By Andrew Bansal
Oct. 28th 2011, South Side Music Hall, Dallas TX: Anthrax recently embarked on a much-awaited headline run across North America, with Testament and Death Angel rounding out what truly is one of the strongest touring packages to have graced our part of the world in recent years. Due to scheduling conflicts, I had to miss the LA and San Diego dates of this tour. Having not traveled outside of California in almost two years, I’ve had a burning desire to do so. I figured this would be a good time to do it, and in hindsight, I couldn’t have picked a better show for my first ever visit to Dallas, Texas.
Even though the show didn’t start until 7.50 PM, I was there several hours before that, to do my interviews. Parking was free. The interviews went perfectly well (links above), and all three bands were completely professional about everything. A lot of bands that aren’t even as big as any of these three can learn a lot about how to follow interview protocol. By the time my last interview with Joey Belladonna from Anthrax was done, the doors were already open, so we headed in. There was no bullshit from the security, unlike LA security who always seem to be on a power trip. I was already liking the South Side Music Hall much more than any of the LA venues.
The layout of the venue was perfect. There was a single, hugely spacious GA floor with no separate sections, and there were bars either side of the floor. The merch stand was at the back of the GA floor. Credit cards were being accepted, making it really easy for people who were interested in buying any of the merch items. All three bands had some kickass shirts on display, and if I hadn’t already spent my money towards making this trip to Dallas, I would have gladly purchased one shirt of each band, specially the epic-looking grey Testament shirt.
Death Angel promptly hit the stage at 7.50. They started with “I Chose The Sky” and ended with “Thrown To The Wolves”, and played for what seemed like the shortest 30 minutes of my life. Time does fly when you’re having fun, and Death Angel’s set was solid proof of this very fact. Their song selection was just about perfect for the time that was alloted to them. They played three songs from the latest album “Relentless Retribution”, and so they should, because it’s one of the most killer thrash albums to have come out in recent times. I honestly can’t think of one bad thing to say about it, and I’m glad the band is still proudly promoting it on tour, more than a year after its release. Besides the new tracks and the set-closing Thrown To The Wolves, they played the ever-amazing “Evil Priest” and “Seemingly Endless Time”. They did complete justice to their inclusion on this stellar line-up of bands, and I am extremely happy to see them play to the Anthrax and Testament crowds and gain new fans in the process, because they thoroughly deserve it.
Although they are the opening band on this bill, I don’t think anyone can deny that they truly are “headline material”. To me, they are the most underrated thrash metal band in the world. Their performance of the songs is flawless and full of energy, a combination very few thrash bands are able to achieve with any degree of success. If only they were allowed to play a 60-minute set, that would have been even better. If I was the organizer for this tour, I would have given 60-minute sets to Death Angel and Testament, 90 minutes to Anthrax, and started the shows earlier or ended them later, whatever the requirement might have been. Nonetheless, Death Angel did themselves and their fans proud with their set in Dallas.
The mighty Testament were up next, as they kicked off their brutal set right on schedule at 8.40 with “The Preacher”, and their set only got better from that point on, gaining in strength with every subsequent song. The first thing I noticed when I saw the band make their appearance on stage, was the presence of Gene Hoglan behind the drum kit. Of course, I knew that he has recorded drums for Testament’s upcoming album “Dark Roots Of Earth”, but I wasn’t aware that he was going to be part of this tour as well. And considering that I saw John Tempesta walking around in the backstage area, it was a pleasant surprise to see Hoglan on stage (and I have absolutely nothing against Tempesta). In fact, as announced by Chuck Billy, this was Hoglan’s first night on this tour, and I feel lucky to be in attendance for it, because he definitely added an extra dimension to the group’s already efficient live musicianship. All of them were in absolute top gear during this set. Alex Skolnick & Eric Peterson proved themselves all over again, not only as brilliant guitarists but also as great showmen through their interaction with the crowd. I was happy to see “Souls Of Black” being part of the set list again, as I love the song and it also allowed bassist Greg Christian to take center stage for a brief while. As for Chuck Billy himself, he was sounding better than on any of the previous Testament shows I’ve seen.
