Concert Chronicles - Clash of the Titans (Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, Alice in Chains) 1991-06-08 Cedar Rapids, IA

I found this show very difficult to write about. Because of the hundreds (probably thousands now) of concerts and shows that I have attended, this is my favorite.  I am not sure how to capture the magic that this night had for me.

I've started to write this review/remembrance several times and then stopped because I didn't feel that I was doing the night justice.  I still won't write up to what it deserves, but we've got to get it done even though it does not contain my true feelings of the night.  This night for me was one of the perfect mixings of youth, friendship, and metal music.  It felt like a coming-of-age story for me.

I was excited for this show - Megadeth was one of my favorite bands.  I became aware of them through my older brother years earlier when he bought the Peace Sells album. I loved Peace Sells and probably played his vinyl record more than he did (although he did record it to tape, so he could play it in his car). Then I got So Far, So Good...So What on cassette for my 14th birthday in 1988 and pretty much wore it out.  Those two months between release and getting the cassette were very difficult.  My brother was able to see Megadeth live in June of 1988, opening for Iron Maiden, but my mom would not let me go (and I am not sure my brother and his friends would have had me anyway).  A couple of years later, I would steal the concert shirts from my brother, and they would serve as an integral part of my wardrobe throughout high school and college.  I still have and wear the two Megadeths...but did give him back the Iron Maiden about 5 years ago (Thanks for letting me 'borrow' it for 30 years!).  I was SO disappointed that I wasn't able to go...and honestly, I wasn't sure if Megadeth would be around again for another tour (and especially one coming to Iowa).  

Two years later, the Rust in Peace album was released...and I went to the midnight release at my local record store.  This was my first midnight release, and although it was hyped really big, I was underwhelmed by the experience. It ended up just being 5 of us metalheads standing in line to buy the album.  As a high school kid, I was the youngest there by close to a decade (it felt like)...it was probably only 5 or 6 years, and many jokes were made about the "baby" buying his first record and how "you aren't ready for Megadeth, go buy Wilson Phillips" and the like. So when it was my turn, I put basically all the money I had on the counter to buy the CD and the album-cover t-shirt.  But I did get a free sticker...so, I got that going for me.  The older guys did invite to go drink, smoke, and listen to the album with them afterwards; but I wasn't into drinking and smoking, plus I had school the next morning...so my first midnight release ended up being waiting in line (of 5 people) for two hours, then spending $50 in about 5 minutes, and going straight home.  I am not sure what I expected, but it was more than that.  I didn't have a CD player in my car, so my first listen would have to wait a bit.  I pumped myself up listening to my So Far cassette on the way home.  I arrived home just about 1am and put on my headphones, lay on my waterbed, and hit play.  We didn't have cable when I grew up, so I hadn't seen the Holy Wars video previous but it was playing at the record store during the release, but it was hard to hear and see on the 13-inch tv hanging from the ceiling.  Oddly, they weren't even playing the new album in the store...it was just the standard rock mix they used every day. But still,  I picked up enough that on first listen of the CD that I thought it was OK.  I lay there and listened to the rest of the album, and about 2am, I turned off my stereo and thought, "Well, that sucked."  I hated the album.  Even though I was disappointed, I wore my new shirt to school because I thought a couple of people might ask me about the new album...and I was prepared to tell them how awful it was.  However, the release of a new Megadeth album was much more important to me than everyone else.  No one asked; it was just another day (although my friends Cam and Paul did discuss it later that week).  I felt somewhat dejected all morning, but, I then realized that bits of the album were stuck on repeat in the back of my brain all day - the opening drums on Holy Wars, the guitar solo on Hangar 28, "Give me Alchemy, Give me Wizardry...", bass line on Poison was the Cure, the opening riffs on Tornado of Souls, and "I spread disease like a dog."  By the end of the school day, I couldn't wait to race home and listen to the CD again.  So that's what I did, and I put it on repeat from about 4pm to 2am.  By the time I went to sleep, not only did I love Rust in Peace; it was my favorite Megadeth album by far (and still waiting to be toppled).  I am not sure why I didn't like it at first...maybe it was a little more mature of a sound than I was expecting; maybe it was too much anticipation on my part, maybe it was the slightly sour taste in my mouth from the midnight release.  I was wrong, it is a great album.  Still a top ten (maybe top five album for me).

