The Unholy Alliance Tour in Texas
By
Newsferatu,
Writer
Sunday, June 25, 2006 @ 6:27 AM
| Freeman Coliseum, San Antonio,
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Review by Pavel Arana
I just recently moved up here to Texas from Nicaragua so I had never had a
chance to see many bands, so the opportunity to get pit tickets for a tour
like this was a chance I could not afford to lose. 3 of my favorite bands
would be there this night so I didn’t mind paying the 38.50+ tax and fees
which turned out to be a 54 dollar ticket.
I got there around 5:30 when the show was starting and there were not that
many people. I didn’t know much about the first band so I decided to take a
spin around and check out merchandise and stuff… it was all overpriced if you
ask me. Beers were pretty cheap though, which was good for me… 5 bucks for a
16 oz cup. You could say I had my fair share throughout the show.
Anyways, I decided to check out the remaining of the set of the first band –
Thine Eyes Bleed. I was surprised the had some brutal ass death metal and
sounded very tight. Not many people had shown up to the show yet so they
didn’t get much crowd response but I think their cd is well worth checking
out…
Next on was Children Of Bodom. They also had great live sound. I had always
admired Alexi’s guitar playing and he did not disappoint! At times he
improvised a bit on solos which I thought was weird for this kind of metal
but it all sounded great and was very technical. Janne’s keyboarding was
also beyond amazing… awesome how he pulls off those scales and arpeggios on a
keyboard. Bodom was the first band to get the crowd involved and we sang
along to a few songs. Overall their show was awesome despite it being a bit
short. Their set list was as follows:
- Silent Night Bodom Night
- Needled 24/7
- In your face
- Angels don’t kill
- Living Dead beat
- Hate Me!
- Downfall
Next was Mastodon. I had only heard a few of their songs and didn’t think
much of the band. They have a good drummer (he was playing a polka dot Randy
inspired kit which was pretty cool) but the songs always sounded too crowded.
By this time I had already had a few beers since I was chilling to this
bands songs but I gotta admit they grew on me a bit. I’m a big fan of
extreme music and these guys put on a solid performance which earned my
respect, I think they played a new song which sounded pretty cool. This was
the setlist I got from the internet since I was unfamiliar with some of the
names of the songs:
- Iron Tusk
- March of the Fire Ants
- Where Strides the Behemoth
- Mother Puncher
- Crystal (new song)
- Megalodon
- Blood and Thunder
I was talking to a few people and this was the moment we had been waiting for
(despite SLAYER of course) … Lamb of God! They kinda teased the crowd by
coming out of back stage and waving during the gear set up. Everyone was
charged up with energy. I hadn’t been in the pit all day and by this time
the beers had kicked in… had 6 of those large 16 oz cups. I was ready. LOG
exploded on to the stage and the crowd started to go nuts! There was one
main pit in the middle and 2 smaller side pits..it was great. Half way
through the show Randy thought everyone was being lazy and inspired us to
make an old school circle pit, this thing was brutal! Of course everyone
jumped in and I’m fucking hurting today for it! As for the sound it was very
raw as you’d expect from LOG. Very distorted guitars and a tight rhythm
section…the sound was great. Overall the show was very high energy,
especially the ending with “Black Label” and had they me going for water
after the beating during their set. These are the songs LOG played:
- Ruin
- Hourglass
- Laid to Rest
- Now you’ve got something to die for
- 11th Hour
- Purified
- As the palaces burn
- The Faded Line
- Vigil (awesome that they played this one)
- Redneck (new song)
- Black Label (I was surprised no wall of death)
After chants of Slayer during the other bands sets it was finally time for
SLAYER! Of course this bands needs no introduction, and by this time the
arena was FULL. After drinking my water and resting a few minutes, I was
ready for the big one! The stage set up was amazing. They had 2 huge stacks
of marshalls arranged in upside down crosses on both sides of the stage and a
huge video screen behind them. It played artwork from the upcoming album and
from older albums throughout the set. Anyways back to the show… Slayer was
everything I expected and more! Tom was the guy he appears to be, he was
very quiet and just smiled…he didn’t need to tell us anything, we knew what
he wanted us to do, which was go fuckin nuts! Despite his recent operation,
he was out full force. There was no bullshit talk between the songs, they
let the music speak for them. It was also great to see Dave back, his
drumming was sick! You’d feel each kick drum in your gut. King and
Hanneman’s guitar attack was also brutal. Riff after riff of bone crunching
metal, insane solos as only SLAYER can produce. The musicianship was
flawless. A great show and the songs played were fuckin great. The played
the entire range of what is SLAYER..from show no mercy to the brand new song!
This was the setlist:
South of Heaven
- Silent Scream
- War Ensemble
- Blood Red
- Cult (new)
- Disciple
- Mandatory Suicide
- Seasons in the Abyss
- Chemical Warfare
- Dead Skin Mask (or love song as tom calls it)
- Hell Awaits
- Raining Blood
- Antichrist
- Angel of Death
I was left wanting more!
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