|
LIVE REVIEW of GIGANTOUR
@ PNC BANK ARTS CENTER
Holmdel, New Jersey - 8/24/05
By Dave Larmore
Quite a few Metalheads sit back and bitch about the mundane metal bands and tour packages that are making their rounds this past summer. However, they are too busy with the bitching to even notice that there
was a great tour making the rounds that consisted of some of the most important Metal bands today, who are carrying the torch on a genre that has been buried underground since MTV pulled the plug on the original
Ricky Rachtman-hosted Headbanger's Ball. The tour was called GIGANTOUR, and was the brainchild of MEGADETH front man Dave Mustaine.
What GIGANTOUR had to offer was a summer long two-stage seven hour metal festival at an affordable rate ($37 a ticket!) and play host to Metal from the past, Metal of the present, and the future of Metal.
The second stage, located outside the premises of the main stage area, played host to BOBAFLEX, DRY KILL LOGIC, SYMPHONY X and LIFE OF AGONY. The main stage, however, consisted of NEVERMORE, THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, FEAR FACTORY and co-headlining acts DREAM THEATER and MEGADETH. Prior to this show, Blabbermouth had been reporting lackluster ticket sales at GIGANTOUR thus far, but later inspection of this location's turn out showed that this show was nearly (if not) sold out! The fact that there was a local radio station there supporting and promoting the show probably played a big hand in the massive turn out, because GIGANTOUR hasn't exactly had much media exposure at all.
 |
Yours truly arrived at the show ten minutes early, so I could pick up my Photo Pass to take pictures for the review now being read by any loyal UNCHAIN fan. BOBAFLEX had a good 10-15 minutes
opening the second stage, and they weren't anything worthy of note. In fact, they sounded pretty much like any other local Nu-Metal band around, and blended quite a bit of Rap into their
material. Unimpressed, my lady and myself walked up the stairs to get to the main stage area, because I wasn't expecting much from DRY KILL LOGIC or LIFE OF AGONY either. The only disappointment
about not staying around for much of the second stage was SYMPHONY X, who is a great Progressive Metal band.
The show itself had a fairly interactive atmosphere, as music chain store F.y.e. (For Your Entertainment) had a "Meet and Greet" booth set up on the left side of the main stage area, where you could buy
an album and get the band to autograph the album sometime later on in the evening... unless it was DREAM THEATER, who were the only band who resigned from the "Meet and Greet" booth! I found
that to be a rather shitty move, considering that half (or even more than half) of the crowd in attendance was there to see DREAM THEATER! Even though I purchased it the day it came out, I
elected to re-purchase This Godless Endeavor, because I definitely wanted to meet NEVERMORE face-to-face. After all, I did conduct an interview with bassist Jim Sheppard merely weeks before the
show, and wanted to know if he remembered the interview. Additionally, I also purchased the jewel-case single disc edition (I already had the CD+DVD digipack) of MEGADETH's Greatest Hits,
because the idea of meeting two of my all-time favorite bands was worth repurchasing two albums that I already had.
 |
While I was at the booth, NEVERMORE opened up their set with "Narcosynthesis", so the lady and me rushed to our seats to catch the band. In only the 30 minutes they had, NEVERMORE absolutely
knocked the (unfortunately small) crowd on their asses! Due to their 30 minute slot on the tour, NEVERMORE had three rotating set
lists in mind, and the songs in this evening's set were "Born", "Never Purify", "Final Product", "The River Dragon Has Come" and "Enemies
Of Reality", which covers the Dead Heart, In A Dead World, Enemies Of Reality and This Godless Endeavor records. NEVERMORE front man Warrel Dane jokingly said to a fan in a front row, "we can't fit
another song into 30 minutes, buddy", towards the end of their set. A half hour following their set, NEVERMORE were scheduled to be
the first band to participate in the FYE "Meet and Greet" booth, and I got in line a good twenty minutes prior to the time they were scheduled to arrive. I noticed that at the main stage merchandise
booth, they didn't have ANY merchandise for NEVERMORE, yet they had an abundance of DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN merchandise, whose 45-minute set I had no problem missing out on.