When the Clash of the Titans concerts in Europe were announced, I was bummed because that sounded amazing.  Megadeth, Slayer, Testament, and Suicidal Tendencies?  I wasn't a huge Slayer fan, but I mean, that is an incredible line-up.  Europe is SO lucky.  But then the North American leg was announced about 6 months later as Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, and Alice in Chains.  AiC only had the Angry Chair video out at the time of tour announcement and I had bought the album a week or so earlier, I wasn't super familiar with them yet, but they seemed like they would be great.  Anthrax was one of my first album buys with my own money when I was 12.  And although I love most of Anthrax's stuff, the sequence of Among the Living, State of Euphoria, and Persistence of Time is an amazing run; so Anthrax live would be awesome.  I enjoy but am not a huge fan of Slayer (to this day), and I hadn't had a chance to see them live yet, so that too sounded exciting.  But Megadeth was the crowning jewel for me...I was trying to figure out how I would be able to make a show in Chicago or Minneapolis or something, but then an Iowa stop was announced.  I was overjoyed and bought tickets right away for me and what would become my semi-regular concert crew.  My concert crew was me, my brother Kelly, his/our friends Steve and Zac.  I am not even sure if I asked them if they wanted to go because it was such an obvious "yes."

This show was more than great music for me...it was more like a coming of age event.  One of those nights where everything just had this feeling of electricity and awesomeness.  It doesn't seem that far to me now, but back then, that would be the furthest that I had driven (130 miles from Des Moines to Cedar Rapids).  My parents loaned me their "gas card" for the trip, which was nice as I was a poor high schooler...and I wanted to save my money for a concert tee(s).  We took full advantage and filled the tank with gas and then stocked up on Cap'n Crunch, beef jerky, Mountain Dew, and Minute Maid Orange Soda (RIP - fuck you Coke, this was better than Fanta) for the trip.  The trip over was a great night of four guys, music cranked, headbanging with the windows down.  If that had been a non-concert night, that still would have been a great night.

We arrived several hours early...this was mostly due to my nervousness about missing anything.  We grabbed some food at the nearby mall and then waited in line for about an hour before the doors opened.  We weren't the first in line, but we were definitely one of the first 30 in the door.  We walk around the arena and check out the fans.  It's your normal, mostly guys, metal crowd, but a beautiful girl is standing in the front row on the right side of the stage.  We are all too chicken to talk to her (especially me), but she became "The Boathouse" where we "The Fisherman" (trying to "catch" girls) would meet after going our own ways during the show.  It is definitely a bit cringe now, but it seemed fun when we were young and dumb.  I didn't really care about any of that anyway, as I was there for the music and I stayed pretty much in the same spot about 3 people from the front of the stage all night...I had a perfect spot where I could see well and wasn't getting too crushed by the crowd.

Alice in Chains had released Man in the Box as a single by then but it seemed like it wasn't huge yet...or maybe AiC just weren't huge yet.  I'd had the album for almost a year by the time this show came around so to me, it seemed like AiC were well known stars but most of the crowd didn't seem to know most of their songs.  AiC started with "Would?" which had not been released yet, so that was a surprise for everyone.  They continued with a good chunk of the Facelift album with Man in the Box being the most known and closing their set...the crowd was into their set, but not as much as I thought they should be.  Layne was definitely a star and rocking the entire set.  He was headbanging so hard throughout that I am pretty sure one of his dreadlocks came off...which was kind of gross to think about (but had it flown into the crowd, I probably would have tried to grab it).  I was glad when Layne went away from that look about a year later.  Unfortunately, they did not play Angry Chair.

