#Testament

Slayer Final World Tour w/ Anthrax, Testament & more

Saying goodbye to the most brutal & notorious band in history – Maybe.

Slayer – May 8th 2019 – Toyota Music Pavilion – Irving, TX

Commemorating kicking off the fifth leg of their final world tour, but also the sixth anniversary of legendary guitarist Jeff Hanneman’s death this week, the five-time Grammy-nominated, two-time Grammy-winning band unleashed its fury with around 20 songs, almost half of which included eyebrow-singeing pyrotechnics that could be felt even 10 rows behind the pit.

From the opener “Repentless” and the haunting buildup of “World Painted Blood” to the twisting, burning, riff-laden “South of Heaven” and the mandatory “Seasons in the Abyss,” Slayer plucked some of the best jams from their extensive catalog.

The audience was a mixed bag: The kids that grew up with Slayer on tape were content to headbang from their seats with their own kids beside them. No matter where you walk, you hear the obligatory scream: “Slaaaayyeeeerrr!”

While a solid set list & I’m a lifelong Slayer fan this is not a can’t miss/must see affair – If you’ve seen Slayer before, even once, at any time in their career you’ve seen this show or better. Now if you’ve never seen Slayer, definitely check this out even though this is Slayer at their weakest. Nothing but respect for Gary Holt and Paul Bostaph but I subscribe to the notion that this is only half of what made this band so legendary.

A minimal stage set, and a few pyrotechnics are fine but what is most alarming about this tour is just how straight up BORING it is.
This would be not only a great opportunity & if they are sticking to their word the FINAL chance to do something really special here.
Put on a HUGE show, pull out some songs they’ve never played or haven’t in forever, invite original drummer Dave Lombardo to jam on a song or two in some select cities when schedules allow, anything to make this stand apart.

Sadly it doesn’t and feels as if they truly do not care – Even before this Final Tour thing, if you saw Slayer in the previous few years, even then it felt like a band going through the motions. That’s exactly what this felt like, a SIXTH leg of a final tour, you could almost feel singer/bassist Tom Araya marking off another date on his calendar until he gets to go finally go home.

Finishing off their hour-and-a-half set with “Angel of Death” among hundreds of fans pumping fists, headbanging, and screaming, it goes without saying that if Slayer do retire, there will never be a replacement, and there will never be anyone like them ever again.

Set list:

Repentless
Evil Has No Boundaries
World Painted Blood
Postmorten
Hate Worldwide
War Ensemble
Gemini
Disciple
Mandatory Suicide
Chemical Warfare
Payback
Temptation
Born of Fire
Seasons in the Abyss
Hell Awaits
South of Heaven
Raining Blood
Black Magic
Dead Skin Mask
Angel of Death

Slayer w/ Anthrax, Testament & more – June 19th 2018 – The Bomb Factory – Dallas, TX

Much has been made that Slayer announced that this tour, after almost 37 years as a band would be there last,however Slayer’s music seems destined to live forever. It was the antithesis of the religious majority that controlled the country in the 1980s, & when the band’s second full-length album, Hell Awaits, dropped in 1985, it was as if Satan had escaped hell to join the band. I was at the perfect age for this to be the ideal demographic for such brilliant & rebellious music with such undeniable intensity & it never left. I spent my 21st birthday in this very building with these guys & the first “legal” drink I ever consumed was offered to me by guitarist Kerry King, I couldn’t have planned it to be more Metal.

So that’s why this feels so personal & special & must attend as 4K + fans who feel like I do understood that not attending wasn’t an option.
But let’s get into the facts here: All nostalgia, aside they haven’t really been Slayer for the entireity of this decade – Founder/Guitarist & Principal songwriter Jeff Hanneman is dead & drummer Dave Lombardo who single handedly launched a blast-beat revolution in the 80’s & 90’s whose name alone is synonmous with power is gone. No disrespect to now & again replacement Paul Bostaph but their is literally NO ONE that prefers him over Lombardo.

