I had been waiting for this since the Show was announced early this year. Four of the Biggest, Hardest, and Best of Thrash/Heavy Metal band on the Planet, on one stage.
European Audiences enjoy these types of shows on a regular basis, now it was time for North America to celebrate the gathering of these four Titans of Heavy Music.
With the anticipation of this event, I was hoping that I would not be left wanting, No worries! from the opening chords of Anthrax's "Among the Living" to the final ring of Metallica's "Seek an Destroy", Seven hours of an aural assualt left the exhausted masses in the Coachella Valley pleased with the History that they had just witnessed.
Despite the estimated crowd of 50,000 people, there were no issues of overcrowwding, lack of facilities, or incidents of severe violence. Fans were there to see four legendary bands play full sets of their greatest songs.
Anthrax led off the afternoon with an hourlong set of mostly classics. Despite the early set time, the band pleased the crowd with songs from the Classic era, with lead singer, Joey Belladonna in fine voice. The band's geniune pride of being a part of this once in a lifetime gathering, showed throughout their set, feeding off the energy of the (mostly civil) Mosh pits. The band introduced a new song, "Fight 'em ('Til You Can't Fight Anymore)" that is going to be on their upcoming release with the reunited line up. Even though they have played songs from the John Bush era in other shows, they chose to stick with a sset list from the pre 90's era, which was fine by me. that period stands on it's own, and the band solidified it's legacy with this line up with this performance.
Megadeth was next up, and they had fun during their hourlong set. Dave Mustaine and the band also stuck to the favorites, pleasing the audience with a technical, yet brutal, set list that kept the audience involved in the late afternoon heat. A very appreciative Mustaine thanked the fans for turning out in force, playing "Peace Sells",and other Mega classics to an energetic crowd.
Slayer began the early evening with a Punishing set of Furious, Speed drivern, Heavy, selections from their arsenal. This was where the Pits were a little more active and, a lot more fiery (seriously, fire pits popped up throughout the grounds.) This appeared to please Tom Araya, who took the performance to screaming, supersonic levels. With brief pauses to give everyone a breather, The band Pummeled the Indio audience with "South of Heaven/ Angel of Death" with a surprise appearance by Jeff Hanneman, Slayer guitarist who was not expectect to attend due to medical issues.
After a long pause to reset the stage, it was time for the Bull of the Woods, the reason this event was able to happen in this part of the world, the most successful band of the genre, The mighty Metallica.
With a mix of early Thrash calassics; "Creeping Death', "Seek and Destroy", and crowd favorites; "One", Enter Sandman", James Hetfield led the San Francisco (via Downey CA) Bashers on a solid perfomance. The crowd was probably tired with all the energy used up during the day, but it found a new life when Metallica led them through their set. Hetfield was surely pleased with the crowds perticipation, and a mutual appreciation was felt from everyone in attendance. Kirk Hammet was solid with his lead guitar playing, and Robert Trujillo was more than capable handling the Bass for Metallica gems "Orion" and "For Whom the Bell Tolls". To say the band has mellowed, would be a complete fallacy. They were just as hungry, just as heavy, and just as relevant, as they hace ever been. This is the band that has carried the torch for Hard/Heavy music, and should continue to do so for years to come.