Megadeth with Exodus Concert
Average Rating: 4.5 Skulls
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Megadeth with Exodus Concert
Average Rating: 4.5 Skulls |
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Abyss's Review (11/10/04, Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY):
Chances are, if you liked any of Megadeth past the first two albums, you probably liked The System Has Failed to some extent. I personally really dig it, finding it very accessible, but with interesting melodies and a knack for arrangement. Because of this I was very excited to see Dave and his band of hired thugs hit the stage again. The last time I had seen Megadeth was shortly before Dave's rehab accident when he played two nights at Irving Plaza. It was shortly after the 9/11 attacks and his 2nd encore of "Holy Wars" seemed entirely appropriate. And hey, they also played "The Conjuring," so how could you go wrong?
Megadeth
Photos by DeathOf course, I was late to this show, and, of course, it wasn't my fault. This means I all but missed Exodus, catching only the last two songs of their set. They employed Skinlab's Steev Esquivel to take over on vocal duties, which didn't seem to come out well. Of course, when listening to "The Toxic Waltz" no vocalist is going to come across as all that cool. This band should play an entire set of Bonded By Blood and call it a happy day. But it was great to see them live again, as they were the first metal band I ever saw on stage.
Megadeth impressed me right off the bat, opening with the lost classic (in my mind anyway) "Set The World Afire." I've never heard this song live and it was a great treat. I was also excited to hear "Skull Beneath The Skin," a nice surprise. The good news is that Dave seems to realize that we like hearing some older, more obscure tracks thrown into the set. He also played very little from the Cryptic Writings, Risk, and TWNAH years, which made the whole experience that much more enjoyable. He also stayed away from the stupid covers like "Anarchy in the UK."
MegadethThe show was largely composed of the classics you would expect, and they were spread out pretty evenly. The most stage time was set aside for tracks from the new album, which is annoying at most shows, but tolerable here. Sure I would've rather heard more old shit, but the new album is pretty solid and I haven't heard any of the tracks live. "Scorpion," "Kick The Chair," "Die Dead Enough," "Of Mice And Men," "Something I'm Not," and "Back In The Day" all made it into the set. On "Back In The Day" members from the opening acts came out to jam, and "Something I'm Not" was preceded by a little dig at Metallica.
Of course, the most impressive part of the whole show was Dave's voice, which sounded so solid one could almost believe it was assisted. But there was no evidence of that, so the time off might have given him some much needed rest. Of course, Dave, being Dave, made a point of how far he's come since his injury and played himself up as such the underdog, but it when one returns with a show as strong as this, you gotta let him have his moment. Go ahead Dave, take a bow. You deserve it. One word review: NICE!!!!
Death's Review (10/29/04, The Palladium, Hollywood, CA):
Two legends of thrash metal reunited under the banner of one show recently, and if you like 80's-style American thrash/speed metal, it doesn't get much better than Exodus and Megadeth, assuming that the bands were here in their complete original incarnations. Of course, these lineups were far from the original outfits - that is impossible in the case of both of them, as original Exodus vocalist Paul Baloff is dead, and so is Megadeth's Gar Samuelson. But what was truly disappointing about these lineups was the fact that the missing members didn't end there - not even close. Thus, even Baloff's long-time Exodus replacement, Steve "Zetro" Sousa, was also M.I.A., and so was long-time Megadeth bassist David Ellefson. To make matters worse, despite the presence of classic Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland on the new album, The World Needs A Hero, he was not part of the tour, and despite having announced that Nick Menza would be the Megadeth drummer, he too was not a part of this show.
ExodusWhat we were left with was the core Exodus band minus Zetro and with Skinlab's Steev Esquivel on vocals, opening up for Dave Mustaine and a fresh roster of backing musicians (including former members of King Diamond, Eidelon and Iced Earth). Not everything this tour could have and should have been, but still, these were two of my all-time favorite bands, and I really liked both of the band's last studio efforts. So despite the complaints about the lineups, this was a must-attend tour.
I got there early enough to join a couple of friends out in the parking lot to slam beers, crank some tunes and get psyched up for the show, old-school style. One of them set the stage nicely with this statement: you are about to see two of the all-time great thrash guitarists together in one show. Of course he was referring to Dave Mustaine and Gary Holt, and he was right. I was psyched. Soon it was time to enter the venue (this was the place featured in the opening episode of the Battle for Ozzfest TV show, where they held the auditions), do some shots at the bar, and get ready for the show.
MegadethExodus was a lot of fun. Esquivel did a serviceable job, showing due respect for the privilege of barking out the Exodus classics. I sang along with every song at the top of my lungs, and hearing the Bonded By Blood material while partying with my friends was a treat no matter who was singing it. I also liked hearing the stuff from the new album too. Esquivel is no Zetro (I would have liked to have seen Exhumed's Matt Harvey take over as he did for a recent fill-in show before this tour), but I'll take it. A good time was had by all and it is good to see Holt, Hunolt and the crew keeping the Exodus name alive.
After a long set change, the Mustaine-fronted Megadeth cover band took the stage. The drummer was obviously still getting comfortable with the material, but, as always, Mustaine quickly won me over with his great sounding, unmistakable vocals and shredding guitar playing (what hand injury?). Classic tune after classic tune flew by, including some cool stuff from Youthanasia (an album I love but is generally underrated), but there was thankfully nothing from the misguided Risk on the menu this night. The new material sounded really good, although they didn't play everything I wanted to hear (I really like the record). All in all, it was great to see Megadeth back in business, and I'm hoping that this was not really the "final" tour and that the band comes back to the U.S. again next year for another tour (Dave mentioned the possibility of Thrash of the Titans 2 on a recent episode of Headbanger's Ball).
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