The Summary Judgment Reviews:

Anthrax with Lamb of God, E. Town Concrete & Full Metal Force Rating: 4 Skulls
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Death's Review (8/1/03, Ventura Theatre, Ventura, CA):
Where the fuck is Ventura, and why did I decide to schlep out there last Friday night? Both good questions. I went to Ventura, which is about an hour and a half north of L.A., halfway between here and Santa Barbara up Highway 101 (it may be obvious to you native Californians, but I'm still relatively new out here and I rarely go north of Hollywood or Malibu), so to see show support for what I thought was the very cool pairing of Anthrax and Lamb of God on the same bill. It seems Anthrax got wise to the underground for their latest club tour, taking out Lacuna Coil for the east coast leg. Personally, I was getting more and more into the new Lamb of God record, even more so after seeing their killer new video debut on Headbanger's Ball. The only time I'd seen them live since the release of As the Palaces Burn was at the 2003 New England Metal and Hardcore Festival - and not only was I smashed at that gig, the distraction of the whole weekend of metal distracted my focus. This time, I was going to watch Lamb of God, to pay full attention, and to really soak up the new material in the live setting.

Anthrax
Photos by Hel

Of course, I'm an Anthrax fan too, going way back and continuing through today. I have been a little annoyed with them as of late for some reason, but their taking out underground bands renewed my faith that they actually might still "get it" - so to speak. Still, I'd seen them already for this tour when they played the House of Blues on Sunset Strip earlier this summer with Death Angel as the support (another inspired choice of opening act). That's probably why there was no L.A. proper date scheduled here. In retrospect, Ventura was not as close as Anaheim (where the band played on Saturday night), I guess, but I had plans for Saturday, so off we went.

Full Metal Force

We got there early. 8 p.m. I couldn't believe it myself, but there was no way I was going to drive all the way up here to see Lamb of God and not see Lamb of God. We got in the venue and saw that we were plenty early. The place was less than a quarter full, and there were a couple of bands to go. I decided to make the best of it and ordered myself a beer, soaking up the local culture, so to speak. The featured entertainment was a bunch of serious veterans known as "F.M.F." (Full Metal Force). These guys looked old, and their fans looked even older. In many ways, F.M.F. were a total goof. But I have to say this: F.M.F. had a shitload of people there to see them for a local opener, and all of them were wearing some form of the band's flame-logo merchandise. Their fans were as vocal and as passionate as any contingent at the venue this night, and they caused me to pay more attention to F.M.F. than I otherwise would. The more I listened, the more I liked. F.M.F. play true-blue metal that sounds like old Metallica combined with Thin Lizzy, Overkill and Manowar combined. Fist-pumping metal played with conviction and heart in front of enthusiastic fans. F.M.F. rule. By the time I saw F.M.F. band members jumping in the Anthrax pit later in the night, I was convinced they were the coolest ridiculous local band on the planet. All I can say is that they entertained me - a job well done.
Then it was time for E. Town Concrete. I bought a $3.50 frozen personal pizza and another beer and sat at the tables in the back of the venue as we watched. I tried to get into it but couldn't. E. Town Concrete are so not my thing. Boring rap-nu metal. A total mistake for this tour, in my book. They do play with some conviction and are tight and professional, so I can respect it if you decide that you like them. I don't, but there are bands that are far worse.

Lamb of God

Lamb of God was intense - pretty much exactly what I had wanted them to be. With rumors swirling that the band would soon announce its signing to a certain major label, they tour up the Ventura audience (it was the first time the band had played there) and completely killed on every tune. By the time the band closed its set with the two videos, "11th Hour" and "Black Label" everyone in the audience was fully engaged and limbs were flailing in all directions. Too bad the band's request for a circle pit didn't really work out - I don't think these Ventura guys know what a circle pit is. If they did know, this was a pathetic display. Anyway, Lamb of God lived up to my expectations, despite the largely empty venue. All signs point to them blowing up huge over the next year. Can you say Ozzfest 2004?

