Another new post! It's a Monday miracle!

http://stayheavyalways.wordpress.com/2014/01/27/mixtape-monday-volume-3-war-all-the-time/

New post!

http://stayheavyalways.wordpress.com/2014/01/27/old-ass-vhs-review-volume-2-my-headbangers-ball-tape/

I'm Still Here

Or, to be more accurate, I'm still here.

Just a reminder...

...that Stay Heavy has moved!  Visit us here.  You know you want to.

Last Post Here

I'm moving my blog to stayheavyalways.wordpress.com.  It's not quite as easy to format, but it seems to be much less wonky than blogspot, overall.  This'll be the last thing I post from here, but I encourage you to visit me at the new site.  Whether you follow me or not, make sure you stay heavy, always.

A Pitiful Tribute to Bass God Dan Lilker

(Source: http://wikimetal.uol.com.br/site/dan-lilker-nuclear-assault/)

My head is in too many places to write much of anything today, but I want to share some sad news.  Extreme metal pioneer Dan Lilker (my third-favorite metal bass player, after Steve Harris and Cliff Burton, may he rest in peace) announced today that he will be retiring from music in October 2014, on his 50th birthday.  Here's the official announcement from Mr. Lilker:

(NOTE: The white background behind the text below fucking pisses me off beyond belief, but Blogger keeps automatically fucking formatting it that way, and I can't figure out how to fucking make it stop, and my fucking head is going to fucking explode if I try and fail one more fucking time, so please just know that I know how fucking terrible it looks, and please know how much I fucking hate it.  Also, if anyone reading this knows how to make it stop fucking happening, please don't hesitate to tell me.)

I regret to inform Brutal Truth fans that as of October 18th, 2014, I will be retiring from being a full time recording and touring musician. That date is my 50th birthday, so I chose it symbolically as a significant milestone to make such a weighty decision. As a lot of you know, I've been an active member of the metal scene since the early 80s with the thrash metal bands I've been in before the formation of Brutal Truth in 1990, and I'm simply just tired of the rigors of touring mostly. Unlike some of my peers from the 80's who went on to sell millions of records I have always been drawn to extreme underground metal. I don't care about staying in 5 star hotels and having a big cushy tour bus but I am getting tired of squeezing into a van for 8 hours after all these years on the road. I have always played what I believe in and that is been priority #1, but the time has come to have a little bit more stability in my life.

Brutal Truth will still be active on the touring front until mid-October and will aim to do as much as we can in the next 9 months or so. After that, I will still have creative output with my 2 local bands in Rochester NY, Nokturnal Hellstorm and Blurring and do the occasional project tour, but yes, as of mid-October, Brutal Truth will no longer exist. I do realize that will be an extreme disappointment to all the grind freaks out there that have supported this band so rabidly all these years, and your enthusiasm will always have a special place in my heart, but I've made my decision, and I hope everyone can respect that.

Please note that messages sent to the Brutal Truth facebook will not be answered as I do not have my own personal facebook page therefore I do not have access.

Thanks,
Dan Lilker

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Lilker co-founded Anthrax with Scott Ian in 1981, switching from guitar to bass after their first two bass players were given the boot.  In 1984, shortly after the release of their debut full-length album Fistful of Metal, Lilker parted ways with Anthrax and formed an amazing (and very socially aware) thrash metal band called Nuclear Assault.  In 1985, he joined Scott Ian, Anthrax drummer Charlie Bentante, and New York hardcore regular Billy Milano in a band called Stormtroopers of Death.  By combining elements of both thrash metal and hardcore punk, S.O.D. accidentally gave birth to a whole new genre of metal called Crossover Thrash.  (Note: S.O.D. offended a lot of people.  I myself didn't get the joke when I first heard it.  I was going to link to their Wikipedia page, but one of the apparent side-effects of this fucking white background bullshit seems to be that I can't link things properly, so you should Google them.)

"Metal Thrashing Mad" by Anthrax, from Fistful of Metal (1984)

"March of the S.O.D./Sargent D" by Stromtroopers of Death, from Speak English or Die (1985)

"Critical Mass" by Nuclear Assault, from Handle With Care (1989)

In 1990, Lilker left Nuclear Assault and formed a grindcore band called Brutal Truth.  They disbanded in 1999, after three full-length albums, an EP, several split 7" singles, and some compilation tracks.  Their second album, 1994's Need to Control, is a landmark in extreme music, and changed the way I think about metal when I first heard it.  In 2006, Brutal Truth reformed, and have since released two more full-length albums, a split LP, and a split 7" single, along with a few other singles on compilations.  Thus far, I haven't been able to see them live, so I am sincerely hoping that they'll play a show somewhere near me on their last tour.