So basically half of Slayer has tried to continue & with great help – Hanneman was replace by probably the only person on earth that could at least attempt to step into those shoes Exodus’ Gary Holt. They even released new music with 2015’s Repentless that was a glaring writing on the wall. As fans we like to think of Slayer as 4 individuals & in terms of aesthetic & magic that is correct & what makes them so special. However in reality, Hanneman WAS Slayer – all those songs you love, he wrote them – trying to write an LP without him proved to be something they were only going to attempt once & that is a wise decision.

So now this tour – For whatever reason this amazing show, loaded with acts that could fill the place on their own was at this much smaller room, I’m assuming that the promoter’s other rooms were previously booked. It certainly wasn’t because they were interested in doing smaller intimate venues, which while made this the most unique (& certainly the most intimate) of the tour thus far it also caused alot of limitations. The rest of the country apparently got this crazy pyro opening ( I refuse to consult YouTube as I wanna see it for myself) that had to be scrapped for this venue.

Here’s the thing that no one seems to be talking about in the reviews I’ve read or heard from attendees is that it’s remarkable how UNREMARKABLE this show is. At least Slayer’s contributions go – it’s the same tired old setlist they’ve been trotting out for almost a decade. Sure their is a few tracks here & there that popped up but none that had any can’t-miss reaction. One of my oldest friends that couldn’t make the show that has seen every Slayer tour that’s hit Dallas in the over 25 years was actually relieved when I showed him the setlist after the show. This is your last go around & you didn’t bother to learn any of your old songs that your loyal fans, perhaps the most loyal on Earth have been literally screaming for all this time? While they covered a bit of ground here, this wasn’t the inspired career retrospective one of kind, end of the world monolith that’s being suggested. Chances are you’ve already seen this show & I’m not talking about it’s current 2018 incarnation, but if you’be seen Slayer even once the past 10 years, this wasn’t much different.

Which leads me to my next point – Now it’s still Slayer & if this was your first time seeing it live, you left very entertained but this show seemed to be about so much more than that originally. Singer/Bassist Tom Araya seemed like he’s already retired, he showed up slimmer & clean shaven for the first time in years & it seemed all he was missing was an Hawaiian shirt, he was there in person, but it seemed like you could feel him going “one less show to do before I can go home”.

Setlist – 

Repentless
Blood Red
Disciple
Mandatory Suicide
Hate Worldwide
War Ensemble
Jihad
When the Stillness Comes
Postmortem
Black Magic
Payback
Seasons in the Abyss
Dittohead
Dead Skin Mask
Hell Awaits
South of Heaven
Raining Blood
Chemical Warfare
Angel of Death

Lamb Of God

Previous to Slayer’s final bow was a stacked up lineup as mentioned that could easily fill this room (In fact I saw less than half of this lineup Lamb of God & Anthrax sell it out themselves just two years ago & neither was on any farewell tour) So we will go in reverse order here: I had to in person so you must in text haha – If I had my way this band would have gone on first so I could have skipped it. Admittedly I’m just not a LOG person & now having seem them live 3 times now, I’m still not, I don’t get the appeal, their is literally nothing original here & their “singer” looks like a loitering homeless guy. I do understand however, that you have to be a specific age for this band to matter to you & I’m cool with that.

Anthrax

Again, I’ll do my best to remain partisan here but I was actually offended when Anthrax had to open for LOG last time & I’m offended once more. This is a fellow Big 4 member, how do you let another band come between that on a show like this (& make who easily would top The Next 4 go on first)?
However, my 22+ years in the music business doesn’t offer me the kind of naivete that doesn’t understand this – Facts are facts even if they are sad ones & Lamb of God are a much bigger band than Anthrax.
That didn’t stop the mighty ‘Thrax from blowing them offstage (again) & virtually stealing the night.

Great to see Charlie Benante back behind the drum kit where he belongs (he’s been taking a break from touring off & on for the past few years which leads to the will he or won’t he be there tonight). The difference is huge, an Anthrax show isn’t a rare thing (& that’s a wonderful thing) in 2018 & they are performing at the top of their game with their most recent For All Kings LP is one of their best.

They’be been through so many lineup & changes aesthetically that sometimes I forget that this is 4 of the same 5 guys I first saw waaaaay back in 1989 on the Headbanger’s Ball tour that literally changed my life. 