Repurchasing This Godless Endeavor was definitely worth more than the retail price, as NEVERMORE were very sociable, friendly and outgoing during their time at the booth. In addition to that, there
was authentic NEVERMORE picks laying around on the table that were free and had bassist Jim Sheppard's autograph engraved on the reverse side of the pick. Even before he sat down, bassist Jim
Sheppard was shaking hands and socializing with those in the front of the line. I first met Jim Sheppard, shook his hand and complimented the band's set, and he indeed did remember the
interview he did with UNCHAIN, as I introduced myself. While he was autographing my unwrapped and unopened CD (the lady and I were the only ones who didn't open up our CDs), I asked him what
NEVERMORE's plans were following the conclusion of GIGANTOUR, in which he proceeded to explain to me that they are going to take a week-long break and then embark on a tour across North America.
While he was explaining this to me, I noticed that guitarist Steve Smyth observed the conversation and then swiped my album to autograph. After I shook Sheppard's hand again and vowed to
attend a gig, I inquired to Smyth about the upcoming new album from black metal band DRAGONLORD and if he had any participation on it, in which he confirmed that he did in fact play on it, that the
album was recorded awhile ago and told me to definitely look out for it. Then Warrel Dane (who is definitely a character) and drummer Van Williams autographed it, who I assured that I was going to put
the album "on the fucking wall", instead of opening it. Last but not least, guitar virtuoso Jeff Loomis autographed my album, and I
pointed out that the band (HATESPHERE) on his shirt kicked ass. After inquiring about his solo album, I asked if I could have a picture taken with him, and he gladly obliged. In the end, it's accurate to
conclude that NEVERMORE's band members are equivalent to their music: great.
 |
After THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN finished their set, FEAR FACTORY's backdrop was set up and technicians were tuning up the instruments. During the 15 minutes of waiting, the three screens
above the stage served as a display for text messages to the arena. It was rather humorous, as messages like "IRON MAIDEN rules
Sharon Osbourne", "Dave over Kirk", "Scream if you love KING DIAMOND", "Kenny Rogers is sexy" and even marriage proposals all
appeared on the screen. I sent "Jeff Loomis is God" to the screen a few times, but the message wasn't processed for some reason. After all of this, FEAR FACTORY proceeded to annihilate the crowd
with tracks from Archetype ("Cyberwaste", "Archetype"), Digimortal ("Acres Of Skin"), The Soul Of A New Machine ("Martyr"), Obsolete
and new album Transgression ("Transgression") in their 45-minute set. Even with Dino Cazares (ASESINO) no longer handling Guitar duties, FEAR FACTORY proved that they still put on a great fucking
show nonetheless. During the set, the lady and me got in the seemingly mile long line to meet MEGADETH on the other side by the main stage, but we were still able to watch FEAR FACTORY. Front
man Burton C. Bell ended up doing Michael Jackson impersonations in between songs later on in the set, and FEAR FACTORY even covered the tail end of "Walk" (PANTERA) as well towards the end of
their set, which massively delighted the entire crowd in attendance.
Concerning the line to meet Megadeth? The line progressed very slowly and it was announced that no photos were allowed, but there was humor amongst the middle of the line despite the two
aforementioned circumstances, because there was a guy wearing glasses that looked EXACTLY like Dave Mustaine right behind me that someone had pointed out during the wait. This is no joke, as he
had the same hairstyle and facial features, only repulsive and smattered with acne! Right before we finally got into MEGADETH's tent, DREAM THEATER opened up their set with "The Root Of All Evil"
, which disappointed many of us in line, due to the fact that we weren't able to actually witness them playing. The lady and me intended to repeat not opening the CD, but a security guard wasn't
going to allow it and took us out of the line until we opened up our CD and opened it for the band to sign. Considering that there wasn't trouble like that when meeting NEVERMORE, it was definitely
an anal retentive move. However, that wasn't as anal retentive as being able to meet MEGADETH, who barely socialized and recognized whose album they were signing; hell, we couldn't even hand
Mustaine the CD, as the security guard passed the album down for us! I was very disappointed that after waiting in a long line for a good half hour that MEGADETH were barely sociable or accessible.
