### Megadeth, Testament, Exodus, 2010-03-15

#### 07/05/10 || InquisitorGeneralis

Who: Megadeth, Testament, Exodus Where: 9:30, Washington D.C When: 15th March, 2010

Love him or hate him, there is no denying that Dave Mustaine hit the thrash nail on the fucking head with 1990’s Megadeth masterpiece “Rust in Peace”. See, I would make a link to that album in our Class 6(66) sections but an oversized, over-boozed Swede with anger management issues deleted it a few months back. Anywho, it’s a landmark album: certainly the best one Mustaine has ever done with Megadeth… and also better than any record Metallica has ever fucking done. That’s right, starting whining Metallica fanboys but “Rust…” is even better than “Master of Puppets”. It’s more technical, it sounds better, and the musicianship is tighter. So what, Metallica sold more albums than Megadeth? Well, fucken Shania Twain has sold just as many copies of “Come on Over” than Metallica has of the “Black Album”!!! Does this make her a better artist? HELL FUCKEN YES /ENDRANT. Fuck you. Die.

This was a line-up of CaliThrash not to be missed and thankfully I got hooked up with a free ticket because this bitch sold out quicker than Metallica in the 90’s… snap. I had just seen Exodus for the first time back in January on the Tyrants of Evil tour and greatly enjoyed them so a return engagement was very welcome. Having never seen Testament before, I was definitely excited to finally catch them. I am afraid to admit I have become quite a fan recently. This was not my first Megadeth rodeo though; I had seen them open for Heaven and Hell and on Gigantour. But, both of those times were at local outdoor venue Merriweather Post Pavilion. I was pretty fucken psyched to see this show in a club venue.

Got there half-way through Exodus’ set to find them getting into to some older tunes not played a few months prior. Looking at some other setlists from the tour it looks like I caught a no “Tempo of the Damned” material night. Exodus only played tracks from “Bonded by Blood” and “Fabulous Disaster” and I was pretty stoked to hear “The toxic waltz” and “Fabulous disaster” so whoopdie fucken do. Exodus was good but being the fucktard I am some newer material would have been nice. But, seeing as retro is all the rage on this tour it makes sense that we only got the old stuff.

Exodus setlist:

Bonded by blood The last act of defiance Piranha Brain Dead Fabulous Disaster A lesson in violence The toxic waltz Strike of the beast

Testament were enjoyable but due to playing their debut album “The Legacy” in its entirety I did not get to hear any of my favorite Testatunes at all. No “Electric crown”, no “The evil has landed”, not even “Into the pit” which has apparently been popping up on other dates when the band has more time. Sadly, there was no extra time tonight. Still, Testament tore through the “The Legacy” with noticeably intensity and excitement. No Alex Skolnick though, although his placeholder seemed to hold his own. Chuck Billy is pretty entertaining and sounded much better live than I expected. The half-mic thingy still looks silly though. Also, it was great to finally see Bostaph live. The dude can fucken play and I wish I could have seen him tear up the heavier material from “The Formation of Damnation” and “The Gathering”. Still, “Burnt offerings”, “Over the wall”, and “Apocalyptic city” were awesome and I certainly will see Chucky B and the gang next time they come to town. The next night of tour got “Into the pit” and “Practice what you preach” which makes me a little jealous though. Testament prophesied the following litanies…

Testament Setlist:

Whatever the fuck is on “The Legacy”.

This pic is really from the show, although I certainly did not take it.

And finally, the star of the show, Mustainadeth. The most striking aspect of the evening? That would be the unrelenting aggressiveness of Mustaine’s hair. Maybe it was the humidity and smoke in the club, maybe it was the constant headbanging, maybe Dave got biblical with an electrical socket: all I know is it looked like Cousin It was sitting on Dave’s head all night long. Anyway, Megadeth rocked and it was awesome to see them in a smaller venue. Drummer Drover Cleveland had a massive kit that looked straight out of a Damn Yankees video from the 80s and he certainly can fucken play, although a Nick Menza comeback would be the shit. Anywho, we got “Set the world afire”, “Weak up dead”, and “In my darkest hour” as the opening mini-set before “Rust in Peace”.

Megadeth did not disappoint in their delivery of this certifiably classic album. Having seen them play “Hanger 18”, “Holy wars”, “Take no prisoners”, and “Tornado of souls” before, I knew I was going to enjoy them again. Those are four of crème de la crème of “Rust in Peace”…and maybe even Megadeth’s entire fucken catalogue. Mustaine’s voice is definitely a bit shot but his playing is still tight, as was the rest of the band’s. The real highlight of the night for me was hearing “Lucretia” and “Rust in peace… polaris” live: two songs I never thought I would get a chance to see Megadeth perform. Both were excellent. “Headcrusher” was pretty enjoyable, fuck “Trust”, and the finishing combo of “Symphony of destruction” and “Peace sells” was completely expected and predictable… but still pretty damn good.

I have no major complaints about the setlist because I knew going in it was going to be “Rust…” plus a few choice other picks. Sure, I would have loved to have heard “Sweating bullets”, “The conjuring”, or even a few newer songs like “Sleepwalker” or “Bodies”. Still, seeing as the theme for this entire tour was throwback/old-school the lack of anything newer besides “Headcrusher” is understandable. Now that I think about though, I could think of the about twenty better openers than “Set the world afire” but the rest of the concert kicked ass, so I am going to shut the fuck up.

Get the shred, in yer head!

What can I tell you? Dave may be a bit of a douche but he can still play his songs damn well live and this was an extremely enjoyable show. If you missed this tour do not fret, it looks like Megadeth will be playing “Rust…” all the way though this summer on their tour with Slayer, who will be doing “Seasons in the Abyss”. While that tour sounds pretty fucken awesome, it was as cool as shit in an Eskimo’s toilet to see Megadeth in a small venue and I’m glad I braved DC traffic and a surefire hangover at work the next day to do it! See, I could have seen this in my hometown Baltimore the next night but I decided to take the longer ride to DC because I got the tickets for free. Good move by me because the Baltimore show had massive sound problems Megadeth had to stop three songs in. They finished the set the next night.

Megadeth setlist:

Set The World Afire Wake Up Dead In My Darkest Hour Holy Wars Hangar 18 Take No Prisoners Five Magics Poison Was the Cure Lucretia Tornado of Souls Dawn Patrol Rust in Peace… Polaris Headcrusher Trust Symphony Of Destruction

Encore:

Peace Sells

I’m too lazy to give each band a rating so the whole thing gets an overall 9 throwback jean-jackets on the back of 10 crusty old metalheads because this concert rocked, I got free tickets and beer and overall I had one hell of a time. Until next time dominators, here is your old friend IG signing off…