Anthrax rocked the stage next.  They played a good chunk of Among the Living and a couple of songs from both State of Euphoria and Persistence of Time.  I personally would have preferred a little more of both the latter (I know, I am weird), but it was a good set.  The crowd went wild, especially when the bass line for Got the Time started off the second or third song...there was SO much frenzied energy.  You couldn't help but jump up and down and bang your head.  In the middle of the song a guy behind me all of a sudden grabs my shoulders and is using my back as a stepladder to go crowd surfing.  He basically walked up my body...like, step on calf, step on spine, step on head and push off.  It wasn't ideal.  I was like WTF? and then quickly back into the show.  He later came back to me and apologized after the set, he was just so "stoked" to crowd surf.  He asked me if I wanted to "go up"...and I did, but I was a little afraid and also didn't want to miss any of the show.  I regret that a bit.

Slayer was next and they put on good show, but as always, I just wasn't that into them.  I had a good time, I headbanged, moshed a bit, but nothing really memorable sticks out for me.  It was cool to see Kerry King with his giant spiked arm band because that was just iconic.  They sounded good and their set was heavy and bone-crushing; it made me appreciate them more than I had previously, but it didn't convert me to a fan.

I took a break for a couple of Slayer songs to go pick up a couple of concert shirts.  I picked up the Clash of the Titans tour shirt, a Hangar 18 tour shirt, and an Anthrax Not Man shirt.  Unfortunately, I did not examine the shirts closely upon purchase.  The Hangar 18 was a great shirt, great quality, great printing.  I was disappointed in the Anthrax shirt because it did not have the tour dates.  I swear, from the merch table display it showed the back with dates...but mine did not have it.  I had previously had a Not Man shirt that was basically the same (but cost half as much from the local record store), unfortunately I had ripped it a year or so earlier and missed it...so I thought this would be a great replacement.  I wish that I had gotten the Persistence of Time shirt instead of Not Man. I didn't wear Not Man as much because of the non-date disappointment and questions like "Is that supposed to be Mario on your shirt?" I was also disappointed in the quality of the Clash tour shirt, as the graphics felt like a big, thick iron-on instead of being screen printed (I don't know if that was the case or not).  It made the shirt feel twice as heavy as it should have been, and mine front graphic was also off-center quite a bit. It was down, and to my left about 2-3 inches, which just made it look and feel weird...and since it was so heavy, it pulled awkwardly on the side of my neck.  Still, Clash and Hangar 18 made it into my regular wardrobe for years (until they were stolen in college); I am not sure where my Anthrax tee ended.

I go back to watch Slayer finish up and wait for Megadeth.  After the stage swap-over, there is a pause...not your normal "Roadies are finishing up the switchover and doing small things behind the scenes" pause, but a pause of just nothing going on for far too long.  Then the local radio DJ who introduced the show comes on...at this point, I'm pretty sure Dave must have ODed or something and they are going to announce the end of the show.  He starts talking but is in not clear...just minutes of  blabbing about something it is hard to understand...and then he starts talking about how these two fans "always wanted to get married at a Megadeth concert" (or Slayer...i am not sure what he said) and <whatever> rock station was going to make their dreams come true tonight.  Ugh.  Out comes the bride, groom, and preacher to start performing the wedding ceremony...but none of the participants had microphones so you couldn't hear anything being said.  It was lazy and half-assed and took way too long.  The crowd quickly devolved into chants of "Fuck the wedding, we want Megadeth,"...so hopefully that is how they dreamed their wedding would go.  I don't know these people, but I hate them for doing this and really bringing the energy in the place to a screeching halt.

The Megadeth set started with a pre-taped message (not voiced by the band, I believe) about martial law and everyone having to stay home, give urine samples, not ask questions, etc... or you would be shot.  I got the point right away, and I liked the spotlights swirling around the arena and stage like they were searching for lawbreakers or whatever, but the whole thing was too long.  You start yelling and cheering because you think the band is coming out, but the tape keeps going and going and everyone gets tired of yelling, so it gets quiet again and I'm just standing there.  I'm sure it was like three minutes long, but it felt like 30...it should have been one minute.  Or even better, not exist.  It didn't add anything and was cheesy (in my opinion); I just wanted Megadeth.  

