Monday night saw the tour stop in Madison, Wisconsin where they played at a tiny little venue called The Annex. I wasn't all that interested in seeing E Town Concrete as I had seen the video for their song Mandibles on Headbangers Ball and was completely unimpressed. I got there partway through their set and was pleasantly surprised. Mandibles was the only song they played while I was there that was that rap rock style. The singer seemed to have a pretty good sense of humor. At one point, he thanked everyone for coming early enough to see them on a Monday night, saying there were only seven people there when they started but the crowd had grown to 36 at that point. That has to be pretty rough, playing in front of that small a crowd. As someone else mentioned, their guitar player was really good. As it turns out, I should have left a little earlier so I could have caught their entire set.
Next up was Lamb of God. I was definitely looking forward to seeing these guys as I have read a number of reviews saying these guys are incredible live. Turns out, they were right.
I was standing right in front of the guitar player stage right, close enough I could watch his fingers as he played. The crowd wasn't really into their set at first, but after a few minutes the floor had become a pretty good pit and heads were bangin'. They closed with the two songs they have videos for, 11th Hour and Black Label. Both of which were introduced as songs about their favorite thing to do- drink beer. The crowd went wild (as wild as could be with such a small crowd) for these songs. Unfortunately, that was it for Lamb of God. I would have liked to have heard more, but that meant that Anthrax would be on soon, so it wasn't all bad. In the car after the show, the local metal radio show had the singer in the studio. He said they are trying to put together a Killswitch Engage/Lamb of God/Shadow's Fall tour for later in the year.
A brief word about The Annex- the concert venue is attached to a bar. When they have concerts, they open up the door from the bar to the venue. Because of this, beer is sold in glasses and glass bottles and is not allowed into the venue. This means that as soon as the lights went up on Lamb of God, everyone headed straight to the bar in the other half of the building. I saw the singer for Lamb of God in there so I congratulated him on the show.
After our beer, we headed back to the stage area. My buddy and I ended up talking to a couple people standing near us as we waited. My friend, Jordan, said he has been a fan for more than 16 years, at which point one of the guys we were talking to said he was only 20 years old. Jordan talked about waiting for Among the Living to be released so he could pick it up the day it came out. On vinyl. We explained that records were kind of like really big CDs to the young guy. We were talking about how it is great that some of our favorite bands were still going strong after such a long time and how they blow away these nu bands. We were talking about bands like Iron Maiden (who we saw the night before in Chicago) may have two or three guitar solos in a song. Jordan then asked the 20 year old if he knew what a guitar solo is, having grown up in an era where the solo is "uncool." He said he knew, his band plays them all the time. And he was at an Anthrax show, so there is some hope for the younger generation.
Soon the lights went out and the Blues Brother's Theme started. I was able to wedge my way up to the front during this. Remember I mentioned the Annex was tiny? Well, at this point I discovered that equipment cases had been put in front of the stage to put the speakers along the front edge of the stage (Monitors maybe? Not sure what they are called.) They would have a case, then a space for security, then another case and so on the length of the stage. I was located at the front just to the right of center. (Since I was at the front, I could not see what the crowd looked like. I was getting pushed from behind pretty good though so I would imagine it was packed. How many does the place hold? A hundred? 150? I know someone else was there from the board- any estimates?) Several times, John stood on the case directly in front of me; in fact, I was normally leaning forward a bit when they were playing, but had to stand up straight for him to stand there. A couple of times Frank came over and stood in front of us. We were so close to the band, you had to watch out or you would get hit with the head of his bass.
Setlist:
Blues Brother's Theme
Contact
What Doesn't Die
Black Dahlia
Got the Time
Caught in a Mosh
Safe Home
Crush (yes, you read that right.)
Antisocial
Black Lodge
Madhouse
Refuse to be Denied
NFL
Only
Be All, End All
Metal Thrashing Mad
Number of the Beast
Indians
A couple of interesting notes:
At one point John was getting ready to introduce a song and he looked over at Frank, who had removed his bass and was taking a drink of water. John asked if this was going to be a bassless song. Frank smiled, and then spit water at him. Pretty good velocity too, as I got hit with the splash.
John introduced NFL and a guy a few feet from me held out his copy if Among the Living. John took it and looked at it and said, "I know the words, I'm not going to forget them" before handing the CD back. Then he said, "You jinxed me. Now I'm gonna forget them and it will be your fault."
During the encore, John asked which song we wanted to hear. He asked, "Do you want to hear this?" and had Charlie play for a few seconds and then asked, "or do you want to hear this?" and everyone looked at Scott who stood there and said "What?" He then played a few notes and John asked him what the hell that was. Scott replied with an "I don't know." John then asked, "Or how about this?" at which point Rob tore into the first notes of Number of the Beast. Crowd predictably went crazy. Anthrax played part of the song and then stopped. John said they had been doing that song in Europe and a few shows in the US, and they always stop at the same spot because they don't know the rest of the song. They then played Indians and the show was done.
I was able to get a setlist when they tore down the stage, and a bottle of cold water from the security guard I had been next to during the show. I then went outside to wait by the bus. I was eventually able to get four signatures on the setlist this way, I had to go back inside to the bar to get Rob's. The setlist actually listed Fueled, Inside Out and Bring the Noise/I'm the Man but none of these got played. Instead they played Crush and Number of the Beast, which were not on the setlist.
I was able to talk to the guys while they were signing. All of them seemed pretty cool. I asked Charlie if he had been able to find that Frodo figure he had been looking for and he said he had, but thanks for asking about it. Somebody asked John if they knew who they might be touring with when they tour again and he said he didn't know. They might open for someone, but they will probably do another headlining tour. He did say that there is a possibility they could tour with Metallica. He said that they have been patching things up between the bands and there have been some things that have changed that might allow for that. Unfortunately, he said it would be in Europe if it happens. Damn Europeans!
