Tour Title: Risk Tour
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Tour Title: Risk Tour |
Judgment Committee Reviews | Rating |
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Abyss's Review (9/1/99, Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY):
O.K. a charity Megadeth show to help out the cause of pediatric AIDS. A worthy cause, and a great band, right? How can you go wrong? Well, I'll tell you. I call it "Eighties Band Syndrome". It has been evidenced in many bands, including: Overkill, Testament, and the worst case Megadeth. This syndrome is characterized by a band becoming so clueless that they have no idea of what their best songs are, and more importantly, what the fans want to hear. Fine if you aren't going to be cool enough to mix up your setlist (at least every tour, if not every show) at least play your best songs (Fuck, even Metallica does an OK job at that!) However, if you see Megadeth the only thing you will hear off of Peace Sells is "Peace Sells", the only thing you will hear off of Rust in Peace is "Holy Wars", and I guess the album Killing is My Business was never really released. However, you will hear a bunch of songs that you never really cared about, and they will be played very well, due to the musicians' years of experience. But I want to hear "Set the World Afire", "The Conjuring", and "Killing is My Business", not "Crush 'Em", "A Tout Le Monde", and (the most evident mistake in Megadeth's career) "Anarchy in the UK". Now while this last one didn't make it into tonight's set, it has been known to be the encore, and I'm still pissed about that, so you're going to hear about it now. I am not counting out Megadeth yet, but they are dangerously close to rusting in peace.
"'Eighties Band Syndrome': characterized by a band becoming so clueless that they have no idea of what their best songs are, and more importantly, what the fans want to hear."
Death's Review (9/1/99, Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY):
How's this sound? The venerable Concrete Marketing, as much a metal institution I suppose as anybody, hosting an anniversary concert for charity. Add to it the headine appearance of Megadeth (announced before I knew for sure that Risk was gonna suck), their only U.S. date between Woodstock '99 and the start of fall tour. Plus Type O Negative, New York hometown heroes with an imminent new release, and a bunch of neo-metal Roadrunner/Ozzfest-second-stage type bands. A promised "all-star Black Sabbath jam featuring special guests"? My ticket was sold. Now throw in the fact that the show was at Roseland, with its convienient midtown location. On paper, this concert looked to have all the trappings of a big metal night.
Would you believe it kinda sucked? No surprise, I got there late, just as Type O was wrapping up with "Back in the U.S.S.R." Probably the most useless track they played that night. OK, no sweat. A couple of beers and some anticipatory conversation bridged the gap before Megadeth took the stage just fine, thank you.
"Then the sucking began. Right out of the box, Megadeth comes out with a new track." Then the sucking began. Right out of the box, Megadeth comes out with a new track, which I now can identify but, just to give you the same annoying feeling I had at the concert, I'm not gonna tell you what it is. Who cares anyway, it's from Risk.
But wait, next was "Holy Wars . . . the Punishment Due" -- one of the sickest Megadeth tracks there is, some of the greatest riffs of the thrash metal era! Sure, it's very deliberately another "Wake Up Dead," but this one may have surpassed its predecessor in sheer shredding delight. My mood picked up. Could something be happening up there after all?
The uneven nature of the balance of that Megadeth set only hinted at the disappointment to come later in the night. True, amazing guitar solos were the order of the eve (we're talking Mustaine and Friedman trading sick-ass leads three times per song, all night long!) Dave still looks metal hunched over that black Jackson V when the light hits it just right. But there was also much bland stadium posturing, too many tired antics and uninspired moments to garner any serious momentum for my enthusiasm. By the time their set was over, I began to accept for the first time that Megadeth were irreversably past their prime.
OK, anyway, I was still psyched for the all-star Sabbath jam. I'd heard rumors ranging from Ozzy to Lars to Axl. When I began to realize that Charlie Benante playing drums behind Sabbra Cadabbra, the all-star Sabbath tribute, was one of the better combos they'd lined up for me, I knew I'd been had. Bruce Dickinson actually appeared to sing "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" with the tribute boys. But, I swear to god, never has that man in his life taken the stage to less energy than that crowd was serving up by that point.