Not only that, but I did not even want the other three to autograph the Greatest Hits album, because they didn't play a single fucking note on it! As far as I am concerned, Dave Mustaine was the only
member who had any business autographing the album. I wanted the band to autograph the MEGADETH "Peace Sells" 3/4 Long Sleeve shirt I had purchased earlier in the evening, but that wasn't allowed
either, as the security guard refused to allow that as well! As great as the band are, MEGADETH ought to take a lesson from NEVERMORE concerning fan interaction!
After that anal retentive fiasco they called a "Meet and Greet" MEGADETH, the lady and me went to purchase two bottled waters for $7 and went back to our seats to catch the rest of DREAM
THEATER's hour and a half set. After they played "Honor Thy Father" and "Panic Attack", it seemed as though DREAM THEATER played only one song for the entire night, because it was quite
breath-taking, to be honest. Most of the time, the song(s) ended up with the band jamming, and it was hard to take pictures due to DREAM THEATER's lighting technique. During DREAM THEATER's
entire set, some dipshit and his hippie-looking girlfriend a row in front of mine were standing up the entire time, resulting in a majority of my row (and rows behind mine) having to stand up most
of the time. I couldn't have been a tightwad and asked them to sit down, because they did pay for tickets after all, and they can do what they want. However, it's still worthy of mention, and I am
sure that any concertgoer can relate to an annoyance like this. Right before they launched into "Pull Me Under", the final song in
their set, the lady and me went back to the left side of the building to stretch, hang out and buy another $3.50 bottled water. I then noticed that some NEVERMORE merchandise was finally up for sale,
replacing the DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN's merchandise, with three T-Shirts. I gladly purchased the tour shirt that featured NEVERMORE's NM-pentagram logo on the front and the list of
GIGANTOUR tour dates on the back. After that, it was back to the seats in anticipation of MEGADETH's hour and a half set.
 |
The lights went out as fire and explosions assisted MEGADETH in ripping into set opener "Blackmail The Universe", with "Set The World
Afire", "Skin O' My Teeth" and "In My Darkest Hour" proceeding the opener. It appeared as though the band were seemingly in a bit of
rush, as front man Dave Mustaine did not interact or speak with the crowd at all. Despite this, MEGADETH were absolutely solid and completely opposite of their "Meet and Greet" performance, as
MEGADETH were absolutely on fire during their entire set. If it wasn't before/during every song, it was before/during every other song that MEGADETH utilized explosions and fire, as the heat of the
flames could be felt even where I was sitting. On that note, I wonder how drummer Shawn Drover felt every time a flame shot up, considering that there was a flame directly behind him? Eventually
into the set, Dave thanked us for coming out and become more sociable, but a majority of the set was MEGADETH hammering out one song to the next, taking no break or no prisoners (pun intended!
). "The Scorpion" and "Die Dead Enough" sounded a lot better live than they did on 2004's The System Has Failed, while "Kick The
Chair" is already a classic and essential live MEGADETH song. "Sweating Bullets", "Tornado Of Souls", "Angry Again", "Hanger 18",
"Wake Up Dead", "A Tout Le Monde", "Reckoning Day", "Trust" and "She-Wolf". Essentially, the trio of "Symphony Of Destruction,
"Peace Sells" and "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" concluded the evening, as Dave Mustaine thanked us for coming to the show and wished us safe arrival back home.
In the end, GIGANTOUR was well worth attending. Hopefully with the conclusion of this whole altogether, NEVERMORE will finally get the recognition that they have deserved many years before... and
Dave Mustaine proved that he is still one of the top figures in heavy metal history and in heavy metal today.
RELATED LINKS:
www.gigantour.com
|
