God Forbid Concert
Rating: 5 Skulls
Death's Review (5/22/05, The Key Club, Hollywood, CA):
The reunited Anthrax played a few U.S. gigs this spring, with the full U.S. tour set for this fall. I was psyched to be there for the L.A. date, and although I was surprised they were playing a club-sized venue like the Key Club, I was even more psyched that I'd get to see the show in the relative intimacy of one of my favorite local haunts. I had a lot going on this week and weekend, so I couldn't make the trek out to Vegas for the show the night before like a few of the L.A. faithful did, but still, I got to see Mssrs. Belladonna, Ian, Benante, Bello and Spitz reunite on a warm Sunday evening on Hollywood's famed Sunset Strip. I knew from the moment they announced the show that I would be in for a treat.
I had no idea, however, who was opening the show or what time to expect Anthrax to go on stage. So I rolled in about 8:45, and saw a "Behind the Music" type video on the history of Anthrax playing to a pumped up and packed Key Club crowd. The place was jammed to the rafters, and so I grabbed a beer and watched the video from the back of the club. It went on for a while though, and because I had a photo pass, I felt an obligation to at least try to get up front for a decent picture. So I pounded the beer and tried to fight my way forward. Unfortunately, I could get no further than the stairs in the middle of the club (the ones that lead down to the merch and the bathrooms), and found a spot there hanging on to the rail that separates the stairs from the front of the club's "mosh pit" section. I decided that this was the best I was going to be able to do and hunkered down for the show. Unlike many other shows I've attended for Metal Judgment, this time I stayed in this one spot, by myself, for the entire show. I did not drink or talk to anyone, rather, I just focused on the music and the performance and thrashed around and sang along the entire night. It was cool.
Photos by DeathThe band came right out with material from 1987's classic Among the Living album, opening up with "Among the Living" and "Caught in a Mosh" before doing it up one better, and stepping back to the criminally underrated Spreading the Disease. Long-lost classics "A.I.R." and "Madhouse" came next, and I have to say that this was the highlight of an all around killer evening. I sang along with this classic material as loud as I could, banging my head with reckless abandon. "Keep on winning!!!!" Awesome to hear this stuff live with Belladonna singing them and basically nailing every note. This reunion deserves more attention! Sure, Joey B. is just as goofy as ever, but its great to see Frank back with Charlie and Scott and Dan Spitz can still play - it all pretty much works in the same way it did before, back in the day. The band quickly got "Antisocial" out of the way before returning to Spreading the Disease for the great Belladonna showcase "Medusa." Wow. Three tracks from Spreading the Disease in the first half of the set? Finally, this was not going to be the same old Anthrax set I'd heard the last five times I'd seen the band live.
Other set highlights included one of my all-time favorites, "In My World" (which Belladonna introduced as the Married With Children song) off the also underrated Persistence of Time album (right now, I'm ranking the top four in the Anthrax catalogue as (1) Among the Living; (2) Spreading the Disease; (3) Persistence of Time; and (4) The Sound of White Noise), and "N.F.L." and "Indians" (complete with Belladonna wearing a headdress) from Among the Living. I also enjoyed the inclusion of two songs from Fistful of Metal: "Metal Thrashing Mad" and "Deathrider," even though this was a Belladonna and not a Neil Turbin reunion (where was "Only" if we weren't taking into account which singer was responsible for the original version of the song?), "Be All, End All" (from State of Euphoria and the brief, seemingly impromptu jam of Pantera's "New Level." I was surprised that John Bush did not show up for a special guest appearance for the hometown gig (doesn't Turbin live around here also? Imagine, they could have had all three singers at once, but alas it was not to be), but all in all I had a great time jamming out to classic Anthrax. Hearing these songs again brought back a lot of great memories from the classic days when thrash and speed metal ruled the planet, yet also sounded fresh once more. I am a fan of John Bush and ultimately, I still think he is the better frontman. But this Anthrax reunion is both of historical importance and musical quality and integrity. You definitely need to check it out and support the band when they return later this year.
After the show, my buddy and I had wristbands for the downstairs "afterparty," and ultimately worked our way backstage to quickly say hello to the band amidst a bunch of other people who were hanging out such as comedian Brian Posehn and Bo Bice from American Idol. Crazy scene, but I was too spent to hang out for too long. We just said hello to a few people and were on our way (I was driving too so I couldn't "go off" anyway, plus it was a Sunday night). A fun night, and I'm glad I was there. I just wish I could have gotten closer to take better pictures. And it is really too bad that Anthrax isn't getting to showcase this new reunion in front of big Ozzfest crowds this summer as had been originally reported in the mainstream media.
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