ANTHRAX – BLACK LABEL SOCIETY – EXODUS – LIVE
By Kat Gullage
Anthrax, Black Label Society and Exodus devour the Mohegan Sun Arena with an annihilating barrage of old school metal to the fans’ delight.
Thrash pioneers Exodus kicked off the show and sparked pit action immediately. Lead vocalist Steve “Zetro” Souza lended his grizzly voice to nine songs from their inventory of eleven studio albums. “The Beatings Will Continue (Until Morale Improves)”, “A Lesson in Violence”, “Blood In, Blood Out” and “Blacklist” were fed to the masses. Zetro said he knew there were fans there from all over the state and that “we’re all Connecticut tonight”. I loved that the pit was an old school respectable circle one, metalheads there to mosh not maliciously injure. Guitarists Gary Holt and Lee Altus, bassist Jack Gibson, and drummer Tom Hunting were a tight unit, the sound was loud but clear.
The front row of faithful Exodus followers was a mix of ages. Next up was “Piranha”, “Prescribing Horror” (my fave of the night) and “Bonded by Blood”. That one ended with a baby crying sound that went on waayyyyyyyy too long, probably had all moms in a 50 mile radius lactating. Mosh pit anthem “The Toxic Waltz”, a real crowd pleaser, was next
Zetro thanked everyone for coming into the show early to check them out. Exodus wrapped up their set with “Strike of the Beast” where they instructed the floor to break up into two opposing pits and form a thrash wall of death. I don’t know how they did it, but I felt like I was at a show at a club like Toad’s Place versus the floor of the arena. Exodus was the perfect opener for this line-up.
Images courtesy of Holly Roy Photography
The Connecticut Chapter of Black Label Society filed into the arena awaiting guitar god, brother Zakk Wylde. This was my fourth time seeing the master plucker live. I was hooked the first second I saw him the first time, which was with Ozzy at this same venue. No matter how you feel about BLS, I cannot encourage you enough to see this man play live at least once in your life. He arrived in all his humble glory clad in leather BLS vest, kilt showing legs that haven’t seen sun in a while & black biker boots.
Rooted behind his mic stand sprouting from a mound of skulls, he began to shred his axe and swing his trademark locks to thirteen songs taken from eleven studio albums. “Funeral Bell”, “The Beginning…At Last”, “Destroy & Conquer”, and “Destruction Overdrive” opened the set. No pits at first, everyone probably in awe of Zakk’s greatness. This badass started playing one handed until the crowd got riled enough that they were worthy of him to continue.
Images courtesy of Holly Roy Photography
The audience started gaining strength and a smallish pit broke out for “Heart of Darkness”, “A Love Unreal” and “You Made Me Want to Live”. Zakk bounced to the piano for “In This River” his well known, always touching, tribute to Dimebag Darrell & Vinnie Paul, the brothers of Pantera. During “Trampled Down Below”, “Set You Free” and “Fire It Up”,the guitar “GOAT” played with a violin bow in sync with a laser show, and at one point Zakk stood on a riser and dueled fellow guitarist Dario Lorina while they both played their guitars behind their heads.
Zakk, who has a penchant for attracting top notch talent that gets poached by other bands, was also joined by John DeServio on bass and Jeff Fabb on drums. Zakk shows his fun side when he shouts “Incoming!” and beach balls are released to the crowd. They were just regular ones this time, not the awesome giant black ones with the BLS logo on them that I’ve seen before. “Suicide Messiah” was masterful with full crowd participation. “Stillborn” closed the set.
The 40th anniversary of New York hardcore trailblazers, Anthrax, started with a movie containing a myriad of celebrities showing their love for the band. Keanu Reeves! Lady Gaga! Tom Morello, Robert Trujillo, Henry Rollins, Corey Taylor, Gene Simmons, Slash, Brian Posehn, Chuck D, Dave Mustaine, Phil Anselmo, Vernon Reid, Dee Snider, Rob Zombie, Gary Holt, Kerry King, John 5, Michael Poulsen, John Carpenter, Dug Pinnick, Sammy Hagar – & those are just the ones I could manage to note! Some famous people also have great taste in music.
A white curtain outlined the shadows of Scott, Joey, Charlie, Frank and Jon, and when it dropped the moshing was non-stop. This trip through forty years of thrash metal erupted with “Among the Living”, “Caught in a Mosh”, “Madhouse”, “Metal Thrashing Mad”, “Antisocial” and “I Am the Law”. A scantily clad girl on top of a guy’s shoulders flashed the band her tits. Joey, who still has great pipes by the way, proclaimed “Titties! I mean Boobies! I don’t know what to say. Uhhh, thank you for that!”
Next up was “In The End”, the only time the pit slowed a bit. “Only” was included even though it was originally recorded when John Bush was the singer. I prefer the Joey Belladonna days myself, but this song was meant for Bush’s vocals, in my opinion. The cover of Joe Jackson’s “Got The Time” got the place bouncing again. Joey asked fans that were seeing them for the first time to raise their hands and there were quite a few!
Scott reminisced how the last time they played Mohegan Sun, four years ago, it was in the “lobby”, or what locals know as the Wolf Den. (I was at that show & it was freaking awesome to
see them for free in a room that holds about 300 people) They went from Wolf Den to selling out the arena in four years. They’re going to work on new music. He then asked the two separate pits to merge into one giant pit while they wrapped it up with “Bring the Noise” and “Indians”. Anthrax have proven they are ageless. Still performing at a high level with great sound and a passion for thrash!
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