"Never before at a metal show did such an utter feeling of lameness hang in the air." Never before at a metal show did such an utter feeling of lameness hang in the air. I felt sorry for Bruce. I felt sorry for me, 'cause I was gonna look like such an ass to my friends I had dragged here and gotten so hyped up with after the Type O set. This night sucked. Zero skulls. Well, wait. It was for charity, so I'll be charitable: One skull. "But c'mon, Death," the people say, "Bruce Dickinson was there, it couldn't have been that bad." Trust me. It was.
Hel's Review (9/1/99, Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY):
This was an event I was really looking forward to. A one-off gig for Megadeth before the new album came out and the tour started. A charity event put on by Concrete Marketing for shameless self promotion in the guise of an anniversary party. I expected Dave and Co. to reinstate my faith in them by giving me an awesome performance to wash away the taste of their lackluster Woodstock '99 (pay-per-view for me) performance. I figured, for some time after they began putting out horrible albums, Metallica was able to convince me live, so Megadeth certainly could. And their album sure couldn't be as bad as Load. Wrong and REALLY fucking wrong.
We showed up in time to see the last couple of songs in Type O's set. I've never seen them live, so that was a treat, but I certainly didn't see enough to form a solid opinion. I can say, however, that while their music has always struck me as more mood and less punch, their live performance was a nice surprise.
"So finally Megadeth came on. With "Prince of Darkness". OK, so it didn't start well." So then there was a long wait for Megadeth to take the stage. But Concrete Marketing had it well in hand, projecting the same 12 slides onto the walls over and over and over, as they had been and continued to all night long - even while the band was playing. Enough sarcastic busting on Concrete. For now.
So finally Megadeth came on. With "Prince of Darkness". OK, so it didn't start well, I'm still uncharacteristically optimistic. The next several songs were oldies and during "Holy Wars . . . The Punishment Due" I was feeling relieved and thinking that maybe I'd been too harsh. Adding to my entertainment, during this song, there were a bunch of girls standing next to their boyfriends looking very lost and confused. But they were much happier and unrythmically bobbed their heads during "A Tout Le Monde".
Shortly after, they busted into "Crush 'Em". My momentary relief vanished as reality came crashing down. I did smile at one lone fist thrust up in the air as the inanely engineered crowd-participation chorus began. Then my smile also vanished as more and more people caught on to the painfully obvious gimmick.
It was clear, judging from the audience response, that "Trust" had gained some commercial success for the last album. It was also clear that most of the people at the show were not long-time hard-core fans. And I grew sadder as my optimism was proven to have been wasted.
"I'm not saying that Megadeth put on a bad performance. It was actually quite good." I'm not saying that Megadeth put on a bad performance. It was actually quite good. It was the new songs and the new fans that disappointed me more. They played well, but they fell short of convincing me "Crush 'Em" was a rockin' tune. If the night was over right then, this show would have earned 3 skulls.
But it didn't. I don't even have the heart to go into too much detail about the so-called "Black Sabbath Jam". Sabra Cadabra does not a Black Sabbath Jam make. Bruce Dickenson left the stage in disgust, and I don't blame him a bit. He was by far the biggest name to participate, and I actually felt bad for him. I felt bad for me, too. Bruce and Charlie Bennate playing together should have brought tears of joy to my eyes. Disappointing. That WAS the highlight. The first song. It declined dramatically from there. Concrete Marketing should be ashamed of themselves. They touted this "Jam" so highly, and in the end to have it be bad covers by psuedo-stars (excluding Bruce and Charlie) and a BAD tribute band is insulting at best. The crapfest that that jam turned out to be made me feel cheap and used. I hope that it was a fiasco for Concrete - they deserve it for serving up such lameness.
And that was how the night ended. With this sick taste in my mouth. Everything I thought it would be - it wasn't even close. Perhaps I would have had better thoughts about Megadeth's showing if it hadn't been for Concrete Marketing fucking it up. I think that Concrete needs to learn a little marketing lesson from this - don't put the worst shit possible after a good band if you have any respect for that band at all. And Megadeth is still a good band, at least live.
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