"Godplayer" by Brutal Truth, from Need to Control (1994)

Here's to you, Danny Lilker.  Thanks for always staying heavy.

Another Testament, So To Speak

My last post wandered a bit, and got off track from where it began, but it's a track I'm okay with, so today I'm going to stay on said track and continue to discuss Bay Area thrash metal titans Testament.

When their third album (1989's Practice What You Preach) began to take off, gaining the band a wider audience, Testament's management put the band in rush to get another album out (I've read that they were given 3 months), and the resulting work, Souls of Black (1990), is a quality album (it is a Testament album, after all), but the rush-job shows.  A few of the songs seem to be less-than fully formed, and the production is noticeably lackluster (especially after the crystal-clear sound of Practice, which allowed every instrument to be heard).  I actually didn't hear this album in its entirety until a couple of years ago, but I must say it's a worthy entry in the Testament catalog.  The worst Testament song is still better than most other metal songs.

Souls of Black did bring a change in the band's logo, which became a common thing for metal bands to do around this time, and which is a subject that will be explored here sooner or later, as I find it to be an interesting topic.  It also contains the band's second ballad ("The Legacy"), which was one of the albums' two singles (along with the title track).  By the time 1990 came around, many thrash metal bands were slowing things down a bit and simplifying their music, much to the chagrin of Metalheads everywhere.  This is a subject that continues to chap my ass to this day; why should a band not be allowed to change things up stylistically?  Very few bands can pull off sounding the same on every album (the Ramones, AC/DC, and Motörhead are the only three that come to mind), and I can't imagine being in a band and playing the same song over and over again.  At any rate, Souls of Black was far from the most dramatic change that Testament would undergo.  Their fifth album, 1992's The Ritual, was the beginning of the end for the "classic era" of Testament.

"Souls of Black" from Souls of Black (1990)

"The Legacy" from Souls of Black (1990)

The Ritual is the band's slowest, cleanest-sounding, and dare I say, "lightest" album, and it seems at first listen to have been crafted largely to gain radio and MTV airplay [(Testament, along with many other thrash bands, changed things up a bit after the mega-success of Metallica's "Black Album" (which made it okay for the Rest Of the World to like metal)].  It is probably Testament's most accessible album to the non-metal fan, containing another ballad (the hauntingly beautiful "Return to Serenity"), along with more actual singing than any other Testament album.  I like it, and I think the only thing it lacks is more "punch" in the production.  Album opener "Electric Crown" (which was one of two singles, along with "Return to Serenity") is easily one of my favorite Testament songs.

"Return to Serenity" from The Ritual (1992)

"Electric Crown" from The Ritual (1992)

Shortly after this album, lead guitarist Alex Skolnick and drummer Louie Clemente left the band due to creative differences, and the remaining members recruited a couple of veteran metal musicians (death metal guitar guru James Murphy and former Anthrax drum technician John Tempesta, the latter of whom has played drums for a ridiculous number of bands) and proceeded to record their heaviest album up to that point, 1994's Low.

From the very first note of Low, it's clear that what you are about to hear is a very different version of Testament.  Chuck Billy's vocals are in a much lower range throughout most of the album, many of the songs groove rather than thrash, and melody became a rare bird without the presence of Alex Skolnick, but for this Metalhead, Low is a high point in the band's discography.  Highlights here are the pummeling 1-2 opening salvo of "Low" and "Legions (In Hiding)" (the latter a grim tale of the horrors of child abuse), along with this album's ballad "Trail of Tears" (another grim tale, this time relating the horrors of the forced march by the United States government of thousands of Native American Indians in the early-to-mid 1830s), and the almost-death-metal explosion of "Dog Faced Gods".

"Low" from Low (1994)

"Trail of Tears" from Low (1994) - Alex Skolnick's absence notwithstanding, the soloing on this song is beautiful.

