The Concert Reader Reviews:

Tour Title: Risk Tour

There are currently 3 Reader Reviews of this tour.
Average Rating: 2
Go to Judgment Committee Reviews of this tour

Submitted by Cyn (9/1/99 Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY):
Megadeth has lost their edge. They’ve cheezed out and I’m very bummed out because yet another band that I loved in high school (Metallica) has gone soft. I was excited to be spending my evening at a very hyped-up and seemingly cool Concrete Marketing shindig at Roseland in NYC, to see Type O Negative and Megadeth and some "special guests." We practically missed Type O except for "Black #1" but I heard there was going to be a Black Sabbath tribute afterwards and we stuck around to see it. What a joke of a show! As far as Megadeth goes, I don’t own Risk, or Cryptic Writings and probably for a good reason. Does anyone actually like "Crush ‘Em?" Dave Mustaine is talented (I’ll give credit where credit is due) and can still hold an angry snarl while ripping through old classics like "Sweating Bullets" and "Peace Sells…" but I don’t know or like the newer stuff and they played a lot of it. And, why do people clap along to metal songs? I don’t get that. There were people, kids mostly, who seemed to know all the words to their newer songs and nothing of the old and much better stuff. I hate that. I’m stubborn. I’m sorry to say that Megadeth don’t impress me anymore. I might have enjoyed the show more if I had gotten to the front row, like I used to do when I was younger and stupider. The Sabbath tribute thing was too funny to go into detail about. It was, I’ll say this, promising when Bruce Dickinson came out to sing a song but after that, it got lame. Not to mention that half the crowd had left after Megadeth ended. Ugh. 1 skull for effort.

Submitted by Musashi (9/1/99, Concrete Marketing Benefit, New York, NY):
It was supposed to be a big benefit to raise money for pediatric AIDS and to pay homage to Concrete Marketing and the wonderful job they've done bringing metal to the people. What a major disappointment!
Megadeth opened with "Prince of Darkness" which I have on a 2 song promo CD. It sucks both live and on CD. In fact, all the new stuff I've heard, the 2 song CD and the "Crush 'em" single, sucks!!!
However, I really liked the show. I saw them last year and this was way better. True, the sound sucked. It is just so refreshing to see and hear good guitar solos in 1999. The energy level at the show was low. Lots of people showed up but it didn't look like people were as into it as they get at other shows. Don't know why. Perhaps because their best stuff is at least 10 years old. They don't seem to inspire a mosh like the younger bands. Even Dave Matthews is inciting riots (See last month's Rolling Stone).
The highlight of the event was supposed to be a Black Sabbath tribute jam. The Sabbath Jam was weak. Imagine the worst Sabbath tribute band doing weak covers of Sabbath tunes dressed in homemade Sabbath costumes. For the first song, Bruce Dickinson came out to sing "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath." We were all excited but it quickly became obvious to everyone, especially Bruce, that this was a BAD IDEA. He couldn't wait to get off the stage. He put on his jacket and ran off before they were even finished. It just got worse...The singer for this Sabbath cover band came out and made a total ass of himself. He looked more like Chris Farley than Ozzy. When someone threw a beer can at him, he capitalized on the opportunity to stick the beer can in his pants. Our attempts to heckle him were foiled when we were accosted by his fiance, who tried to explain to us the hard work and dedication that it took them to be the greatest Sabbath tribute band working today. We urged her to go back to her trough and leave us alone. She was soon frustrated when I explained to her that there were better Sabbath tribute bands out there and that Ozzy wasn't known for stuffing beer cans in his trousers. I think I made her cry.
2 skulls for Megadeth
1 skull for Concrete
0 skulls for Sabbracadabra

Submitted by Garth (10/10/99, Santa Clara County Fairgrounds San Jose, CA):
I saw Megadeth for the first time at the KSJO Day on the Green festival in San Jose. The bill was an odd mix of new metal (Sevendust, Machine Head), old metal (Megadeth) and just plain old (Sammy Hagar). Megadeth played second to last, and really kicked it out on stage. It was a welcome change of pace to see a return to some of the old trappings of metal, as Dave proudly walked out on stage with a Flying-V slung around his neck. However, there were a few too many changes of pace. The new material was mixed all through out the old stuff. The set list focused more heavily on the Cryptic Writings and Risk stuff (naturally, since MegaDave was touring to support Risk). But the contrast between songs like "Crush 'Em" and "Peace Sells" points out the overall crapiness of the new material. The encore of "Anarchy in the UK" was cool, in my opinion, although I've since heard that's a standard MegaDave encore. For the old stuff they played, they rocked. Four skulls. For the new stuff, I'll have to borrow an adjective from Bart Simpson, "Craptacular".

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