Show Review: Megadeth + Mudvayne at Toyota Pavilion in Concord

Photos and review by: Alan Ralph @AlanHasPicks

San Francisco Bay Area did a good job on this particular weekend keeping everyone segregated to their respective tribes.  Outside Lands Music Festival catered to the norms and the hipsters in the middle of The City in Golden Gate Park, Vice Prez Kamala Harris had a fundraiser for the wealthy 1% at Fairmont Hotel way up on top of Nob Hill, and Megadeth, Mudvayne, and All That Remains brought the metal and goth and punk kids (and adults) all the way out to Concord at Toyota Pavilion, for their Destroy All Enemies tour.

While the vast majority of the subject matter here at Spinning Platters is geared more towards fans of Outside Lands than fans of metal, there are still a few brave souls on staff who will immerse themselves in the mosh pits and get their eardrums pulverized, all in the name of reporting back about, in this case, the 1980’s era thrash metal, early + mid 2000’s nu-metal, and mid to late 2000’s metalcore.

All That Remains, the New England metalcore veterans, last performed in the Bay Area in 2019, supporting their previous album they released in 2018.  After a couple of lineup changes, they are finally back with a new song and a vengeance, bringing their familiar melodic metalcore sound into the present.  It felt like 2005’s Sounds of the Underground, 2006’s Ozzfest or 2009’s Rockstar Mayhem all over again!  (they performed at all three of those fests, as well as numerous NorCal shows just about every year from 2002 – 2015!)

Click on any photo below for a slideshow of full-size images of All That Remains.

Mudvayne headlined the Toyota Pavilion last summer with a similar setlist and were a great direct support act for this tour.  Their job was to warm up the crowd for the main act, and the band certainly got them going!  Singer Chad Gray (face painted like he was starring in a horror slasher film about a sad clown) constantly reached out for the front row, crowd-surfed on the front few rows once or twice, and even jumped off of risers and wandered around the stage like he owned the place. Guitarist Greg Tribbett (red and black face paint, goggles, and multi-pointed hair) and tour guitarist Marcus Rafferty (in all black with white face paint looking like an evil preacher) held down the nu-metal riffage. Bassist Ryan Martinie (with 2 red devil horns on his head) never stood in one place for longer than three seconds throughout the entire set. Drummer Matthew McDonough could definitely be heard, but he could barely be seen behind his giant drum set (so it was unclear what his choice of face paint was!). Half of Mudvayne’s 11-song setlist was taken from their year 2000 debut album L.D. 50, with most of the remainder from 2002 and 2005.  

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

After the standard 30-minute set change, the four members of Megadeth – singer and guitarist Dave Mustaine, new guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari, bassist James Lomenzo, and drummer Dirk Verbeuren – all walked out on stage, ready to continue where Mudvayne left off.

The crowd was extremely gung-ho, there must have been something in the Concord water that night!  Never has there been such a constant barrage of crowd surfers at a Megadeth show before, and let’s also not forget the guy (potentially one of the VIP people who was off-stage left to watch the first three songs?) who decided it would be a great idea to sprint across the front of the stage near the end of the third song… who then of course got tackled by Big Megadeth Wrestler Security Guy and may have been picked up and thrown over Guy’s shoulder… and well, that was the last time anyone ever saw him!

Any Megadeth show is going to have a million blazing guitar riffs and solos. Mustaine and Mäntysaari are simply amazing guitar players. It’s a wonder what these guys can do with six strings, especially Mäntysaari, who has to perform other former Megadeth guitar player’s material. That certainly can’t be easy, considering master shredder Marty Friedman is one of those former players! 

The lights, the sound, and even the disruption of sprinter guy… overall, a great show indeed… and of course, five of the last six songs bring it all together, taking it back to some classics of 1985 to 1992 and fan favorites that they have to play, along with an appearance by Vic Rattlehead himself!

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

Setlist:

1. The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead!
2. Dread and the Fugitive Mind
3. Hangar 18
4. Liar
5. The Conjuring
6. Sweating Bullets
7. Angry Again
8. Skin o’ My Teeth
9. Countdown to Extinction
10. She-Wolf
11. Trust
12. Tornado of Souls
13. We’ll Be Back
14. Symphony of Destruction
15. Mechanix
16. Peace Sells

Encore:
17. Holy Wars… The Punishment Due

 

See more photos of all of your favorite Metal musicians at Alan Ralph‘s photo portfolio.