"Dog Faced Gods" from Low (1994)

Following the release of Low, original bass player Greg Christian (who is severely underrated in the pantheon of metal bass players), John Tempesta, and James Murphy left the band, and a variety of people went through the ranks for touring purposes.  Rhythm guitarist Eric Peterson (the only remaining original member) and Chuck Billy briefly considered changing the name of the band to Dog Faced Gods, and began writing music which took a much heavier direction.  They ultimately disbanded for a brief period in 1996 before reforming (and continuing with the Testament moniker) with bass player Derek Ramirez (who, for a very brief period in 1983, pulled double duty in the band as lead vocalist and second guitarist) and drummer extraordinaire Gene Hoglan (a.k.a. "The Atomic Clock").  The album that arose from this union (1997's Demonic) would prove to be a challenge for many Testament fans to accept, and I myself had trouble understanding what I was hearing upon its initial release.

Demonic is easily the heaviest, angriest, and strangest-sounding Testament album to date. Melody?  Gone.  Solos?  Out the door (though Peterson did lay down a bit of lead work).  Clean singing?  Like it never happened.  This beast is all chugging riffs, syncopated beats, and deathly growls.  It confused the hell out of me for a long time, but in the years since its release, I have grown to appreciate and sincerely enjoy Demonic.  It's not my favorite Testament album by a long shot, but it's a solid release.  1997 wasn't a great year for metal, but I'd call it one of the best metal albums of the year.

"Demonic Refusal" from Demonic (1997)

The year 1999 brought another album (The Gathering), recorded by yet another lineup.  James Murphy rejoined the band on guitar, and two of the most proficient metal musicians alive rounded out the lineup (fretless bass wizard Steve DiGiorgio and former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo).  The Gathering was something of a return to form for Testament; melody and soloing returned, and Billy dialed back the growling just the tiniest bit and started using his singing voice again ("True Believer").  It is an ass kicking, beastly, brutal motherfucker of an album, and it gets more recognition in the band's live sets than either of the two albums that preceded it.  In fact, 4 songs from this album are featured on the band's 2013 double live album The Dark Roots of Thrash, while no songs from the four albums prior to it are featured.

The Gathering also features the two songs which inspired me to start writing the first part of this piece a couple of days ago.  Remember how this whole thing started out as a discussion of  the social awareness of thrash metal?  Yeah, I barely remember that myself.  Anyway, two songs on this album are stern and angry reminders about the fragility of the planet we call home - "3 Days in Darkness" and "Fall of Sipledome," the latter of which is about the melting of the polar ice caps.

"D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate)" from The Gathering (1999) - If this doesn't make you bang your head, you might be dead.

"Fall of Sipledome" from The Gathering (1999)

The period following The Gathering is fraught with life-threatening illness and more lineup changes (including the return of some familiar names), but my ass hurts from sitting for so long, and I have errands to run, so I will dive into that another time.  Thanks for reading, and don't forget to stay heavy!

Thrash Mental, or: Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover

As a young Metalhead growing up in rural southern Indiana, most of my friends and other classmates didn't understand the music I listened to, or the t-shirts I wore.  Some of them thought I was dumb.  Some of them thought I was a pothead.  A few of them even went so far as to call me a "devil worshipper" and attempted to point out "satanic" lyrics and imagery in the music that I listened to, and that they did not.  True story: in sixth grade, a girl in my class told me that if you played a certain Anthrax song backward (she conveniently could not remember which one), you would hear a voice declare that "devil worshipping is fun".  That's the kind of horseshit I had to put up with.

Your esteemed blogger, decked out for Beach Day in Grade 6.

What none of my friends and classmates realized (and what many people still don't realize) is that a significant number of thrash metal songs are very socially forward-thinking.  Songs about racial inequality, environmental issues, political corruption, depression, drug abuse, nuclear war (and war in general), and the corruption of organized religion often co-exist on the same albums with songs about zombies, S&M dominatrices, Stephen King books, comic books, H.P. Lovecraft short stories, and being a heavy metal band.  People who are unfamiliar with the music will often form an opinion about it based on the name of the band alone.  Judging a book, and all that.

A quick primer for the uninitiated: thrash metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal that developed in the very late 1970s and early 1980s, when young bands who hungered for something faster and heavier began to combine the melodic and (often) virtuosic elements of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (i.e., Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Raven, etc.) with the aggressive and often stripped down elements of hardcore punk (i.e., the Misfits, Discharge, Bad Brains, etc.).  Musically, thrash metal is usually marked by fast, aggressive tempos, palm-muted riffing, and double-bass drumming.  The vocals cover a wide range of styles, from guttural shouting to melodic, high register singing.