Megadeth comes on stage towards the end of the message and starts ripping into "Wake Up Dead."  It is everything that I wanted to see in Megadeth.  Dave Mustaine was cool as shit - skin-tight jeans, bullet belt, black tee, long hair pouring down the sides of his face and brushing the top of his flying-v guitar as headbanged.  His singing sneer sounded amazing (to me) and he was totally shredding.  For me, at this time in my life, it was like seeing God.  This was the lineup that would become the classic lineup.  Nick Menza's drums were hammering your chest, Dave Ellefson's bass was thundering, and Marty Friedman's solos were slick.  Before Megadeth took the stage, part of me was wishing for Gar on drums and Chris (maybe even Jeff) on guitar...I liked Rust in Peace, but these were still "the new guys" and I was more than a bit bummed that I didn't get to see the old lineup.  Howeverm the new guys hit it out of the park at this show.  I was headbanging and moshing the entire set...while still trying to keep my eyes on the all the action on the stage.  My throat was sore for singing (yelling) along.  I was a little bit horrified at Marty's playing style - it looked so painful.  It looked like held his hand way too low, and curved his fingers and pick upward to the strings. I couldn't really even watch it, it made my wrists ache.  It was a killer set - Wake Up Dead, Hook in Mouth, The Conjouring, etc... It was an amazing set (full setlist below from setlist.fm).  Of course, I would have liked for them to play longer (hopefully the wedding didn't fuck us out of a song) or maybe swapped a song or two, but man, it was fantastic.  The whole thing was a blur of metal, hair, sweat, and a great time.  The hour long set seemed to last forever and only minutes at the same time.  I felt high, euphoric...but not from secondhand smoke.  I felt part of something greater with all the energy and like minded metalheads.  It was a feeling that completely hooked me on concerts and live music.  A feeling that I have chased for decades to feel again.  I have felt it many times, but probably not quite as powerful as that night.  I have been to many, many shows since and that feeling of unity/energy/power/comraderie still happens...but unfortunately far too infrequently.  This Megadeth show was everything that I could have wanted with one tiny exception, and this would be something that would drive me nuts for most of the Megadeth shows that I have attended.  That issue is that they ended the show with "Anarchy in the UK."  It is a decent cover (of an OK song), the crowd goes wild, most people (even not Megadeth fans) know it, fast and fun...I know why they ended with it.  But it is NOT a Megadeth song.  I hated that they ended with a cover.  It seemed weak, it seemed like they thought "Well, this song is better than anything we wrote."

There are so many things about that night permanently etched into my brain - from the smell of the summer air on the drive to Cedar Rapids, to the press of the crowd when near the barricades, to Dave Mustaine surrounded by light and looking like metal legend. I believe it was a night that affected the rest of my life.  By this time I had been to a few other concerts...and had a great time, but this was different.  It felt important and it felt like something had changed inside me.  Live music was now in my blood and I constantly craved more.

Concert Chronicles - KnotFest Iowa (Slipknot, Megadeth, Lamb of God, Gojira, Trivium, $uicideboy$, Tech N9ne, Fever 333) 2021-09-25 Indianola, IA

I hate day(s)-long outdoor music festivals.  The positives of these festivals are that I get to see a lot of bands that I might not otherwise get to see live and I get to experience new music that I might not hear otherwise.  The negatives, however, are many and the older I get the more annoying that I find them - such as: short sets, excessive time between acts, long lines for everything, the expense, the parking, the insane amounts of people, the dirt, unpredictable weather, etc...  

So I didn't think I would be attending Knotfest.  I've seen Slipknot many, many times, and although it is (now) always a good show; I wasn't sure that I wanted to put up with all the festival negatives.  That changed the day or two later when the full line-up was announced.  Most people who know me would guess that Megadeth was the deciding factor.  Megadeth did play a big part in the decision, but the tipping point for me was Faith No More.  I've enjoyed their hugely varied musical offerings since I first saw a VHS recording of MTV's 120 Minutes with the video for We Care a Lot.  I can't say that they were ever my favorite band, but they were always intriguing and a good listen.  I enjoyed the Angel Dust album at a time when most people were disappointed in it because of the perceived differences from the previous (hugely popular) Real Thing album.  It's not the best album, but it definitely is better than many gave it credit at the time.  To me, FNM continued to explore the musical landscape and I enjoyed the variety.  Again never my favorite, but always compelling.  Is that enough to overcome my hatred of festival shows?  Possibly but wouldn't have been certain without the song Last Cup of Sorrow; which I find brilliant and would love to see live.  Unfortunately, Faith No More canceled their appearance less than 2 weeks before the show for mental health reasons.  I was highly disappointed at the news, but support mental health and applaud FNM for doing what is healthy for themselves.  Hopefully, I will see you guys in the future.

