Review by Andrew Bansal, photos by Chad Alexander
February 26th 2016, Pearl Theater @ Palms, Las Vegas NV: On the strength of their highly praiseworthy new release ‘Dystopia’, metal giants Megadeth have seemingly put recent years of mediocrity and upheaval behind them and in the year 2016 have re-emerged with a new lineup and newfound vigor. A few weeks after the latest album hit stores worldwide, Megadeth, with Mustaine and Ellefson now joined by Lamb Of God’s Chris Adler on drums and former Angra axeman Kiko Loureiro on guitar, embarked on a North American headline tour in February 2016 with support acts Suicidal Tendencies (featuring Dave Lombardo on drums), Children Of Bodom and Havok to present material from ‘Dystopia’ along with their typical assortment from the back catalog. The Dystopia tour began in Dallas, Texas on February 20th and arrived in Las Vegas, Nevada six days later, to a packed Friday night gathering at the Pearl Theater inside the Palms Resort & Casino. Megadeth, by the honest admission of fans and critics alike, have been hit-and-miss in terms of live performances on the past few tours, but regardless, fans always buy tickets to their shows and hope for the best. On this occasion, Megadeth did not disappoint, and neither did the main support act.
The show started as early as 7 PM, and due to confusion surrounding the actual start time of the show with the Pearl Theater website listing it as 8 PM and Ticketmaster saying 7 PM, combined with a long delay in my press credentials getting cleared, I ended up missing both Havok and Children Of Bodom, unfortunately. As for Denver, Colorado thrashers Havok, this is easily the biggest tour they’ve been on in their career thus far, and provided that ticket holders around the continent make themselves aware of the early show start times, Havok will potentially play in front of large audiences on this run. Toiling hard for a number of years playing bars and clubs and then suffering a setback with frontman Dave Sanchez’ severe arm injury, Havok have gone through a lot to get to this point and are now rightfully enjoying the rewards. As mentioned, I didn’t get to catch any of it, but they reportedly played a 20-25 minute set comprising four tunes from the back catalog, and are working on material for a new album expected to release sometime this year. Havok is right up the alley for a vast majority of Megadeth fans, and attendees of this tour are highly recommended to turn up early and check them out.
Havok Set List:
01. Point of No Return
02. D.O.A.
03. From the Cradle to the Grave
04. Give Me Liberty … or Give Me Death
Finnish melodic death metal quintet Children Of Bodom were up next, whom I also missed entirely, which sadly prevented a full-circle moment of sorts, as it was on the 2008 edition of Gigantour when I saw this band for the first time. Not much has changed since then in the Bodom world, as the band continues to garner its fair share of fans and haters alike. While some people are huge admirers of frontman Alexi Laiho’s skills on guitar and the manner in which his band mates combine with him, there’s another demographic that cannot bring itself to appreciate this band. Besides, Bodom’s slot in this lineup between Havok and Suicidal Tendencies is odd, but that being said, this still isn’t a bad tour for them to be on, and there is bound to be a small portion of Megadeth fans discovering and getting turned on to Bodom at these shows. They played an 8-song set featuring two selections from their latest release ‘I Worship Chaos’, along with a hefty dosage of staples including ‘Are You Dead Yet?’, ‘In Your Face’, ‘Hate Me!’ and the signature set-closer ‘Downfall’. Love them or hate them, Children Of Bodom are veterans in their own right and are here to stay.
Children Of Bodom Set List:
01. Are You Dead Yet?
02. In Your Face
03. Morrigan
04. Silent Night, Bodom Night
05. Hate Me!
06. I Worship Chaos
07. Angels Don’t Kill
08. Downfall
I walked into the Pearl just as Children Of Bodom’s set ended, and in the intermission that followed, the venue steadily filled up as it was only 8 PM and attendees were still making their way in. Shortly after, Suicidal Tendencies hit the stage in top gear with ‘You Can’t Bring Me Down’, frontman Mike Muir quintessentially leading the charge in a manner all of his own, aided as always by excellent musicians on the guitars, bass and backing vocals, but this time also buoyed by the undeniable firepower of Dave Lombardo on drums. For a tour of this nature where the band is opening for Megadeth and playing in front of metal audiences as opposed to crossover/punk fans that they would otherwise cater to, teaming up with Lombardo is certainly proving to be a genius move on their part, as evident from the deafening cheers from the crowd every time Muir mentioned the legendary drummer’s name. But demographic aside, Lombardo pulled his weight and then some in his role on the Suicidal kit, dominating the speediest segments of the set with effortless ease and clearly showcasing the fast bits as his forte while still holding his own on the slower, groovier parts. S.T.’s 7-song set was fun-filled to the max and got the crowd going, not quite jump-in-the-pool-with-your-clothes-and-shoes-on a la Motörboat 2015 crazy, but some lively circle pits nonetheless. This is far and above one of the best live bands in existence today, and there was no doubt that nearly every single Megadeth fan in this audience throughly enjoyed the Suicidal Tendencies set.