The best-known thrash metal bands from the 1980s, often designated "The Big 4" (a title based on album and concert ticket sales more than anything else), are Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, and Megadeth.  Other notable 1980s thrash bands include Testament, Overkill, Nuclear Assault, Sacred Reich, Death Angel, and on their earliest releases, Quebec's greatest export, Voivod.  All the bands listed (and many more) will eventually be covered on this blog, but today, I'm going to focus on my personal favorite thrash metal band, which just happens to be one of the most consistently socially aware bands of the genre.  I also believe they have been one of the most consistently high-quality bands of the genre, and I will go so far as to say that they have yet to release a bad song.  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Testament.

Testament formed in Berkley, California in 1983, originally calling themselves Legacy.  When vocalist Steve "Zetro" Souza left the band to join Exodus in 1986, Chuck Billy took over vocal duties, and the band changed their name to Testament.  Their first album, The Legacy, was released in 1987, and is a fast, heavy, dark album, highlighted by modern-day crowd favorites such as "Over the Wall" and "First Strike is Deadly" (the latter of which I almost used for the name of this blog).  Lyrical themes on the album don't stray far from more traditional heavy metal fare, with stories about a ship lost at sea, encounters with demons and other mythical creatures, and prophecies of war.  It was on the band's second album (and my personal favorite Testament album), 1988's The New Order, that the lyrics began to touch on more "real-world" topics.

"Over the Wall" from The Legacy (1987)

While just as heavy musically as The Legacy, the 1988 release found the band expanding their melodic sound, as lead guitarist Alex Skolnick was quickly developing into one of the most gifted guitar players in thrash metal, if not in all of heavy metal (Skolnick has since gone on to play in jazz bands, and has been a touring member of the virtuosic supergroup The Trans-Siberian Orchestra).  Lyrically, the songs showed some signs of growth as well, as they began to discuss the environment (on the title track) and destruction by nuclear war (the utterly awesome album-closer "Day of Reckoning").  If the sophomore release indicated a new found maturity, their third album in as many years, 1989's Practice What You Preach, found the band all grown up, and very nearly made them a household name.

"A Day of Reckoning" from The New Order (1988)

Practice What You Preach covers a wide range of subject matter, from government corruption to environmental devastation, and from hypocrisy to the merits of living life on your own terms.  Musically, the band slowed things down a bit from the previous two albums (although "Nightmare (Coming Back to You)" is very up-tempo and in-your-face), but the virtuosity continued to develop, notably here in rhythm guitarist (and founding member) Eric Peterson, and in bassist Greg Christian.  Closing instrumental "Confusion Fusion" is simultaneously as tight as a duck's ass and as loose as the cast of Jersey Shore.

"Practice What You Preach" from Practice What You Preach (1989)

The album also showed a softer side of Testament, featuring the band's first ballad, appropriately titled "The Ballad".  The video for this song (as well as the title track) received pretty heavy rotation on MTV, back when that was a real channel, and the song is a showcase for the vocal abilities of Chuck Billy.  The album was well-received critically, but a lot of fans at the time disliked the slower tempos, and the fact that there was a ballad (the horror!).  I admit that I can count myself among those fans.  I didn't care much at all for Practice What You Preach when I first heard it, but I finally purchased my own copy a few years ago, and it immediately kicked the shit out of me and rubbed my face in it.  It is an amazing album, top to bottom, and is a testament (I make no apologies for my pun) to the power and abilities of this amazing and often-overlooked thrash metal band.

"The Ballad" from Practice What You Preach (1989)

I have to make dinner now, so I will continue the saga of Testament another time (hopefully later in the week).  It is a tale of perseverance, and overcoming adversity.  It is a tale that contains many characters.  And perhaps most of all, it is a tale of kicking ass, and of staying heavy, always.

Welcome! Bienvenido! Willkommen! Bienvenue! Shalom! Etcetera!

Howdy!  And welcome to my new metal blog, where I will discuss heavy metal in all of its glorious forms (and in some of its shitty forms). To start off, a little bit about me...

