Wednesday night, November 4, I had the pleasure of seeing Megadeth/Earshot/Exodus in
Milwaukee. Exodus was the first band to hit the stage. I have been a fan
for a long time, and this was my first time seeing the Bay Area thrash
legends, so I was quite excited. The band sounded great, and was full of
energy. Rick Hunolt and Gary Holt both tore through some insane guitar
solos. They were loud, fast, and aggressive. Unfortunately, they were
finished too quickly. Their setlist:
Scar Spangled Banner
Blacklist
Piranha
Brain Dead
War is My Shepherd
Toxic Waltz
I had seen setlists from shows earlier in the tour, and they played Exodus
and Bonded by Blood. I was not happy that we didn't get to hear them play these classics. But for the short time
they were on stage, they kicked ass. Steev Esquivel, singer for Defiance
and Skinlab, is touring with the band. Vocalist Steve Souza left the band
on the eve of their South American tour. Esquivel is doing a really good
job. He has a lot of energy and you can tell he is having the time of his
life.
One word review of Cumshot: blozfukkingotz.
Actually, Earshot was not all that bad. They were definitely out of place
on this tour, however. They lost all the energy that Exodus built in the
crowd. We pretty much stood there in silence except for the drummer's solo
(they did a cover of Zep's Moby Dick/Bonzo's Montreux.) I thought he was
really good. I recognized two of the songs they played from the radio, and
some of the crowd cheered for those. Other than that, several chants of
"Megadeth! Megadeth!" rose up between songs. The band didn't exactly help
themselves, either. At one point the singer said, "In a few minutes
Megadeth will be out here. But for now, you are stuck with us." He also
said, "Most of you have been awesome, but some of you have been dicks." We
couldn't figure out how he thought most of us had been awesome, as every
time I looked around, I saw the crowd, including up on the balcony, standing
still. We treated them pretty rough, but at least the crowd didn't throw
anything at them. I can't say the same for the band, however. The drummer
threw a stick into the audience. Not the end-of-show,
toss-a-stick-into-the-crowd-as-a-souvenir type of thing. He looked like he
was trying to throw out the runner on a slow roller to shortstop. He pegged
that sucker into the crowd. Also, the guitar player flipped us off as he
was walking off stage. The PA played some Iron Maiden between Earshot and
'deth. The crowd was louder singing along than we were for Earshot.
I have since heard that Earshot did not show up for the show in St. Louis
the next night and have dropped off the tour. Hopefully, they can get a
tour going that will be a better fit for them. I wish them luck in the
future. I felt kind of bad for the band, as they did not fit in at all on
this tour. If they had been on first, they may have fared better, but they
were put in a really rough spot from the start.
Megadeth. In case you are not aware, the current line-up is as follows:
Dave. Jimmy McDonough (Iced Earth) bass. Glen Drover (King
Diamond/Eidolon) guitar. Shawn Drover (Eidolon) drums. McDonough seemed a
bit more subdued onstage with Megadeth than he has with Iced Earth. I am
not familiar with the Drover brothers' previous work, but I thought that
everyone did a great job, especially Shawn, who joined the band only a few
days before the start of the tour. The setlist is as follows:
Set the World Afire
Skin Of My Teeth
Wake Up Dead
Something I'm Not
In My Darkest Hour
Angry Again
Of Mice and Men
Killing Road
A Tout Le Monde
Die Dead Enough
Reckoning Day
Tornado of Souls
Kick the Chair
Trust
Hangar 18
Back in the Day
Sweating Bullets
Symphony of Destruction
Peace Sells
Holy Wars
They played 5 songs from the new album. Nothing from Risk. Nothing from
The World Needs A Hero. One off of Cryptic Writings and one off of Hidden
Treasures. Everything else is Youthanasia and earlier. Basically, they
represented the new album, skipped the later, boring Megadeth, and played
their older tunes. Unfortunately, they skipped Killing is My Business
completely. As Dave has said this is the farewell tour, they should have
played at least one song off of that album. Other than that, the setlist is
pretty good. And it is constantly changing. They have added a few songs
and switched out some others and plan to continue to evolve the setlist.
Some other notes and observations: Dave's hand is fine. He can play just
as well as he could before the injury. Set the World Afire is being played
on this tour for the first time since 1988. Dave asked if we minded if they
played something live for the very first time, and then broke into the
acapella part of Of Mice and Men. The guys from Exodus came out and sang
backing vocals on Back in the Day. The crowd was singing along so loudly
during Sweating Bullets that Dave would step back from the mic for an entire
verse and let us carry it. Obviously a crowd favorite, as we were LOUD. I
got a Mustaine pic when he threw some out in the crowd at the end.
If you are a Megadeth fan, you probably already have tickets. But if not,
you need to see this tour. Megadeth and
Exodus both can really bring it live. Do not miss this tour when it rolls
through your town. After all, you don't want to be like the people Dave
talked about before playing Something I'm Not. He told us to all look at
the people next to us and say hello. He then said we probably all know
people that consider themselves metal but weren't there that night, and tore
into Something I'm Not. Don't miss the show, or Dave will have to dedicate
the song to YOU!
