Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @ConcertGoingPro
The Warfield hosted the final show of Leg #1 of the Killswitch Engage and Machine Head North American summer tour. This could not have been more perfect for Machine Head, who reside here in Oakland, to end a tour in front of an almost sold-out crowd of their friends and family (Killswitch Engage, on the other hand, will have had a long way to go to get their band, crew and equipment back home to Massachusetts!).
These two titans of metal will see each other two more times this summer and early fall. Leg #2 crisscrosses Canada in August and Leg #3 hits America one more time for a couple weeks in September.
Some may wonder why it is not a co-headlining bill… Spinning Platters doesn’t know why either! Judging by the semi-trucks parked side-by-side outside at the loading dock, both bands brought an equal amount of gear, but Machine Head’s 50-minute set afforded them merely eight songs, while Killswitch Engage’s stuffed eighteen songs into their 75-minute set!
Killswitch Engage definitely brought the heat after the previous three bands warmed up and possibly wore out the crowd, with singer Jesse Leach stagediving into the crowd more than once, and the rest of the band running around wildly on stage from side to side for the duration. Their setlist included four songs from their latest album The Consequence, in addition to reaching to nearly every other album in their discography for at least a song or three.
After years of nearly three-hour-long “An Evening With” performances, as well as just completing an entire European tour of these marathon shows, Machine Head did settle in well to their supporting role. Regardless of time, Robb Flynn & Company (including new touring shredder Ben Eller) did an amazing job of pummeling the crowd and igniting giant circle pit after circle pit. Machine Head chose a couple from the latest album Unatoned, and the rest covered a good portion of their discography.