Anthrax

Then it was time for Anthrax. They were really good. The show felt better and more intense than the one at the House of Blues. I'm not quite sure why. It was pretty much the same set. Old school treats like "Madhouse" and "Metal Thrashing Mad" were played. This night, "N.F.L." was busted out and it kicked major thrash ass. As always, "Only" sounded killer. "Safe Home" isn't my favorite new track by any stretch, but it was fun to watch them perform it here. Clearly a tune the band is really into, it mixed the set up well. "I Am the Law" was perfect to bang my head to at the end of the night. All in all, a great time and a cool set played to a mostly-empty theater. But perhaps I should have gone to Anaheim. A friend of mine went to both shows, and told me that since the House of Blues down there is much smaller, there might have been the same number of people there, but it was a much better vibe. It just feels better when the show is a sell-out as it was in Anaheim. I'm not sure if it was related, but I hear they played a bunch of different stuff too, like "Be All End All," "Black Lodge" and "Fueled" too. Oh well, I had fun at my show anyway.

Hel's Review (8/1/03, Ventura Theatre, Ventura, CA):
Getting to this show on time was if great concern. Our information indicated that Lamb of God would go on at 8, and this venue is located far from L.A. Worried about traffic, and determined not to miss Lamb of God, we set out early. Arriving at the venue just after 8, we learn that not only was Lamb of God not on yet, but E-Town Concrete hadn't played yet either. Our information was quite incorrect.

Lamb of God

Stranded inside the venue, since we would not be let back in if we left, we checked out the band onstage, Full Metal Force. While they would prove to be vastly better than E-Town Concrete, FMF was a group of guys approaching middle age and playing 80s era Metallica-style thrash. They had many friends in the audience who gave them strong support, but realistically they were rather mediocre. However, despite this, they were better than average for local support, and as I've already stated, much better than E-Town Concrete.

E. Town Concrete

I'd always felt mostly ambivalent about E-Town Concrete. I would just ignore them, and they'd pretty much leave me alone. I'm not sure what I did to deserve having to sit through the entire set from this band, but I hope my karma's evened out now, because I can never do so again. I now actively despise this band. I learned a word from King Fowley several years ago: "wigger." This perfectly describes the members of E-Town Concrete. There were exactly two not-terrible things about their set: 1) the drummer can keep time and 2) the singer was wearing a Shadows Fall t-shirt. Though the latter may actually be a terrible thing. Bottom line: this band sucks.
Lamb of God was the biggest reason I was here, hands down. As a matter of fact, I was slightly dreading Anthrax's set, since the last time I was actually a little disillusioned. But I knew Lamb of God would never let me down live, and they most certainly didn't on this night. They delivered a blistering set containing both old and new material, including even a classic from their Burn the Priest days. Once again displaying their stellar musicianship, the band, and in particular the drummer, are always astonishing to watch. Their onstage antics were as energetic as ever and much of the crowd seemed to be there solely to witness Lamb of God's brand of chaos. Someone in the Anthrax camp deserves a great deal of credit for being bright enough to include this great band on the tour.

Anthrax

Anthrax closed out the night with a small but dedicated crowd. Many seemed to have left following Lamb of God's ferocious pummeling, but frankly, the crowd for them wasn't particularly record breaking either. Whoever thought this would be the right venue for this show was absolutely wrong. Ventura is basically in the middle of nowhere. It is not at all convenient to L.A., from a realistic perspective, and considering Anthrax just played a sold out show on the Sunset Strip a few weeks ago, it's not a big shock to me that people didn't travel for this. The band was clearly disappointed by the turnout, but gave 100% anyway.

Lamb of God

I was absolutely thrilled to walk out of the venue without hearing "Bring the Noise" for the billionth time. The set list tonight contained a lot of the older material, with a few of the earlier Bush-era gems tossed in, and the predictable helping of new material. All in all, this may have been, meager attendance aside, one of the best shows I've seen Anthrax deliver in quite a while. They effectively dispelled my earlier trepidation and I walked out of the venue very happy with what I had witnessed.
The night obviously has to have a skull or two deducted for the inconvenience of the venue and, particularly, for the fact that I had to sit through E-Town Concrete. Man, that band blows. In the end though, both Lamb of God and Anthrax delivered such quality sets that I will go easy on them - they clearly gave their best and deserve recognition for that. So I'll only take off one skull. Support Lamb of God and Anthrax on this tour if it comes near you. On the second leg, Lacuna Coil will be replacing Lamb of God - I sincerely hope, for your sakes, that they get the slot Lamb of God have on this leg, as they are very deserving not to mention a far, far better band than E-Town Concrete.

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