Setlist – 

Caught in a Mosh
Got the Time (Joe Jackson cover)
Madhouse
I Am the Law
Evil Twin
Antisocial (Trust cover)
In the End
Indians

Behemoth

I knew nothing of Behemoth before this show (though my friends claim that we’ve seen them before) & I will say that while initially they will probably never be my thing, I thought that were excellent & alot of fun & would totally make an effort to see them again. Glad they went on second, it’s just that it should have been AFTER Lamb of God. 

Testament 

Opening this insane (& at 5:30pm no less) is Bay Area thrash legends Testament who as previously mentioned would easily fill the Next 4 of thrash of such a thing existed who did not disapoint as usual. One of the best live heavy bands you will ever see still doing at the highest level & criminal they went on first & got a measley 25 mins to play to a mostly empty room still stuck in rush hour traffic.

You’ll get your chance again & soon and along with Anthrax as well as the two greats are touring together with Napalm Death as part of another great package this Summer.

Setlist – 

Brotherhood of the Snake
Rise Up
The Pale King
The Preacher
Into the Pit
The New Order
Disciples of the Watch

All in all the evening seemed to go by too fast even with all of this music & if this is truly Slayer’s last hurrah in Dallas it was a muted one but changes nothing of some of the best memories of life have been because of this band & provided the soundtrack to countless, priceless moments from my youth & to that I will always be grateful. Rest in Power my friends.

 

Photos – 

Roy Turner

Vice Turns 20 w/ Scarlett Johansen & More (Dec/2014)

Vice 20 Party – Dec 5th – 2014 – Duggal’s Greenhouse at the Brooklyn Navy Yard – Brooklyn, NY

Tired as hell and it’s still raining out, but I was getting it together and catching my second and third winds with the anticipation of something that could be quite legendary. Vice – the irreverant global conglomerate – the taste maker for hipster worldwide and the corporate band for purists alike is turning 20 years old and to celebrate they were reaching deep into their stylish pockets for a blow out of trust-fund proportions.

When I arrived I expected a shitshow to rival the one earlier at the Foo Fighters but since I was a bit late the lines weren’t too insufferable and then you had to take a shuttle bus to the actual spot, three blocks away.
I arrived to long lines of mobbed open bars as usual (thankfully I’m not a big drinker so I really could care less) and free food trucks that were pretty underwhelming but who am I to complain, they were free, and for a poor kid from Texas it’s nuts that I’m even here to have an opinion on it.

​

Music began at eleven but it was well after midnight when I arrived so I missed a few of the opening numbers but what they had lined up was a truly special, one-of-a-kind curation that combined hipster actors with forged on the spot supergroups and everything in between.
With a drink in my hand and a falafel in the order I made my way to the stage just as Nick Thorburn from the Rapture was hitting.

“House of Jealous Lovers, will always be the soundtrack to that magical summer when I first moved to NYC in 2006.
Next came something awesome, completely unexpected and my fave moment of the night when these too-cool-for-schoolers let some of my fave metallers onstage –
Dave Ellefson of Megadeth, Alex Skolnick of Testament, and Tony Foresta of Municipal Waste  for a medley of Metal classics.
For most of the night, Nick Zinner from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs & co. served as backing band to a variety of singers (though there were just DJs for some rappers, and a few bands played themselves).
And here comes Wu Tang’s Ghostface Killah and Raekwon doing classic “Daytona 500Ghostface Killah and Raekwon

Meredith Graves of Perfect Pussy introduced her cover of The Strokes’ infamous “New York Cops” by saying that black lives matter in reference to the recent senseless violence of innocents by police brutality and the protests in recent weeks that have divided the city.

Meredith Graves

It was mainly about covers, playing stuff everyone knows from unlikely sources – such as Jonah Hill (with director Spike Jonze on guitar) doing Drake’s “Marvin’s Room” and though not her first foray into the music world it was still other wordly just to see Scarlet Johansen in person, let alone see her sing Joy Division.