The weather was expected to be great - mid to upper 70s with clear skies.  I was busy helping get my wife ready for her job and knew I would not arrive at the festival for the beginning but I was more than alright with that as it was already going to be a long day.  Knotfest was expecting over 30,000 attendees, I knew parking would be a disaster.  I decided to take the free shuttle that was offered.  This was a festival first for me.  Previous festivals that I attended usually didn't have this option and the one time that I do remember it being offered, it was completely out of my way and inconvenient.  The ride on the shuttle itself was fine...maybe took 10 minutes longer than driving myself but saved time in the long run by not having to worry about parking.  I (on the shuttle) arrived at the festival grounds at 1:00pm-ish.  This was 2 hours after the doors opened.  I had hoped that the initial crowd would be thinned out and it would be pretty smooth sailing getting in the gates.  I was wrong.  The line was over 1.5 miles long, winding through the parking lot and doubling upon itself on the road several times.  You could just barely hear the band (Gatecreeper who I kind of wanted to see...but not enough that I tried to arrive earlier) and the people behind me were talking about how they hoped to be in before the next stage one band (Knocked Loose) took the stage at 2:15pm.  I didn't think there would be any way for this line to move that fast but at least we would be closer and they should be able to hear it ok.  I was wrong...we didn't make it in AND the sound was terrible from our vantage, they were very disappointed.  As the line finally made its way toward the gates it curved and wrapped through the VIP parking lot.  These were people who paid like $400 per ticket and got special parking and got to basically skip the lines.  Unluckily their cars were really dusty from the gravel road into the parking area and some irate fans in line started drawing dicks in dust on their vehicles.  Witnessing a sea of cocks drawn on these vehicles was pretty humorous to all of us that had been plodding along forever.  It was harmless fun, but I would have liked to see some of their faces when they noticed after the show.  As usual, the majority of fans waiting were tolerant and patient with the situation; even though they were frustrated with the poor planning.  There were a few outstanding people too - like the purple-haired girl that brought a large trash bag picking up trash people left and letting others toss their trash while they waited in line.  This should have been something done by the organizers, but of course, it wasn't.  Others were sharing drinks and food and just being amiable humans stuck in a bad situation.  There were exceptions though - most notably the non-Iowan meatheads behind me who: a)  bragged that they were going to "fuck people up in the pit", b) complained that all the bands suck except for the 3 they liked, c) complained that these fans were different than the fans that used to go see Slipknot, and d) how Iowa is more white-trash than Missouri (not sure what their reasoning was here).  I couldn't get away from them fast enough.

I was finally ticket scanned and inside the festival grounds proper at 3:10pm.  Over two hours to get inside the festival.  It doesn't look as great of a period of time when you look at the schedule but holy crap: three full band sets and half of another missed.  Why?  The production company had been saying for weeks that they expected huge crowds (get your tickets now before they sell out).  They should have been prepared.  The biggest problem was that everyone had to go through a metal detector.  On paper, they had plenty of walk-through metal detectors, at least 20, maybe more...but they missed one tiny detail.  They didn't have tables or baskets for people to bypass their harmless metal objects past the detectors (a few did, but maybe only a third of the metal detector lines were so equipped).   Every time virtually anyone walked through the 2/3 of the other metal detectors they then had to then be hand-wanded because nearly everyone had a phone, keys, watch,  or something else harmless that would set off the detectors.  It brought the entire line to a slow creep.  It was an idiotic oversite by the production company.  Unfortunately, just one of many.