I grew up in a tiny town in southern Indiana.  My exposure to music was pretty much just early 1980s country music radio.  My journey as a Metalhead began at the tender age of nine, when my brother inadvertently got me into Metallica.  Within a couple of years, I was constantly in his room playing and looking at his cassette tapes. Other early favorites included Iron Maiden (which remains my favorite band to this day), Anthrax, Testament, Sacred Reich, Megadeth, Exodus, Nuclear Assault, Overkill, and Death Angel.  I eventually stopped being scared of Slayer, King Diamond, and S.O.D. (I didn't understand that they were a joke), and from there, the sky was the limit.

I watched the early days of death metal, grindcore, and black metal with a curious interest, through the pages of the late, great Metal Maniacs, eventually getting into the likes of Napalm Death, Brutal Truth, (early) Carcass, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Death, et al (I'm only recently starting to get into some black metal).  In the early 90s, bands like Alice in Chains and Helmet made me understand that music could be heavy without necessarily being metal, and in the late 90s, I got into punk and hardcore, but through it all, I never stopped listening to and loving heavy metal.  I worked in a music store when "nü metal" was at its peak, and while I appreciate the fact that those bands got a lot of people into metal, I still don't get that genre as a whole.

Metal isn't the only music I listen to, but it is what I listen to most often, and what I love the most.  Sometimes I write about the other stuff, too, and my friend Travis and I have a blog where that happens.  I've posted up some metal-related things there over the past couple of years, and I'll be putting them here, too, as a way to get the ball rolling.  Join me if you'd like, but be prepared - things are gonna get heavy around here.

Currently listening to: The New Order by Testament.

Iron Maiden Live Show Review, 9/13/13

On September 13, 2013, in St. Louis, Missouri, I finally got to see Iron Maiden perform live.  It was life-affirming, to say the least.  The sort-of-review that follows was originally posted on my personal facebook page.

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Note: Some of this is written in past tense, and some is written in present tense.  If John Steinbeck can do it, so can I.

“I feel like I got hit by a truck while I was inhaling a cigar, and then while I was in the emergency room, the nurse put a bunch of dirt in my mouth and blasted air horns in my ears.  Which is to say, I witnessed Iron Maiden live last night, and I feel great.”

That’s what I wrote in my journal the morning after the show.  Before I get into the show, though, I have to back up a little bit and discuss some of the people we met earlier that day.  We started our day off with a trip to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery to check out their complimentary tour (followed by complementary tasting).  There was a couple in our party that Sheila remarked looked like “us in 10 years”.  The lady had red hair and was dressed like a regular person, while the dude had very little hair and was wearing shorts and an Iron Maiden shirt.  I approached him during the photo op part of the tour and said, “I assume you’re going to the show tonight?”

He pulls up his shirt to show me a giant tattoo of the Piece of Mind album cover on his giant belly and says, “Yeah, I’d say I’m goin’ to the show tonight.”  I respond with, “It’s my first time, I’m really excited.  We drove in from Bloomington, Indiana for it.”  He counters with, “We drove in from Rochester, New York.  I already seen ‘em in [he proceeds to name off cities for a long while], and I’m a fan club member, so I got seats in the pit.  I also got  “Purgatory” and “Killers” tattoos on my back.”  I’m beginning to regret talking to the guy, because one-upping is clearly his business, and with me on the other end, business is good.  I say, “Cool.  I’m really excited about the show,” and leave him to feel superior.  As Sheila and I walk away, I say “Fucking Rochester, New York!  That’s the kind of insanity this band produces.”

Later, in the elevator between stops on the tour, the guy asks me if I’ve ever seen show openers Megadeth live.  I tell him that I have, in 1996.  He immediately begins to tell me all about seeing them on Gigantour recently with a bunch of shitty bands that I couldn’t possibly care about, then tells me that he saw Hellyeah last month, and he saw Shinedown with Papa Roach the night before, and he has tickets to see Five Finger Death Punch later in the month, and at this point I’m feeling glad that I am not friends with this man, while simultaneously wondering how someone with such dedication to Iron Maiden could have such otherwise shitty taste in music.

