Anthrax Give House Of Blues Sunset Strip Glorious Metal Farewell

Review & photos by Andrew Bansal

image

July 29th 2015, House Of Blues Sunset Strip, West Hollywood CA: After 21 years of hosting numerous shows and standing tall as the premier venue for hard rock and heavy metal, the House Of Blues Sunset Strip is in its final week of shows before it closes its doors at its current loction on August 7 2015. Last night, on July 29, the final metal show here was held, and was headlined by thrash veterans Anthrax, the band not only presenting a multitude of material old, new and rare, but also giving fans an opportunity to keep a souvenir in the form of a special shirt commemorating this event. Tickets were completely sold out four days in advance, and the atmosphere was all set for, in the words of Scott Ian and Joey Belladonna, ‘one last war dance’.

Ticket holders lined up starting as early as 5 PM, some having sold part of their record collection to Amoeba Music to be able to purchase the $40 ticket to enjoy this show. Scalpers were out at large, trying to score cheap tickets and turn around to sell them at exorbitant rates. Prices went as high as $150 for this show. By the time I arrived, Anthrax were soundchecking, and it sounded so perfectly amazing that somebody not having access to see the soundcheck and standing outside would have had to listen closely and double-check to make sure it was the actual band playing live, not a recording on the PA. One knew for certain that if Anthrax brought their A game tonight, it would be a venue farewell to remember for life.

image

Doors opened at 7:30, and within a few minutes, the House Of Blues was packed inside. In keeping with the farewell vibe, a scrim decorated with the HOB logo was mounted on one side of the hall, and some attendees were seen taking pictures in front of it. At 9 o’ clock, the lights went out, the advertising projection screen scrolled up and out of the way, and Black Sabbath’s ‘Mob Rules’ was played on the PA as the stage remained behind curtains. The crowd’s excitement was mounting rapidly, and Anthrax took it to the roof when they hit the stage and began a two-hour set with three songs from the 1985 ‘Spreading The Disease’ album, firstly with singalong favorite ‘A.I.R.’, and then the rarely played ‘Lone Justice’, which the band hadn’t performed live since 2005. Next up was ‘Madhouse’, which turned this place into exactly that, and ‘Caught In A Mosh’ sent the crowd into delirium.

Later on, Scott Ian spoke to the crowd and spoke about the thirtieth anniversary of the album which happens to be this year, before he introduced the song ‘Medusa’. It was very fitting of Anthrax to acknowledge the landmark by filling the initial portion of the set with songs from the record, but it was a welcome and refreshing change in approach from most other bands that do anniversary shows or tours and play albums in their entirety. Most albums are not meant to be played in entirety in the order of the track listing, and that trend is already tiresome.

Anthrax is one band that should pride themselves for having under their belts a modern-era album that’s far superior to material released in recent years by most of their contemporaries, i.e. ‘Worship Music’. Between ‘Mosh’ and ‘Medusa’, they played two songs off of it, including a tune that’s nothing short of a modern classic, ‘In The End’. This was preceded by the instrumental ‘March Of The S.O.D.’ and this item of the set was a tribute to Dio and Dime, as evident from the stage backdrop. Singer Joey Belladonna really does channel the Dio inside him every time he sings ‘In The End’, and it’s hard to imagine a better frontman when it comes to paying tribute to Dio.

image

Sandwiched between the ‘Worship’ songs, Anthrax presented a brand new tune called ‘Soror Irrumator’, and it sounded like the perfect blend of the band’s old-school thrash-punk and modern-day melody. If this is any indication, the next album will supersede ‘Worship Music’.

Belladonna and Ian spoke to the crowd on a few occasions and their attitude towards the fans was humorous as always, but the show had a quick pace to it, moving from song to song and truly giving the ticket buyers more than their money’s worth. As expected, classic fan-favorites like ‘Got The Time’, ‘A Skeleton In The Closet’, ‘Be All, End All’, ‘N.F.L.’ and ‘Antisocial’ were a part of this set, but they also threw a curveball, playing ‘Across The River’, the instrumental from ‘Fistful Of Metal’, for the first time since 1989. Their performance of this tune proved exactly what Scott Ian mentioned on stage a little earlier, about Anthrax in the early days being ‘Iron Maiden but faster and sloppier’.

The actual war dance came later, as the band played what could be fairly described as the liveliest version of ‘Indians’ ever performed in Los Angeles, as the mosh pit hit new levels of insanity. This ended the main set but Anthrax came out for a lengthy encore, including a cover of ‘Neon Knights’ followed by Public Enemy’s ‘Bring The Noize’, for which they brought Chuck D himself on stage to do the vocals, much to the roaring delight of every single attendee here for the show.

‘Antisocial’ turned out to be the final song a metal band would ever play at the House Of Blues Sunset Strip. Anthrax took a bow and graciously departed the stage. They were at the absolute peak of their powers in this performance, which is even more commendable considering they haven’t been touring much of late. They were certainly primed for this gig, and justified being chosen as metal representatives for this occasion.

Every time Anthrax play a show in LA, they solidify themselves more and more, not only as one of the most relevant older bands still in existence, but also as one of the strongest live bands going around, certainly the best of the so-called ‘Big Four’ of thrash. The House Of Blues will soon be no more, but one hopes for Anthrax to keep going for several more years to come. A memorable performance for a historic event.

image

Set List:
01. A.I.R.
02. Lone Justice
03. Madhouse
04. Caught In A Mosh
05. March Of The S.O.D. / Hymn 1 / In the End
06. Soror Irrumator
07. Fight ‘Em ‘Til You Can’t
08. Medusa
09. Got The Time
10. A Skeleton in the Closet
11. Across the River
12. Be All, End All
13. Indians
Encore:
14. Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.)
15. Neon Knights (Black Sabbath cover)
16. I’m The Man
17. Bring the Noise (Public Enemy cover, with Chuck D)
18. Antisocial

Comments

comments