Once into the festival grounds, it was all lines. Lines everywhere.  Lines for food, lines for water and other drinks, lines for the attractions, lines for merch...pretty much if there was something it had a line.  The one exception was the bathrooms.  Here the promoter did a great job and there were probably a couple hundred porta-potties around the edge of the field.  If you had to wait for a bathroom, it was never very long.  Everything else was a different story. I had originally planned on grabbing some food when I first arrived at the concert but then decided to grab a breakfast sandwich and a huge soda to hold me over for a while before boarding the shuttle...this turned out to be a lucky move.   I found a nice, spot to watch the show and spent my time people-watching between acts (especially the people in the lines).  Food and drink lines crossed nearly the entire field.  People were standing in line for two hours or more for water.  Many foods were running out and it was still in the afternoon.  Lines were so bad that there were people fainting while waiting in line for a drink (of course no outside food or drink was allowed).  After being at the show for hours, the lines had not changed much.  Talked to some people near me and they said they waited in line for two and the only food left at the vendor was french fries.  So that is all they had eaten all day (and they had been at the show since 10am...it was now 6pm).  People who made it through the lines and were now starting to buy more than they needed (if the vendor actually had food & drink) and then scalping the extra.  I saw several people pay $20 for a can of water and another guy gave someone $50 for a hamburger and beer.  I think the production company is very lucky that there were not more dehydration injuries (and there were a bunch).  It was poorly run.  It seems like one of those situations where they were like "We will limit the number of vendors so everyone makes more money!" but I think everyone would have made more money if people were actually able to buy food instead of waiting in a line for hours.  I know I decided it wasn't worth it and skipped spending the money that I had planned.  From what I could tell, lines stayed pretty consistent until about 8:30pm when they started to decrease some (not a lot, but maybe only a one-hour wait instead of two plus).  A bit later, I now feel very fortunate that the mismanagement didn't lead to any deaths (hearts out to the people that were injured and killed at Astroworld 2021).

Seeing the breadth and variations of humanity at festival concerts is always interesting.  I try not to judge people too much, but there there is always a few people that I think to myself "What were you thinking when you decided to wear that?"  There were definitely poor fashion choices, but nothing that was completely insane.  I mean, I do question the reasoning of the guy that wore the sloth onesie that was 2 or 3 sizes too small as it looked like his family jewels were more than a little smashed...but I guess that is what he wanted.  Of course, there were tons of people in Slipknot jumpsuits and masks (my calculations: 85% Corey v1 masks, 13% Joey v1 & v2, 2% Clown v1, and 1% Jim various).  Lots of people in various obscure band tees...this was often me when younger, but I wore a muppet tee this time.  I always like seeing the more uncommon shirts and even better when 2 people connect over a little-known band.  I always try to compliment someone when they are wearing a good but not popular band shirt.  The outfit that I had the biggest issue with was the shirtless chubby guy that wore star pasties over his nipples.  I am not sure if the pasties were for sun protection or privacy, but it was a total missed opportunity in my mind.  If you are going to see Slipknot and going to wear star pasties on your nipples, I would think the MINIMUM effort would be to turn the stars upside down and draw a circle around it to create an inverted pentagram.  Such a waste.

The music - I got inside the grounds about halfway through Fever 333's set.  I still didn't get to see that much of them, as I still had to work my way through the masses of people, but the song's that I was able to pay attention to (Burn It and Hunting Season) were enjoyable and I wished I was able to catch more of their set.  Tech N9ne was up next. Although I had not seen Tech before, I had checked his music previously after noticing that he plays at a local venue once or twice a year.  I enjoyed Tech N9ne's show, the horror rap he has is interesting.  My biggest issue was him trying to get the crowd to participate in various Kansas City chants and his Red Kingdom song.  To me, it just wasn't the right crowd - even though central Iowa is closer to KC than Minneapolis, Green Bay, or Chicago...I would say that none of their teams garner a majority of support.  And of those, Kansas City probably has some weaker support (completely based on the small circle of people I know)...it just didn't seem to connect with most of the audience.  I think Tech N9ne was a drag on the crowd...there were enough people just not interested in giving rap a try that the energy just started dissipating.  