Jonah Hill

Scarlett Johansen

That buzz carried into an appearance – and actual performance – by Russia’s famed protest punks Pussy Riot, doing a fitting version of Le Tigre’s “Deceptacon” (and referencing those protesting across the country that night over recent grand jury verdicts).Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina. To cheers, Alyokhina, in her characteristic heavy Russian accent, soberly and firmly read from notes on her phone: “I might not have the right to talk about American problems, but I think that murder is murder everywhere.”
Pussy Riot member Sasha Klokova then sang Le Tigre’s 1999 electroclash hit, “Deceptacon.”

Another great moment came when Zinner’s band doing one of his own songs, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ breakthrough “Maps” with Karen O herself on vocals.

A crush of people moved forward for the next guest — Lil Wayne. So I made my way to the back

Lil Wayne

I can’t stand this dude and he’s second only in poseur rap to Kanye but maybe first in inspiring white rich kids to apporpriate something they” truly never understand.

A party like this one would seem to cost just about a zillion dollars, but asked about the total expense of the event, Hosi Simon, Vice’s global general manager] demurred. “It’s actually not a whole lot,” he said. For its 15th anniversary, Vice spent $250,000 to put on a Halloween party. Five years later, “It’s more than that,” he said. “But if you look at the lineup, it’s a multimillion dollar lineup.”
​

Party host Andrew WK closed it all out with a bang. A lot has changed over the past twenty years, but one thing’s remained a constant: Vice knows how to throw a fucking party!
VICE has grown up in the past two decades, from shock value drug stories to their own Emmy-winning HBO series  The 20th Anniversary Party admittedly wasn’t really about their current hard-hitting nature but more about their hard-partying history – and being an actually successful media business.The entire event was filmed, so you’ll be able to see it for yourself soon.

Photos – Roy Turner
Laura June Kircsh
Ryan Muir
P Squared
Greg Christman

Fall Fun w/ The Pretty Reckless, Anthrax & more (Oct/2011)

The Pretty Reckless/Evanescence – The Palladium – Oct 19th – Dallas, TX

Ok so if you have been reading my blog or any even the occasional entry, you know that I’m completely in love with Taylor Momsen and believe it or not her band the Pretty Reckless kicks total ass. To give you a brief recap earlier in Feb of this year I just happened to be working with a band at the House of Blues when someone told me that Taylor Momsen was upstairs and that she was about to perform in a band that I didn’t even know she had. My plan was to just peek in a for sec, drool over her another sec and then leave. I stayed not only because she looked so goddamn hot but her band really kicked ass. I hate that shit like when Keanu Reeves decides to be in a band and its sold out with gawking girls that could give a shit about the music and just state at him and swear the music was good. This was not one of those situations, this was the real deal and I was blown away. (you can read about that experience here)

Ok so fast forward 8 months later, now by this time, I now know all the songs and I’m ready to rawk. I had written a lengthy review of the record for a magazine (which you can read here) and was completely invested in the music and had been looking forward to the show for a while now.

A few things entered the picture that threatened to comprise the evening a little bit. First of all I was having transportation problems, and was gonna have to take the train out to Dallas for the show and leave before the headliner even came on if I wanted to be able to get home. Thankfully I don’t give two shits about Evanesence, but its pretty sad that I was willing to take a train out to Dallas just so I could see Taylor strut her stuff, what a creep.

Another thing was that on the way there, this girl whom I haven’t spoken to in awhile called me with a bunch of her depressing weird dysfunctional drama. I tried to shrug it off but she really got to me and I had her words in my ears for most of the night.
None of that shit mattered when Taylor and the band took the stage, not only had her stage presence/confidence tripled since Feb, somehow so had her hotness:

I mean can you even deal with this???? – No one in the history of rock and roll has been this perfect, this stupyfyingly hot, she is simply sex incarnate. Even crazier is this, ok we all have cute girls on TV we have celebrity crushes on, but did Mila Kunis or Katie Holmes go on to be the ultimate rock slut of your dreams? No, and her Taylor was all that and more and right here in front of us like a dream come true. I’ll take even further by putting this to you – What’s hotter a girl who dresses slutty, or a girl who is interested and inspired to be as sleazy and nasty and slutty and the law will allow and trying to push the envelop even further? and she’s only 18!!!

