band was tight for this song especially, and I am usually disappointed with what
the lead guitarists of pasts gone by do with the acoustic middle eastern solo thing between Holy Wars and Punishment Due, but Chris nailed it. I was hoping for it to break into Mechanix between the two like they did in 2007, but it wasn't to be. It was still a phenomenal setlist and the band was very tight throughout. I was surprised we only heard one Endgame song, but hopefully that means a return tour sometime soon!

It was hectic trying to get to the bar between the 'Deth set and the Slayer set, and by the time I got there all I wanted was a water. So once that was done I got back into a decent position for Slayer, who had a bit more of an over the top set, with flames and a big Slayer metal sign and heaps of smoke and a pretty awesome but fit-enducing lighting rig, whereas Megadeth just had a heap of stacks and a black backdrop with Megadeth written in white, and a not so amazing lighting setup.

I have tried to get into Slayer so many times over the last 5 years, and all I have ever been able to enjoy is Dave Lombardo's drums. This was pretty much the case with the gig last night. For starters Tom Araya's voice was gone so it was a mostly instrumental set which was a real crowd displeaser, with a lot of bogans yelling at Tom and pissed off that they "wasted their money".

I never realised how repeditive Slayer really are. It's always a very similar fast detuned riff with steady double kick, then breaking into a slower and more basic riff with a more funky bass drum feel, before going to a superfast but superbasic riff with Kerry King jumping on the whammy bar pulling pinch harmonics and shaking screams, and throwing in a few pickslides for good measure.

After bringing members of the crowd onstage to sing a few songs which was pretty funny, they had a quick break before coming back for the only songs which seemed to go off, Angel of Death and Raining Blood. The band performed their songs exceptionally well, but I finally realised one thing. I will never like Slayer. They aren't technical enough for me, their riffs are boring but heavy, Dave Lombardo is incredible but under-utilised in that band, and Kerry King is a rubbish guitarist. People call Janick Gers a guitar wank, and I agree to some extent, but at least some of his solos make musical sense. Kerry King does what I did when I first picked up a guitar, tries to make up crazy nonsense solos. At least I got over it.

All in all, I came out of the gig bruised, dehydrated, deaf and lacking a voice, so what more can you ask for?