Saw the concert last night. First off, it was a little bit of a letdown, because Phil was sick so Down didn't play, and I wanted to see them the most of the 3 bands. (Couldn't Pepper have filled in on vocals 
). The consolation is that Down promised to return later this year for a make-up date, and since they were the opening band and only scheduled to play 6 songs, when they return at least I'll get to see their full set (and maybe it will be after their new album comes out).
Next up was Megadeth, playing a 9-song set, including 2 new tracks. I'd heard Sleepwalker before, but this was the first time I'd heard Washington is Next, and I was quite impressed. As always, Dave can shred like a madman, putting on a clinical performance. That said, he could learn a few things from other frontman (say Dio or Phil on this tour) and try and do a bit more to engage the crowd. No banter, just going straight from song to song, and while the music was great, their stage presence was limited. That said, 9 songs is too short, especially since the opening act cancelled, you'd think they could have added a couple extra songs to compensate.
Finally, Sabbath took the stage, and Dio knows a thing or two about engaging the crowd. He might be a shrivelling elf, but he's still got some pipes (and he's a hell of a lot more fun to watch than Sabbath's other decrepit old frontman who should have retired 15 years ago when he first said he was going to retire). Admittedly, I'm not as familiar with the Dio-era Sabbath catalog as the Ozzy-era, but despite that, I was quite pumped through the first half of the set, up to Vinnie's drum solo. However, given that these guys only had 3 albums of material to work with, they played pretty much all of it...great if you're a full-blooded fan of the era, but for more casual fans, they could have trimmed the setlist, as the second half started to slow down a bit too much. Again, why not trim a few songs off their bloated setlist and give Megadeth a few more tunes? They played all 3 new tracks that will be included on their upcoming greatest hits package, and they blended in well with the older material so well that they could have been written at the same time as Heaven and Hell or Mob Rules.
At the end of the day it was a good show...it might have been a great show if my lingering disappointment from Down's last-minute cancellation hadn't started the evening off with such a damper, but I'm glad I got to see Sabbath play with this line-up.
). The consolation is that Down promised to return later this year for a make-up date, and since they were the opening band and only scheduled to play 6 songs, when they return at least I'll get to see their full set (and maybe it will be after their new album comes out).Next up was Megadeth, playing a 9-song set, including 2 new tracks. I'd heard Sleepwalker before, but this was the first time I'd heard Washington is Next, and I was quite impressed. As always, Dave can shred like a madman, putting on a clinical performance. That said, he could learn a few things from other frontman (say Dio or Phil on this tour) and try and do a bit more to engage the crowd. No banter, just going straight from song to song, and while the music was great, their stage presence was limited. That said, 9 songs is too short, especially since the opening act cancelled, you'd think they could have added a couple extra songs to compensate.
Finally, Sabbath took the stage, and Dio knows a thing or two about engaging the crowd. He might be a shrivelling elf, but he's still got some pipes (and he's a hell of a lot more fun to watch than Sabbath's other decrepit old frontman who should have retired 15 years ago when he first said he was going to retire). Admittedly, I'm not as familiar with the Dio-era Sabbath catalog as the Ozzy-era, but despite that, I was quite pumped through the first half of the set, up to Vinnie's drum solo. However, given that these guys only had 3 albums of material to work with, they played pretty much all of it...great if you're a full-blooded fan of the era, but for more casual fans, they could have trimmed the setlist, as the second half started to slow down a bit too much. Again, why not trim a few songs off their bloated setlist and give Megadeth a few more tunes? They played all 3 new tracks that will be included on their upcoming greatest hits package, and they blended in well with the older material so well that they could have been written at the same time as Heaven and Hell or Mob Rules.
At the end of the day it was a good show...it might have been a great show if my lingering disappointment from Down's last-minute cancellation hadn't started the evening off with such a damper, but I'm glad I got to see Sabbath play with this line-up.