After the tour, while we were enjoying our complimentary beverages, I spotted another dude in an Iron Maiden shirt.  This mustachioed man appeared to be mid-40s, was wearing a red ball cap, had his Maiden England World Tour 2012 commemerative Canadian tour t-shirt tucked into his jean shorts, and wore his cell phone on a belt clip; in short, he looked like a dad trying to look cool and fit in.  His wife had a mom-style haircut and was wearing white shorts and a pink top; she looked like she might have just dropped the kids off at school on her way to the brewery.  Sheila remarked that they also reminded her of us, as it seemed clear that the wife was there to support the crazed fan husband.  I approached their table on our way out of the tasting room, and struck up a conversation that reminded us to not judge by appearances.  The couple had come in from Connecticut (!) to see the show, and it was the wife’s 14^th or 15^th time seeing the band (she has trouble remembering after the twelfth time).  They were very excited for me to be seeing my favorite band live for the first time, and the lady assured me, “You’re in for a real treat.  Iron Maiden doesn’t have bad shows.”  As Sheila and I walked away, I said “Fucking Connecticut!”

Fast-forward to hotel check-in: the super-awesome desk clerk (I believe his name was Andre, although he was not a giant) asks if we’re in town for the concert.  We reply that we are, and he says, “You here to see Megadeth?”  I tell him that we came mostly for Iron Maiden, and he asks us to get into some trouble for him.  Then on the way out to go to the show, he yells after us, “Don’t forget to get into some trouble for me, sir!”  Note: the rest of the hotel staff was exceptionally friendly as well; I wholeheartedly recommend Candlewood Suites in Earth City, MO if you need to stay in that area for any reason, but that’s a review for another place.

Fast-forward to Heavy Metal Parking Lot: the truck parked near us is blasting Metallica’s Ride the Lightning (my favorite Metallica album) when we pull up, and as “Creeping Death” ends and “The Call of Ktulu” begins, I mention to Sheila how excited I am that I’ll get to hear “The Call of Ktulu” before going in to see Iron Maiden.  As the words leave my lips, they shut off the Metallica and start playing some horrible bullshit with lyrics about getting gonorrhea from a Thai prostitute.  As this wretched excuse for music is playing, we begin to hear Bruce Dickinson’s voice rising over everything else as he sings the soft opening to “Afraid to Shoot Strangers” for soundcheck.  The noise coming from the right side of my car fades into the background, and nothing else matters.

Fast-forward to the pavilion: I’ve purchased two shirts and have tucked them into my belt for safe-keeping (a prior trip to St. Louis that ended in a lost t-shirt kept me very aware of my t-shirts on this trip).  The projected extra-humid weather seems to have somehow avoided our area, and a pleasant breeze is blowing through the venue.  Megadeth is set to take the stage at 7:30, and I’m not very excited, as I assume they’ll be playing a bunch of newer songs, and that Dave Mustaine will be talking a lot.  The lights go down and the band blasts into “Hangar 18”, followed by “Wake Up Dead”, followed by “In My Darkest Hour”, all before Mustaine even opens his mouth to speak.  When he finally starts to talk, I yell “Don’t talk, David, just play your songs!”  Some people around us laugh, and a guy in a Maiden shirt sitting in front of me (whose wife is wearing a denim vest with a Faster Pussycat patch on the back) turns around and says, “Right?  He talks way too fuckin’ much!”  More about that couple later, though.

Megadeth then plays “Sweating Bullets”, which I’m not crazy about (although it’s still better than anything from United Abominations) followed by “a song from our new album”, during which I took a pee break.  I come out of the restroom to hear “Tornado of Souls” beginning, and I run back to the pavilion only to find that I don’t have my ticket with me!  Luckily, our seats are pretty close to the entrance, and I was able to get a dude behind Sheila to get her attention so she could slip her ticket to me, and I was safely back in.  As “Tornado of Souls” ends, Sheila sees my ticket on the ground under my seat and a dude behind me hands it to me, so that no further problems might arise.  Thank you, anonymous stranger!

Megadeth continued on, playing “Peace Sells”, followed by “Symphony of Destruction”, followed by “Holy Wars…The Punishment Due”, and just like that, Megadeth 2013 were finished – no unnecessary banter from Mustaine, only one terrible song, and the band sounded phenomenal!  Then Mustaine came back out and said “You’ve been great, we’ve been Megadeth!” which I thought was pretty funny, but then he began to play air guitar to the song playing through the PA, and he never once mentioned the fact that they were opening for Iron Fucking Maiden.  I’ve never heard an opening act not ask the crowd if they’re ready for the headliner, or tell the crowd to get ready for the headliner, or mention how cool it is to be opening for the headliner, or something of that nature.  And so, Dave Mustaine blew his chance to redeem himself in my eyes, which is something about which he should care deeply.  Also, he ignored my request/demand to play “The Conjuring”.