And despite talking to everyone, did I remember to ask about Lone Justice? No. All in all, a great show. I had a blast, got to meet the band, and get autographs. Of course, I forgot my camera at home. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.
Scott
Next up was Lamb of God. I was definitely looking forward to seeing these guys as I have read a number of reviews saying these guys are incredible live. Turns out, they were right.
I was standing right in front of the guitar player stage right, close enough I could watch his fingers as he played. The crowd wasn't really into their set at first, but after a few minutes the floor had become a pretty good pit and heads were bangin'. They closed with the two songs they have videos for, 11th Hour and Black Label. Both of which were introduced as songs about their favorite thing to do- drink beer. The crowd went wild (as wild as could be with such a small crowd) for these songs. Unfortunately, that was it for Lamb of God. I would have liked to have heard more, but that meant that Anthrax would be on soon, so it wasn't all bad. In the car after the show, the local metal radio show had the singer in the studio. He said they are trying to put together a Killswitch Engage/Lamb of God/Shadow's Fall tour for later in the year.A brief word about The Annex- the concert venue is attached to a bar. When they have concerts, they open up the door from the bar to the venue. Because of this, beer is sold in glasses and glass bottles and is not allowed into the venue. This means that as soon as the lights went up on Lamb of God, everyone headed straight to the bar in the other half of the building. I saw the singer for Lamb of God in there so I congratulated him on the show.
After our beer, we headed back to the stage area. My buddy and I ended up talking to a couple people standing near us as we waited. My friend, Jordan, said he has been a fan for more than 16 years, at which point one of the guys we were talking to said he was only 20 years old. Jordan talked about waiting for Among the Living to be released so he could pick it up the day it came out. On vinyl. We explained that records were kind of like really big CDs to the young guy. We were talking about how it is great that some of our favorite bands were still going strong after such a long time and how they blow away these nu bands. We were talking about bands like Iron Maiden (who we saw the night before in Chicago) may have two or three guitar solos in a song. Jordan then asked the 20 year old if he knew what a guitar solo is, having grown up in an era where the solo is "uncool." He said he knew, his band plays them all the time. And he was at an Anthrax show, so there is some hope for the younger generation.
Soon the lights went out and the Blues Brother's Theme started. I was able to wedge my way up to the front during this. Remember I mentioned the Annex was tiny? Well, at this point I discovered that equipment cases had been put in front of the stage to put the speakers along the front edge of the stage (Monitors maybe? Not sure what they are called.) They would have a case, then a space for security, then another case and so on the length of the stage. I was located at the front just to the right of center. (Since I was at the front, I could not see what the crowd looked like. I was getting pushed from behind pretty good though so I would imagine it was packed. How many does the place hold? A hundred? 150? I know someone else was there from the board- any estimates?) Several times, John stood on the case directly in front of me; in fact, I was normally leaning forward a bit when they were playing, but had to stand up straight for him to stand there. A couple of times Frank came over and stood in front of us. We were so close to the band, you had to watch out or you would get hit with the head of his bass.
Setlist:
Blues Brother's Theme
Contact
What Doesn't Die
Black Dahlia
Got the Time
Caught in a Mosh
Safe Home
Crush (yes, you read that right.)
Antisocial
Black Lodge
Madhouse
Refuse to be Denied
NFL
Only
Be All, End All
Metal Thrashing Mad
Number of the Beast
Indians
A couple of interesting notes:
At one point John was getting ready to introduce a song and he looked over at Frank, who had removed his bass and was taking a drink of water. John asked if this was going to be a bassless song. Frank smiled, and then spit water at him. Pretty good velocity too, as I got hit with the splash.
John introduced NFL and a guy a few feet from me held out his copy if Among the Living. John took it and looked at it and said, "I know the words, I'm not going to forget them" before handing the CD back. Then he said, "You jinxed me. Now I'm gonna forget them and it will be your fault."
During the encore, John asked which song we wanted to hear. He asked, "Do you want to hear this?" and had Charlie play for a few seconds and then asked, "or do you want to hear this?" and everyone looked at Scott who stood there and said "What?" He then played a few notes and John asked him what the hell that was. Scott replied with an "I don't know." John then asked, "Or how about this?" at which point Rob tore into the first notes of Number of the Beast. Crowd predictably went crazy. Anthrax played part of the song and then stopped. John said they had been doing that song in Europe and a few shows in the US, and they always stop at the same spot because they don't know the rest of the song. They then played Indians and the show was done.
I was able to get a setlist when they tore down the stage, and a bottle of cold water from the security guard I had been next to during the show. I then went outside to wait by the bus. I was eventually able to get four signatures on the setlist this way, I had to go back inside to the bar to get Rob's. The setlist actually listed Fueled, Inside Out and Bring the Noise/I'm the Man but none of these got played. Instead they played Crush and Number of the Beast, which were not on the setlist.
I was able to talk to the guys while they were signing. All of them seemed pretty cool. I asked Charlie if he had been able to find that Frodo figure he had been looking for and he said he had, but thanks for asking about it. Somebody asked John if they knew who they might be touring with when they tour again and he said he didn't know. They might open for someone, but they will probably do another headlining tour. He did say that there is a possibility they could tour with Metallica. He said that they have been patching things up between the bands and there have been some things that have changed that might allow for that. Unfortunately, he said it would be in Europe if it happens. Damn Europeans!
And despite talking to everyone, did I remember to ask about Lone Justice? No. All in all, a great show. I had a blast, got to meet the band, and get autographs. Of course, I forgot my camera at home. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.
Scott
