Show Review: Megadeth + Lamb of God + Trivium + Hatebreed, Concord Pavilion, 09/02/2021

‘Metal Tour of the Year.’ Quite a bold statement. The concert t-shirts even say it. On September 2, Megadeth, Lamb of God, Trivium, and Hatebreed descended on the sleepy East Bay city of Concord to wreak some havoc and let everyone else know that they intend to hold onto their self-proclaimed tour title!

 

If 2020 had continued normally, this may not have been the ‘Metal Tour of the Year,’ as there would have been a lot of other tours competing for that title.  In fact, on February 9, 2020, when the tour was first announced, it was simply “Two of the biggest bands in heavy metal – Megadeth and Lamb of God – will be joining forces on a co-headline tour across North America this year.”  

 

450 days later, on May 4, 2021, still with hardly any tours happening (metal or otherwise), there was a new press release, and the tour was back, with the same lineup, as well as it now had a mighty name to back it up.  “Megadeth, Lamb of God, Trivium, In Flames will unite for the ‘Metal Tour of the Year,’ just a year later than planned.” Many people were even still holding onto their ticket since February 2020, when they first went on sale!  (original date of the Concord show was August 1, 2020) 

 

In mid-July, Hatebreed replaced In Flames “due to international visa issues.” “In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we had to make the difficult decision to not join the Metal Tour of The Year.”  Interestingly, their Swedish mates Avatar recently made it to America to kick off their US tour, so it’s hard to say what specifically actually caused them to back out.  To be completely honest though, and nothing against In Flames, but Hatebreed was a fantastic way to kick off the rust (of not being at a metal show for so long) and get crazy for 35-minutes.  Singer Jamey Jasta had to prime the crowd to start a circle pit though, jokingly telling them “I don’t care how old you are, I’ll pay for the knee surgery!”

 

Click on any photo below for a slideshow of full-size images of Hatebreed. 

Trivium seemed to slow things down a bit.  Sure, the songs were heavy and the guitars were loud, and the crowd still moshed and formed a circle pit, but the set felt a bit too rehearsed.  Singer and guitarist Matthew K. Heafy talked too much between songs, always looking to pump themselves up with the crowd.  He would mention the show from the previous night at that other California city that Bay Area residents love to hate (Los Angeles). “You guys are better than L.A.!”  He talked about Denver more than once, how they have been the best crowd of the entire tour.  He had everyone crouch down on the floor or in their seats and then jump up on the start of the next song.  After an explosive set by Hatebreed though, things just felt a little bit slower.  If they had performed after In Flames, it’s easy to see how those two bands would have made a good 1-2 punch to open the show and ease into what would become a pummeling, an aural onslaught that is Lamb of God.

Click on any photo below for a slideshow of full-size images of Trivium. 

Lamb of God singer Randy Blythe began the tour with a notice on his Instagram profile that essentially described a few of their COVID tour protocols, and he ended with “Welcome to the #NOFUNTOUR2021.”  Onstage, however, Lamb of God was definitely anything but #NOFUN!  They were actually on a mission, they were on fire, and they were ready to make sure to put headliner Megadeth on notice that they were coming to make the title of ‘Metal Tour of the Year’ theirs, and theirs alone!

 

 

Things didn’t start off the way they were supposed to though, as the set kicked off without the visual representation of the five members of Lamb of God.  During the intermission, a kabuki screen was dropped from the rafters. These are commonly used to shield the stage from the crowd, so that the audience cannot see what is being set-up.  The first song Memento Mori starts off with some spoken word over a slow guitar build-up, and then the song BREAKS! and the pyro goes BOOM! at the same time and the kabuki screen is released… except that it wasn’t.  The song still has to go on, so the band was basically performing to a black curtain for five or so more seconds until a member of their crew ran over and tugged at it until it dropped to the ground.  Now the punishment can begin!

 

By the second song, a half-dozen stagehands rushed to the barricade as it was about to buckle under the pressure of the thousands of insane fans running in circle pits, moshing, pushing into and surfing over it.  For almost the whole set, these stagehands ratchet-strapped the barricade pieces together, they added more bolts, and they held onto it for dear life!

 

Click on any photo below for a slideshow of full-size images of Lamb of God.

After the standard 30-minute set change, the four members of Megadeth – singer and guitarist Dave Mustaine, guitarist Kiko Loureiro, new (and former!) bassist James Lomenzo, and drummer Dirk Verbeuren – all appeared on the same stage that Lamb of God just pulverized, ready to take it to the next level. 

 

In some respects, that should be an easy task for Megadeth, as they are the headliner, and rightfully so. Not only have they been a band since the mid-80’s (well, only Mustaine), they have sold well over 38 million records worldwide, they have twice as many followers to their Facebook and Instagram profiles as Lamb of God.  However that is supposed to translate live, well, on this occasion, it really didn’t.

 

Mustaine and Loureiro are amazing guitar players. It’s a wonder what these guys can do with six strings, especially Loureiro, who has to perform other former Megadeth guitar player’s material. That can’t be an easy feat, considering master shredder Marty Friedman is one of those former players!  Bass player Lomenzo has so much musical history too, being an in-demand player and longtime member of White Lion, working with Zakk Wylde, Ace Frehley, Slash, and David Lee Roth.  He was also previously in Megadeth for four years and two studio albums.

 

Overall though, it’s not that they were bad, they definitely had a crowd to see them, it’s just… how does Megadeth perform and keep a crowd interested after Lamb of God simply destroyed the place?!  Most of the Megadeth songs have minutes of guitar solos and noodling, which can bring down the energy, the circle pit, the moshing, until the full song kicks back in.  They debuted two songs never performed on this tour, Dawn Patrol and Poison Was the Cure.  Dawn Patrol is a two minute song consisting of a bass line and spoken word vocals.  The vocals might have been tracked, because Mustaine was not on stage, it was only the bassist and the drummer.  

 

Since this was a co-headliner, it wasn’t completely ‘The Dave (Mustaine) Show’ like his Gigantour‘s in the past have been.  That seems to be more his style, to have more control, and that brings in more of his crowd.  When there hasn’t been touring for so long though, economics takes precedence and judging by the enormous crowd size, it seemed to help everyone involved to have the ‘Metal Tour of the Year’ as a co-headliner.

 

1. Hangar 18
2. The Threat Is Real
3. Sweating Bullets
4. Trust
5. She-Wolf
6. Conquer or Die!
7. Dystopia
8. Dawn Patrol
9. Poison Was the Cure
10. Symphony of Destruction
11. Peace Sells
12. Holy Wars… The Punishment Due