The set was plagued with sound problems, but her voice was still in top form and she sounded great. And look at the pics, its like she’s inspired to come up with exciting ways to be as slutty as possible to torture us.

Setlist:

Since You’re Gone
Zombie
Miss Nothing
Just Tonight
Goin’ Down
My Medicine
Like a Stone (Audioslave cover)
Make Me Wanna Die
Factory Girl

After the show and before Evanescence was coming on, I went outside to have a smoke, though I loathe this band, I still was gonna watch at least one song of theirs to give them a chance and to have more of an informed opinion. Regardless if they sucked or not, I still had that looming transportation problem of having to get back to the train station before I found myself stranded in Dallas.
While I was out there smoking I saw this girl that I had been seeing all night. I noticed her because she was wearing the smallest and shortest pair of short shorts I’ve ever seen, that was accentuated by that she wasn’t exactly a small girl. She looked a little ridiculous, but she still kinda owned it and looked pretty good.
Anyway, she was standing in a circle with a some other girls when one of them, a 40-ish looking gal of the white trash variety, approaches me with the proposition/charity case of me buying a beer for short-shorts girl who was now introduced to me as Sassy – you can’t make this stuff up.
I obliged regardless of the length of her shorts, and now the potential to hang out with Sassy and the gang all night was prevalent, but how would I get home?.
That’s when I pulled a coup de grace to see if their was any real interest, by telling Sassy that:

a) We can dance and drink all night
but…
b) I don’t have a ride home, so if you will give me a lift, I will provide the drinks

She passed it off on to the older gal and who gave it a thumbs down, so now I was still headed back to the train station, but now this time minus a five dollar bill and girl in super short-shorts named Sassy.
But I did stick around for one Evanescence song, and I one thing I will say is that I was little moved by how passionate the fans are. When the singer Amy Lee came out, the place went batshit and she actually seemed like a pretty decent performer.

..but alas even if I had a car there I’m not sure how much longer I would have stayed. Once you have seen Taylor, what else is there?

.

Anthrax/Testament/Death Angel –  Southside Music Hall – Oct 28th –  Dallas, TX

So coming off the biggest show of the band’s career last month at Yankee Stadium that I’m proud to say I was present for (that entry is here) – timed simultaneously with the release of Worship Music their first in 8 years, and the first with singer Joey Belladonna in 21 years, that is such a strong comeback that it stands amongst the best records they have ever done. No small feat for a band that’s essentially been in pieces for the last 15 years. To come back this strong and this hard and super legit is a true miracle that has been a pleasure to witness.
So after all the hoopla surrounding the Big Four they are now on their own tour to support the record, bringing along fellow Thrash Metal heavyweights Testament and Death Angel along with them.
However, I would be lying if I didn’t mention that tonight was Game 7 of the World Series,and after last night’s game (see above) I was praying for tonight that we become world champs for the first time. They were blasting the game on about 12 screens in every direction and what a setting it would be to celebrate than at an Anthrax show.
Sadly, when I arrived it was already the 3rd inning and we were losing 3-2 and their was a chill in the air that we would not recover.

Death Angel

If their was a Big 5,6.7, of Thrash Metal it would be arguably be Exodus, Testament, and Death Angel – all from the Bay Area. Death Angel is one of the original Thrash bands that I’ve never seen, who were opening the show along with Testament. They broke up in 1991 when their drummer was nearly killed in a bus accident. They reformed with the drummer but not with crucial member, guitarist Gus Pepa like 10 years later, ironically to perform at a benefit for Testament singer Chuck Billy and the magic was there enough to keep on trucking. . From then till the night of this show they lost several more key members, now down to just the original singer and rhythm guitar player.

I only knew one of the songs that was the only song they played from the only Death Angel album that I ever owned, their first one The Ultra-Violence.
I had once again met up with Ryan to pick up where we left off at the Judas Priest show to rock the fuck out. He, like the faithful student of Metal that he is has kept up with this lineup’s latest releases and knew the material. The set was too short, but I was glad I finally got to see some version of this band.