After Megadeth was off the stage, a guy a couple of rows behind us very loudly (and drunkenly) proclaimed that “when I bought this fuckin’ ticket, I honest-to-God thought Megadeth was the headliner!  I came to see the American band, not those British fucks!” and as he walked down the stairs out of the pavilion, I turned to his friends and said, “Does that mean he’s leaving?”  They laughed, but their eyes told me that they were not amused with their belligerent friend.

Back to the couple in front of us: between sets, Sheila struck up a conversation with them, and told them how excited I was to be there, and that we were celebrating our anniversary (which is next month, be we were celebrating early), and we found out that they drove in from fucking Baltimore to see Maiden for their 16^th wedding anniversary.  They had both seen Maiden many times before, but that was their first time seeing Megadeth.  The dude and I discussed how much Megadeth used to rule, and how much Dave Mustaine sucks as a person now, and he told me how excited he was for me to be seeing Iron Maiden live for the first time, and how excited he was to be there for my first time.

Moments after this conversation, the couple got up to walk around for a bit, and a lady sitting next to that couple turned around and started talking to Sheila, as she had overheard that both us and the other couple were celebrating anniversaries.  She told us that she and her husband were also celebrating their 16^th wedding anniversary with Iron Maiden, that they had driven from 2 ½ hours away in Illinois to see the show, and that she had to work at 7:00 AM the next day.  She was also exceptionally happy for me to be seeing Iron Maiden for the first time.

So then around 9:00 PM, “Doctor Doctor” by UFO starts to play through the sound system, indicating that Iron Maiden will be on the stage very soon.  As the song ends, the lights go off, and the opening strains of “Moonchild” flow through the venue… “Seven deadly sins, seven ways to win, seven holy paths to hell and your trip begins…seven downward slopes, seven bloody hopes, seven are your burning fires, seven your desires…” and then the keyboards, and then the opening riff, and then FUCKING BLAM! and just like that, Maiden is on stage rocking my brains out through my earholes, and they don’t let up until the soft opening of “Afraid to Shoot Strangers”, and it’s a good thing they did let up a little, because I might’ve died.  I already knew the setlist, because it’s been the same since they started this tour last year, but that didn’t lessen the impact every single time they started a song. 

The crowd screamed along with the sample from The Prisoner that begins the song of the same name, and they screamed along with the bible verse that opens “The Number of the Beast”, and they screamed along with every verse and chorus, and every time Bruce said “Scream for me, St. Louis!” they did, and they screamed when the first Eddie walked onto the stage dressed as General Custer during “Run to the Hills” and simulated masturbation toward the crowd in the pit, and they screamed when the second Eddie appeared above Nicko’s drum kit during “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” (which also marks the only on-stage appearance of Michael Kenney, who has played live keyboards for the band since 1988’s Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour, but who plays offstage except during this song, when he appears high above Nicko and Eddie, disguised as “The Phantom”, which was really creepy to see live), and they screamed when the final Eddie appeared during set closer “Iron Maiden”, and they screamed along with the spoken Winston Churchill intro to “Aces High”, which began the encore, and they screamed along with the chorus to “Running Free”, which closed the encore set, and they screamed all the way out of the venue and into the parking lot, and I screamed along with them, and I had such an amazing time, and I cannot fucking wait until the next time I get to see Iron Fucking Maiden live.

A couple of extra things: I’ve been to a lot of shows (like, hundreds and hundreds), and a fair amount of those shows (half or so) were what I’d actually call “concerts” (like, really big shows with big-name touring bands), and the crowd at this show was, overall, the most well-behaved, most respectful crowd I’ve ever been a part of.  The lines to get in the venue were long, and everyone waited quietly, just chatting with their friends, or with the people near them in line.  And when the couple from Baltimore left during the encore, as “The Evil That Men Do” was winding down and “Running Free” was beginning (the wife seemed to have had too much to drink), the guy hugged Sheila and me and told me again how happy he was for me.  I never got a chance to get their names, but I wish I had.  They both seemed very cool.

I sincerely can’t imagine that kind of brotherhood arising from any other genre of music.