Heaven and Hell, Megadeth, & Machine Head Los Angeles, CA 4-25-07
I took my youngest son to see Heaven and Hell w/Megadeth and Machine Head on Wednesday. He’s a huge Megadeth fan. Heaven and Hell, for those who don’t know, is basically Black Sabbath w/Dio on vocals rather than Ozzy.
I’m a little in love with Dave Mustaine now.
Machine Head were good. Pretty typical modern metal. They seemed tight and their sound was mixed really well. The singer was annoying, though, as were some of their songs. All kind of trying to get some message across. He went off about a conservative website that wrote a hateful article about Dime Bag, a metal guitarist from the band Pantera, who was shot and killed on stage during a show for one of his side bands. The crowd started chanting “Dime Bag!” And they played a song that was aimed at this conservative website. I played my PSP through most of their set.
I was mainly interested in seeing Megadeth. They’re my son’s fave too. They moved around so much on stage I had trouble keeping track of which guy was the bassist and which was the guitarist. Dave Mustaine (singer/guitarist) and the second guitarist traded off lead parts. I remember that they did Hanger 18, Tornado of Souls, Take No Prisoners. And a new song I thought was really good. They closed with Symphony of Destruction, plus Peace Sells, then left the stage. They came back out and Dave said “This will be my campaign song when you elect me president,” and they played Holy Wars.
They powered through the first half of their set without stopping between songs. I don’t think Dave even said anything until he introduced the new song. The crowd was wild, a big pit formed, people were crowd surfing toward the stage and getting snatched out by security during the last song. Dave mentioned starting out in LA, which got some applause. When they were done, he walked back and forth tossing something out to the crowd—I assume guitar picks, but I couldn’t see from where we were sitting (in the bleachers off to the left). Last thing he tossed out were his wrist sweatbands.
I wasn’t sure how the crowd would be for Heaven & Hell. But everyone stood up as soon as they came out! I haven’t been to a show where people in the seats stood up immediately in forever. I stood for the first song, but I was tired and just sat down after that. Eventually the people in front of us sat down too. Dio introduced one song, something about Children, Children of the Sea, maybe? as the first one they ever wrote together. They also did Mob Rules, which I know because I overheard my son tell his dad.
Dio was in good shape, sounded awesome, he’s kind of a funny looking guy. He liked to see the audience and would ask for lights so he could see the people in the top back rows. It wasn’t sold out but it was pretty full. A lot of older people there…aging metalheads. And oh yeah, a LOT of guys stumbling around drunk. For a no-smoking venue there was a whole lot of pot being lit up.
My youngest kept lamenting that his brother wasn’t there. (He was supposed to go but ended up making other plans without realizing it was the night of the show, plans he couldn’t gracefully get out of.) My youngest figures it’s their only chance to ever see this line up. He’s probably right.
Susan, I swear your son and I are the same when it comes to tastes in music. Funny.
I wonder sometimes what would have become of Metallica had Dave Mustaine stayed on with them. I mean, he practically wrote “The Four Horsemen” (called “Mechanix” on Megadeth albums), and “Creeping Death,” two of my favorites, and basic staples for (vintage) Metallica fans. And as far as staying with their old style, one can’t say the same thing about Megadeth that people say about Metallica. Megadeth only had one near “sell-out” album (”Risk”), but they quickly returned to their successful formula. Metallica just kept screwing up a good thing each time. And I must say, Dave Mustaine writes just as good rhythm guitar riffs as James Hetfield does. For me, I like Metallica’s high-points more than Megadeth’s, but overall I think Megadeth has had better longevity and consistency than Metallica. Bottom line: I still buy Megadeth CDs; I don’t buy Metallica CDs.
And for me, Ronnie Dio was one of the best choices Black Sabbath made in the post-Ozzy years. I love the Dio/Sabbath albums. His voice sounds so much like Chris Cornell’s (my favorite rock singer) - it’s freaky how similar they sound (go listen to “Rainbow in the Dark” to hear the similarity).
Sounds like it was quite the show!
Comment by David J — April 27, 2007 @ 4:12 pm
Your taste is a lot like my husband’s then. He’s all about thrash and power metal. You ever heard of a band called Metal Church?
BTW, I heard that Lars, Hetfield and Trujillo were at the show.
Comment by Susan M — April 27, 2007 @ 4:18 pm
I saw Megadeth 15 years or so ago. All I remember is that Dave Mustaine was in a white dress shirt, his face totally covered by hair, and he didn’t say anything the whole show. And I remember they played Hangar 18.
Comment by Greg — April 30, 2007 @ 11:46 am
I have some Metal Church, but not a whole lot; haven’t picked it up in a long time.
Comment by David J — May 2, 2007 @ 1:07 pm
I came across this blog as a result of searching for a recap of the latest Lost episode. I decided to take a look around and, Lo!, a review of the LA show of the tour I saw in Philadelphia last night. I was on the floor (standing, mind you)about 30 feet from the stage for MD and maybe 50 feet for Sabbath. I only saw a little bit of MH. The guys I was with aren’t into the newer metal, so we spent most of MH’s set drinking and talking to people. It was fabulous. My ears are still ringing. There was plenty of weed in Philly as well. Impunity rules.
Comment by Wayne — May 11, 2007 @ 12:36 pm
Awesome. It was a seriously loud show.
Comment by Susan M — May 11, 2007 @ 1:06 pm
I knew it was loud while it was going on, but I didn’t really appreciate it until we walked outside and I became aware of my hearing impairment.
One great thing about the show was that it took place in the Spectrum, which is the oldest building at the Philly sports complex. It was built in the early 70’s and the Flyers and Sixers used to play there. I’ve seen many a metal show there, most of which occurred in my youth (i.e. the Eighties). In fact, I saw Megadeth open up for Dio there in 1986, so it was all very nostalgic.
Comment by Wayne — May 11, 2007 @ 1:21 pm