 Setlist:

I Chose The Sky
Evil Priest
Claws In So Deep
Relentless Revolution
Seemingly Endless Time
Thrown To The Wolves

Testament

Testament is band that I absolutely loved when I was 13-14, I loved that whole Bay Area thrash sound and I was super into Exodus that led me to these guys. However for some reason they don’t visit Texas very often and because of that I actually didn’t attend my first Testament concert until 2004, 17 years after I bought their first album with my allowance. And now I’m only seeing them again for the first time since.

They were really awesome, and I enjoyed this show and the setting of this performance ever more than I did that first time 8 years ago. This was also one of the last shows featuring drummer Paul Bostaph. Ryan and I were in full on rock-the-fuck-out mode, and having a great time, despite the Cardinals 2 run 5th inning creating an insurmountable lead.

Setlist:

The Preacher
The New Order
The Persecuted Won’t Forget
Envy Life
Over the Wall
Souls of Black
Into the Pit
Electric Crown
Henchmen Ride
More Than Meets the Eye
D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate)
3 Days in Darkness
Disciples of the Watch

Anthrax

I’m sure the band was keeping close watch on the game as well, not just as the known sports fans that they are, but because they know what a freaking a party this will turn into if we win, potentially making this the show of the tour. Sensing defeat, they started the show in the 9th inning as a distraction from the heartbreak and so people wouldn’t have time to dwell on the loss.

I put baseball aside for the moment and I had Anthrax in front of me kicking serious ass to take my mind off of it for the next two hours, and it was the perfect consolation prize. Three of our fave thrash bands in one night? Ryan and I were downright absurd with our rawking that some people in proximity were watching us instead of watching the band haha. This is the first Anthrax show that I have seen with Joey Belladonna since he returned to the band that wasn’t part of some festival where they had to play an abbreviated set, finally a full set with Joey!

Still not the longest set in the world, with only 14 songs including the encore that was mostly covers. One being specific to the long relationship that Anthrax has had with local legends Pantera, by combining their own N.F.L. with This Love.
I saw another Joey I hadn’t seen in many years, an old buddy of mine who was distracted by mine and Ryan’s unbelievable rock power, and recognized us, so we grabbed him and pulled him into our circle of unparalleled rockdom. This was a really fun show and despite the Rangers losing, a really fun night.

Setlist:

Earth on Hell
Fight ‘Em Till You Can’t
Caught in a Mosh
Madhouse
Antisocial
Got The Time
I’m Alive
The Devil You Know
Indians
In the End
Be All, End All

Encore:

Efilnikufesin/This Love (Pantera cover)
I Am The Law/Refuse/Resist (Sepultura cover)
Metal Thrashing Mad

Epilogue – Ok so above in the Judas Priest section where I’m discussing the baffling dysfunction of the editor of that magazine that is out of his mind and was pulling that bullshit on me and I had to set him straight? – Well tonight was what he thought was going to be his smirking revenge. I had been working with Anthrax all year and had just done a major blitz with the Yankee Stadium juggernaut last month. This asshole calls the Anthrax organization to say that I’m not coming so that when I get to Will Call, I’ll have egg on my face – Can you imagine a 50 year old man behaving this way?
And he succeeded at first, because when I got to Will Call, sure enough my stuff wasn’t there, so I called their rep (I had also missed a call from her earlier and now I knew why) and that’s when I got to hear the whole story. I didn’t want to involve her, but I told her that I was never not coming and she said that’s why she called me to verify. She was furious that he would try to pull some bullshit like this and he only succeeded in pissing off the wrong people.
I had Harvey, Charlie Benante’s drum roadie,  take this picture (below) of me and I sent it to that screwball editor that only simply said:
“Nice try motherfucker”

(Side Note – Dane Wolf who was working the tour who usually works with Forbidden wasn’t here because a few days prior to this show he literally got his skull fractured in Colorado (where else?) in an unsolicited attack – you can read about it here)

Hope you have enjoyed one of the longest, controversial and more serious-minded posts I have made yet. Stay tuned for the next entry where I finally document and conquer the Fun Fun Fun fest in Austin, TX –

Photos –

Roy Turner
Elizabeth Lavin
Jon Gitchoff
Mike Insuaste
Amanda Hernandez
Ian Whitlen
Harvey Melt