LIVE – Gigantour featuring Megadeth and Black Label Society, July 8, 2013

Venue: DTE Energy Music Theater

City: Clarkston, MI

Date: July 8, 2013

Reviewer & Photographer: Todd Jolicoeur – www.toddstarphotography.com

On an overcast Monday night, the crowd isn’t letting the wet and humid air keep them down.  They are there for one reason and one reason only – to rock out with the music they love played by bands they love.  Metal bands seems to bring out a different type of loyalty in their fans.  Tonight it is the traveling festival Gigantour that has brought the fans out in droves.  The annual tour version 2013 features headliner Megadeth along with Black Label Society, Device, Hellyeah, Newstead, and newcomers Death Division.

Mustaine and company are sonically at the top of their game tonight, moving through classics from their career as well as soon-to-be classic from their latest album, Super Collier.  From the minute they hit the stage, it is evident, even through the smoke and lights, that they mean business… and thankfully tonight, business is good.  The band has been touring and playing together for so long now, it is second nature for these guys to crank these songs out and make them sound tight and fresh, while maintaining their classic feel.  Opener “Trust” set the pace and mood for the performance.  As new songs were played, the intensity level from the stage increased showing the crowd that this band still has the goods and delivers.  “Kingmaker” was killer live and made me go back and listen to the entire new disc all the way home from the show.  To hear “Super Collider” followed by “Symphony of Destruction” gives the crowd time to digest and compared new classic to old classics and grasp the concept of how strong the new tracks are.  If this tour travels through your town, don’t be a fool – grab a ticket.

Setlist: Trust – Hangar 18 – Kingmaker – She-Wolf – Skin o’ My Teeth – Architecture of Aggression – Sweating Bullets – Hook in Mouth – A Tout Le Monde – Super Collider – Symphony of Destruction – Cold Sweat (Thin Lizzy cover) – Peace Sells – Holy Wars… The Punishment Due – Silent Scorn

Complete Set of Photos from Megadeth’s Performance Here

http://www.megadeth.com

https://www.facebook.com/Megadeth

Warming up the stage just before Megadeth, Black Label Society, featuring Zakk Wylde, played to a venue full of Berzerkers.  The set list was a great culmination of tracks from the bands career that showcased not only the phenomenal guitar work that Zakk is known for, but the vocals he possesses and the tight unit behind him that makes up the rest of the band.  From opener “Godspeed Hell Bound to closer “Stillborn,” Zakk and the rest of the band left nothing on the stage.  Tonight the band flexed every muscle and delivered the goods and were on overdrive as they moved through the songs they readied for the crowd.  He may have tamed his life style in teh past few years, but he is still a “wylde” man once the lights go down and the volume comes up.

Setlist: Godspeed Hell Bound – Destruction Overdrive – Bleed for Me – Forever Down – Guitar Solo – Parade of the Dead – Overlord – Guitar Solo – Suicide Messiah – Concrete Jungle – Stillborn

Complete Set of Photos from Black Label Society’s Performance Here

http://blacklabelsociety.com/home

https://www.facebook.com/blacklabelsociety

Category: Live Reviews