Suicidal Tendencies photos:
Suicidal Tendencies Set List:
01. You Can’t Bring Me Down
02. Trip at the Brain
03. Institutionalized
04. I Saw Your Mommy
05. War Inside My Head
06. Subliminal
07. Pledge Your Allegiance
And lastly at around 9 PM, Megadeth took the stage amidst huge cheers from a highly eager and anticipative audience, and began their 17-song set with the Dystopia tune ‘The Threat Is Real’, followed by the timeless, ageless classic ‘Hangar 18’, and perhaps the only redeemable song off of the ‘Super Collider’ album, ‘Kingmaker’. This new Megadeth lineup hit this stage with a sense of purpose and sounded like a well-oiled machine right from the get-go. It’s quite a treat to experience Megadeth with Chris Adler on drums after all he has done to bring Lamb Of God to the stature they’ve achieved over the years, and it’s no different from getting to see your favorite athlete play for a different team. On stage left, new guitarist Kiko Loureiro may have looked like a Chris Broderick clone but most certainly lent his own style and flair into his renditions of these Megadeth tunes. Knowing him from other bands and projects, there is no doubt that this is beyond a dream come true for this guy, but with his performance, both on guitar and backing vocals, he showed that he belongs on a stage with the likes of Mustaine, Ellefson and Adler.
As the band delved into the back catalog, Mustaine took the time to address the crowd and share stories and lyrical themes behind some of the songs, something he hasn’t really done on past tours even though these songs have been constant fixtures in the set throughout. He seemed to be in high spirits and it showed in his guitar play and vocal delivery. ‘Wake Up Dead’, ‘In My Darkest Hour’ and ‘Sweating Bullets’ are always great live songs, and they remain in the set list for good reason. Regardless of the fact that a majority of the set does not change from tour to tour, there is always that one surprise item all fans anticipate, and on this occasion it was the Rust In Peace tune ‘Poison Was The Cure’, which interestingly enough, followed ‘Dawn Patrol’ in a delightfully bass-heavy segment of the show. Having played that album in its entirety on its 25th anniversary tour in 2010, the band wasn’t expected to go into the Rust In Peace deep cuts on this run, but they sure did, and the crowd loved it.
Mustaine kept talking about how him and Ellefson would escape from LA to Vegas back in the day and how cool Vegas is, and to that effect, Megadeth gave this Vegas crowd something exclusive, in the form of the live premiere of the Dystopia title track. But since the band wasn’t quite ready to play it live yet, they did an instrumental version of it, which honestly made it even more special as the guitar interplay between Mustaine and Loureiro and the rhythmic expertise of Ellefson and Adler was all the more apparent in this rendition. ‘Fatal Illusion’ was the third and final offering from Dystopia, and then it was back to the hits to close out the set, including an appearance by mascot Vic Rattlehead during ‘Peace Sells’, although his odd, slightly out-of-place antics were a little unnecessary as they came across more clownish than demonic. Besides, the only other negative aspect of the show was the excessive usage of flashy visuals on the screens in the backdrop, which distracted from the musicianship instead of enhancing it.
That aside, it was one of the better Megadeth shows of recent times and it refreshing to witness a nearly 2-hour long set from Megadeth for a change, after a series of much shorter 75-minute sets on the past few tours. I’m always one for quality over quantity, but Megadeth came up trumps in both aspects at this show and not only delivered a show worth the investment of time, money and effort, but more than anything, vindicated fans’ continued loyal support with a performance that justified their standing in the heavy metal universe. Metal Assault honestly and wholeheartedly recommends Megadeth fans to attend the Dystopia tour.
Megadeth photos:
Megadeth Set List:
01. The Threat Is Real
02. Hangar 18
03. Kingmaker
04. Wake Up Dead
05. In My Darkest Hour
06. Sweating Bullets
07. She-Wolf
08. Dawn Patrol
09. Poison Was the Cure
10. Skin o’ My Teeth
11. Dystopia (live premiere, instrumental)
12. Trust
13. Fatal Illusion
14. A Tout Le Monde
15. Symphony of Destruction
16. Peace Sells
Encore:
17. Holy Wars
Remaining Tour Dates:
03/03 – Honolulu, HI – The Republik (Megadeth only)
03/05 – Penticton, BC – South Okanagan Events Centre
03/06 – Calgary, AB – Grey Eagle Resort
03/08 – Dawson Creek, BC – Encana Events Centre
03/09 – Edmonton, AB – Rexall Place
03/10 – Moose Jaw, SK – Mosaic Place
03/13 – Chicago, IL – Aragon Ballroom
03/15 – Niagara Falls, NY – The Rapids Theatre
03/16 – New York, NY – Terminal 5
03/17 – New York, NY – Terminal 5
03/19 – Bethlehem, PA – Sands Bethlehem Event Center
03/20 – Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory
03/21 – Boston, MA – House Of Blues
03/23 – Bangor, ME – Cross Insurance Center
03/24 – Quebec, QC – Centre Videotron
(If you like what you’ve read, support Metal Assault and buy a shirt!)