It was a very solid 13-song set, a lot better than all the 30-minute and 40-minute sets we’ve had to see them play when they opened for Slayer and Megadeth last year. It was a good thing they didn’t play anything from the upcoming album, because as Chuck said in my interview, they don’t want people to judge new material based on low-quality cellphone recordings posted on YouTube, and I completely agree. Although each and every song was highly enjoyable, I simply lost my mind during D.N.R. The way Chuck delivered the chorus, it just compelled the crowd to go nuts. The old-school circle pit during “Into The Pit” was a great moment as well. All in all, a terrific performance from a fantastic live band.
The wait for headliners Anthrax wasn’t very long, and at 10.15, the “Worship” intro started playing on the PA, making it clear right from the outset that the band was here to promote the new album. Just before the intro was done, the band members appeared on stage, accompanied by a loud roar from this great Dallas crowd. Quite appropriately, “Worship” was followed by “Earth On Hell”, and those heads in the crowd started banging at full tilt already. As I’ve said about this album before, it recaptures some of the late 80s and 90s Anthrax spirit, but with a modern touch. This modern aspect was the most interesting part of this set, and I loved the slow, extremely heavy, breakdown-like segments of the new songs. Next up was “Fight ‘Em Till You Can’t”, a song I had already seen the band perform on previous tours, but it sounded just perfect tonight. Not only for this song, but during the entire set, the band sounded very tight and cohesive, delivering each song flawlessly, while still keeping up the wild energy they’ve always been known to display. It definitely seemed like they were enjoying themselves as the headline act way more than all of those opening slots they filled on recent tours.
After that initial Worship Music portion, it was time for old-school Anthrax, in the form of “Caught In A Mosh”, “Madhouse” and “Antisocial”, along with a song they haven’t been playing on every show of this tour, “Got The Time”. The place went completely insane, and everyone from the front to the back of the floor was head-banging and singing along with the words. Frontman Joey Belladonna not only sounded great, but also came across as cool as always, and had the crowd totally under his command. Next was another dose of Worship Music, with “I’m Alive” and “The Devil You Know”, following which Joey asked the one question all of us were waiting for him to ask, myself included: “Where are my Indians at?”
Indians was as epic as ever, but what followed was the most powerful moment of the whole show. The band started playing “In The End”, the last of the Worship Music songs for the night, and as the sound of ringing bells echoed around the hall, each and every person had their devil horns raised high. I was standing quite a few rows back from the stage, and absorbing the sight and sound of that moment from that position was purely magical. I felt the kind of goosebumps I’ve seldom felt in life. The set so far was 10 songs deep, and it had already reached such epic levels that if I was told to go home at this point, I wouldn’t have complained even one bit. But there was more to come, another surprise in the set in the form of “Be All, End All” from the State Of Euphoria album, a song they hadn’t played on this tour yet. Whenever bands play rarities like this, they often mess up the actual performance of the song (Metallica playing Dyer’s Eve is a classic example), but it wasn’t the case with Anthrax, and it was great to see them deliver it accurately. With this they ended the main set, but we all knew that an encore beckoned.
Yet another surprise came our way, as they kicked off the encore by playing the intro portion of the Pantera song “This Love”. Apparently, Vinnie Paul was in attendance, and that was the reason for this little tribute. From this, they went straight into N.F.L., its chorus garnering the strongest crowd sing-along of the night. Another tribute followed, this time to Sepultura guitarist Andreas Kisser who had replaced Scott Ian earlier this year for a few Anthrax dates when Scott was unavailable. “Refuse/Resist”, with Joey doubling up with Charlie Benante on drums to create the tribal Sepultura percussion sound, led to “I Am The Law”. Fans seemed to be having the time of their lives among all of this insanity.
They ended the show in customary style with “Metal Thrashing Mad”, and as is often the case during this song, a fan managed to get on the stage. There is just something about this song that triggers the listener’s mind into attempting to stage dive. But unlike the LA show, this time there was no unnecessary interruption, and the fan was quickly and quietly removed from the stage. The song brought an end to a hugely powerful, passionate and entertaining 90 minutes of Anthrax.
The crowd was great, I must say. The pretentiousness of LA crowds was totally absent here, and everyone was just having a good time. Killer sets by all three bands, the venue, and the crowd made it an unforgettable night for me, and one that makes me want to visit this town again, hopefully very soon.
Rating: 10/10
Related: Anthrax Interview | Testament Interview | Death Angel Interview | Pictures | Anthrax Setlist | Testament Setlist | Death Angel Setlist | LA Gig Review
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