Scott
Milwaukee. Exodus was the first band to hit the stage. I have been a fan
for a long time, and this was my first time seeing the Bay Area thrash
legends, so I was quite excited. The band sounded great, and was full of
energy. Rick Hunolt and Gary Holt both tore through some insane guitar
solos. They were loud, fast, and aggressive. Unfortunately, they were
finished too quickly. Their setlist:
Scar Spangled Banner
Blacklist
Piranha
Brain Dead
War is My Shepherd
Toxic Waltz
I had seen setlists from shows earlier in the tour, and they played Exodus
and Bonded by Blood. I was not happy that we didn't get to hear them play these classics. But for the short time
they were on stage, they kicked ass. Steev Esquivel, singer for Defiance
and Skinlab, is touring with the band. Vocalist Steve Souza left the band
on the eve of their South American tour. Esquivel is doing a really good
job. He has a lot of energy and you can tell he is having the time of his
life.
One word review of Cumshot: blozfukkingotz.
Actually, Earshot was not all that bad. They were definitely out of place
on this tour, however. They lost all the energy that Exodus built in the
crowd. We pretty much stood there in silence except for the drummer's solo
(they did a cover of Zep's Moby Dick/Bonzo's Montreux.) I thought he was
really good. I recognized two of the songs they played from the radio, and
some of the crowd cheered for those. Other than that, several chants of
"Megadeth! Megadeth!" rose up between songs. The band didn't exactly help
themselves, either. At one point the singer said, "In a few minutes
Megadeth will be out here. But for now, you are stuck with us." He also
said, "Most of you have been awesome, but some of you have been dicks." We
couldn't figure out how he thought most of us had been awesome, as every
time I looked around, I saw the crowd, including up on the balcony, standing
still. We treated them pretty rough, but at least the crowd didn't throw
anything at them. I can't say the same for the band, however. The drummer
threw a stick into the audience. Not the end-of-show,
toss-a-stick-into-the-crowd-as-a-souvenir type of thing. He looked like he
was trying to throw out the runner on a slow roller to shortstop. He pegged
that sucker into the crowd. Also, the guitar player flipped us off as he
was walking off stage. The PA played some Iron Maiden between Earshot and
'deth. The crowd was louder singing along than we were for Earshot.
I have since heard that Earshot did not show up for the show in St. Louis
the next night and have dropped off the tour. Hopefully, they can get a
tour going that will be a better fit for them. I wish them luck in the
future. I felt kind of bad for the band, as they did not fit in at all on
this tour. If they had been on first, they may have fared better, but they
were put in a really rough spot from the start.
Megadeth. In case you are not aware, the current line-up is as follows:
Dave. Jimmy McDonough (Iced Earth) bass. Glen Drover (King
Diamond/Eidolon) guitar. Shawn Drover (Eidolon) drums. McDonough seemed a
bit more subdued onstage with Megadeth than he has with Iced Earth. I am
not familiar with the Drover brothers' previous work, but I thought that
everyone did a great job, especially Shawn, who joined the band only a few
days before the start of the tour. The setlist is as follows:
Set the World Afire
Skin Of My Teeth
Wake Up Dead
Something I'm Not
In My Darkest Hour
Angry Again
Of Mice and Men
Killing Road
A Tout Le Monde
Die Dead Enough
Reckoning Day
Tornado of Souls
Kick the Chair
Trust
Hangar 18
Back in the Day
Sweating Bullets
Symphony of Destruction
Peace Sells
Holy Wars
They played 5 songs from the new album. Nothing from Risk. Nothing from
The World Needs A Hero. One off of Cryptic Writings and one off of Hidden
Treasures. Everything else is Youthanasia and earlier. Basically, they
represented the new album, skipped the later, boring Megadeth, and played
their older tunes. Unfortunately, they skipped Killing is My Business
completely. As Dave has said this is the farewell tour, they should have
played at least one song off of that album. Other than that, the setlist is
pretty good. And it is constantly changing. They have added a few songs
and switched out some others and plan to continue to evolve the setlist.
Some other notes and observations: Dave's hand is fine. He can play just
as well as he could before the injury. Set the World Afire is being played
on this tour for the first time since 1988. Dave asked if we minded if they
played something live for the very first time, and then broke into the
acapella part of Of Mice and Men. The guys from Exodus came out and sang
backing vocals on Back in the Day. The crowd was singing along so loudly
during Sweating Bullets that Dave would step back from the mic for an entire
verse and let us carry it. Obviously a crowd favorite, as we were LOUD. I
got a Mustaine pic when he threw some out in the crowd at the end.
If you are a Megadeth fan, you probably already have tickets. But if not,
you need to see this tour. Megadeth and
Exodus both can really bring it live. Do not miss this tour when it rolls
through your town. After all, you don't want to be like the people Dave
talked about before playing Something I'm Not. He told us to all look at
the people next to us and say hello. He then said we probably all know
people that consider themselves metal but weren't there that night, and tore
into Something I'm Not. Don't miss the show, or Dave will have to dedicate
the song to YOU!
Scott
