Heaven and Hell Tour Brings the Metal

The Heaven and Hell Tour featuring Machine Head, Megadeth and Dio Years Black Sabbath hit the Albany Times Union Center Monday night.  It took us a while to find our seats.  Apparently Row CC is the section of folding chairs on risers between the floor and the first tier; we were in the first section, stage left, so we could see everything perfectly.  They were great seats!  Sadly I have no cell phone and I didn’t want to risk having my camera confiscated (damn, that would’ve been a good excuse to get a new one finally!), so no photos.

Before getting into the bands, I’ll get some of my general observations out of the way.  Iron Maiden t-shirts outnumbered all other band t-shirts at least two to one (\m/) (why aren’t they coming near here???).  I saw a woman stroke her man’s mullet lovingly.  I haven’t seen a mullet get that kind of action since 1989.  At one point during Megadeth's set I saw this little nerdy guy scurrying across the floor as if he was running for his life.  A moment later a giant, bearded metalhead with fire in his eyes was running in the same direction, it took at least 5 people to hold him back. Also, that drunk guy was a few seats down from us and spent the entire night dancing wildly and attempting to flirt with the girls that were half his age the entire time.  Now that's out of the way, onto the actual show.

Machine Head took the stage at 7 to a less than enthusiastic crowd.  The floor was only a quarter full, almost half of the first tier seats were empty and no one was in the second tier.  I was embarrassed on behalf of my city for the crappy turnout.  Luckily, most people were awaiting the later acts and the place filled up nicely throughout the evening.  There were a few die-hard Machine Head fans in the audience but it was apparent that the majority of the crowd was not there for them.  Being the opening band, they had terrible sound.  I could barely hear by the time the MH set was complete.  I have not heard any of their studio work, but they put on a good live show.  Rob Flynn, lead singer and rhythm guitarist, had a lot of energy and really worked the crowd.  The other band members were clearly talented musicians, but with the crappy sound it was hard to distinguish the different guitar parts and the bass was so muddy you could only feel it and the drums in your chest.  The highlight of their brief set was Aesthetics of Hate, a song written in response to an article by conservative writer, William Grim, that was published on the Iconoclast website.  You can read the article here, but be warned, it’s full of ignorance and hate. The song was powerful and driven.  Overall Machine Head was decent but I didn’t leap out of my seat, it’s just not my style of metal.  I’d give them two out of five goats. \m/ \m/

After a quick set change my man Dave Mustaine walked out on stage and impressed the shit out of me.  Dave is much taller than I expected and he carries an enormous presence. Wearing just a t-shirt and a pair of worn out black jeans (can you even buy those anymore?) he quietly stepped up to the mike and began Sleepwalker (off their new album, in stores today!).  It’s funny, I’ve only heard the song a few times, but it already feels so familiar it may as well have been on Rust in Peace.  This is the first time I’ve really heard Megadeth’s new lineup (beside the few new songs they’ve pre-released online) and I was really impressed.   James LoMezo was killer on bass and he sounded great on all of the songs former Megadeth bassist Dave Ellefson originated.  Brothers Glen and Shawn Drover rounded out the sound on lead guitar and drums, respectively.  The band had great chemistry and Glen and Dave were tight as they traded off complicated solos throughout the night.  The entire set was full of high energy and complex melodies and riffs.  Dave even sounded better on live vocals than I had expected.  

After a few songs Dave noted that he was basically going to shut up and let the music do the talking.  This was fortunate for me because, while I LOVE Megadeth, the more Dave talks, the more I tend to lose respect for him.  I don’t know him personally, but just from interviews and articles he seems like a pathological liar.  For crying out loud, he’s got ten subsections under the Feuds heading on his Wiki page.  Despite that, he came off as truly humbled by the audience and seemed to really care about his performance.  And for that, he earns a bit of that respect back.

The set list, in no particular order, included Peace Sells, Sleepwalker, Wake Up Dead, Washington Is Next, Kick The Chair, Poison Was The Cure, Tornado Of Souls, Hangar 18, Holy Wars, and Symphony Of Destruction.  The set was far too short in my opinion, next time, I want to see them headline.  (Side note, Husband did see Megadeth headline at this same venue a number of years ago and the opening band was a yet unheard of Stone Temple Pilots who were practically booed off the stage.  I love STP, but I can understand why the typical Metal crowd did not get behind them.).  When Dave took the stage for the first encore the drunk guys behind us kept shouting “Metallica”, much to my amusement.  Megadeth was the absolute highlight of the evening and I give them five out of five goats. \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/

After a swap out of chewing gum and a trip to the water fountain the lights dimmed again.  Stepping out of the wings, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Ronnie James Dio graced us all with their presence.  Oh yeah, and Vinny Appice was there too.  While I’m not as big of a fan of the Dio Years versus the Ozzy years, there is certainly something to be said for the musicians themselves.  Their songs remind me more of Spinal Tap than of Black Sabbath, but the technical precision with which they are played is something I can strongly appreciate.   Let me just take a moment to exclaim that Ronnie can fucking SING.  The man has got to be in his mid 60’s and he’s still singing like it’s 1978.  Unlike his peers, Ronnie’s voice shows no signs of his age.  It’s so easy for young singers to trash their voice so their current material has a certain sound; however, they will not be on the reunion tours in 20 years.  Instead of making money they’ll be canceling shows and sounding like Kermit the Frog (ahem, Steven Tyler).  But not Ronnie James Dio, his voice is pure gold.  Did I mention our seats were stage left?  That’s where the great Iommi was stationed for the entire show and he was so cool.  He was Danny Zuko cool.  Donning a long black jacket, a bright silver cross and a big pair of shades he’d play so nonchalantly and look up at the audience every few seconds as if to say “Ya like that? Here’s some more”.  He was just so casual and at peace on the stage.  As cool as it was that Tony was only a few yards from me for over an hour, it meant that Geezer was stage right and I never saw him up close.  Luckily I’ve got good glasses, however, that doesn’t give me the ability to slow down time enough so that I could actually see his fingers move.  His hands were a constant blur of motion for the entire set.

Unfortunately, nearly two thirds into the show Vinny began what was the most boring drum solo I have ever heard.  Vinny can maintain a solid beat, but it’s elementary.  Husband was in a rock band a number of years ago and he had a drummer who was really excellent.  He would have been able to replicate Vinny’s solo in its entirety.  But being a great drummer in a local garage band does not qualify you to be on the same stage as giants in the world of metal.  There is nothing exceptional about Vinny Appice.  I wouldn’t call him a no-talent ass clown, but he shouldn’t be on tour with fucking Sabbath.  I have heard mind-blowing solos from Bonzo, Chad Smith, Keith Moon, Ginger Baker and Matt Cameron to name a few, but I never expected that a band with a reputation like Sabbath would hire such an average drummer.  I stood through the solo, but I didn’t clap.  It wasn’t until long into the next song when Iommi was in the middle of his solo that I really felt like I was getting back into the show.  But even then, I was getting tired and starting to wish the concert would end soon.  No concert should ever make a person feel that way.  Despite the best efforts of the band I would have much preferred Megadeth adding four or five songs to their set and Sabbath dropping as many.

Sabbath’s set included (again, in no particular order) Computer God, After All (the Dead), Heaven and Hell, Mob Rules, Voodoo, The Sign of the Southern Cross, E5150 (open), Children of the Sea, Lady Evil, Falling Off the Edge of the World, Neon Knights (encore), Die Young, I, The Devil Cried and Shadow of the Wind.  I give them four out of five goats, they get one extra just because Ronnie used it originally to connect with fans in a different way than Ozzy. \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/

Rock on.