I had seen Trivium before...but it had been many years ago.  I wasn't a huge fan back then but I thought they put on a pretty good show at KnotFest.  I thought Matt put a lot of heart and spirit into his performance.  Being a vast majority hard rock/metal crowd, Trivium really helped pump energy back into the crowd.  It still took several songs, but by the end of Trivium's set, the crowd was back to rocking and really ready for Gojira.  This was my second time seeing Gojira.  Previously had also been opening for Slipknot in 2019.   But, I had been a fan of them well before seeing them live.  They are one of those bands that I am surprised are not bigger than they are...still waiting for that one breakout hit, I guess.  Gojira put on a great show and I really look forward to a time when they come back to Iowa as headliners.

The crowd went nuts for Lamb of God.  Personally, I have never understood the appeal.  I've seen them a few times in concert, I have friends that swear by them, I've listened to the albums, I think Randy is pretty hilarious in interviews, etc...I have tried, but their music just doesn't stick with me.  At all.  Even now, I couldn't name a sing LoG song and would have difficulty even producing a lyric, I might be able to identify a couple riffs (maybe)...but mostly it goes right out of my head, so every time I hear it is like hearing it for the first time and being bored by it all over again.  I don't what it is, but my brain just translates Lamb of God to "This is the most generic, boring music I have heard" and quickly forgets it.

$uicide Boy$ were next and I was not familiar with them at all...and I would say the same for most of the crowd.  There was a small group of people that made their way to the front and seemed to be really into and knew the lyrics, but a lot of the crowd decided that it was a good time to hit the bathrooms or grab a drink.  There was some booing, which I didn't agree with as they were doing a decent job...it was just the wrong crowd.  I can appreciate what Slipknot was seemingly trying to do - expose people to a wide range of music.  I think that is great, but I think the rest of the conditions of the festival made the crowd more than a little angry and not receptive to new things.  I think the crowd might have been more receptive if they played earlier.  From my vantage point, I also thought they had some sound issues with the bass being way too loud and blown out.  So not only did it all sound a bit too fuzzy, but also it was so loud that the vocals were lost in the mix.  Overall,  I thought their set was OK.  I would have loved to see Run The Jewels in their place but that is only because I am more familiar with their music.

The headliner of stage 2:  Megadeth.  Megadeth is always a big draw for me, I have been a fan since my older brother first brought home the Peace Sells album in 1986...I was in sixth grade.  I have been lucky enough to have seen Megadeth many times on many tours - in large arenas, mid-sized concert halls, and smaller live music bars.  (I'll get chronicles up about most of those eventually.)  This show, however, was probably the most disappointing.  I might have had my expectations set way too high because I was really looking forward to this show...even with the unfortunate dismissal of David Ellefson a few months earlier, I still had high hopes. But to me, this show just seemed off.  It was still good, just not as good as I had hoped. When I think of a Megadeth show, I think of a dark stage and all of a sudden lights flare up and they bust into a ripper like Hanger 18 to melt faces.  It's zero to sixty in no time flat and it always gets my blood pumping.  This show however started with the recorded version of Prince of Darkness played over the PA system with video of various Vic Rattlehead and Megadeth images swirling and moving about on the video screens.  And this went on for minutes.  I think they thought it would build tension for Megadeth, but for me, it did the opposite.  It was diminishing, it took away all the impact of Megadeth's wall of noise, killer opening.  I was also surprised at how weak Dave Mustaine's voice sounded.  I have been to shows where his vocals were mixed too low but you could still tell his intense sneer, but this wasn't just low vocals it was like he didn't have his usual power.  I know Dave just turned 60 and that he battled throat cancer just a couple years earlier...but still I became distracted, it was hard to concentrate on the current set when my mind was comparing these vocals to all the vocals of past shows.  There also seemed to be a lot of breaks between songs.  I don't remember this happening in the past...the shows I recall were Megadeth coming out and just busting for 45 to 90 minutes, maybe a little banter or rant in the middle but mostly just killer song after killer song, no breaks.  Maybe it was equipment issues, maybe it was age...but play a song, stop for 2-5 minutes, play another song, stop for a few minutes....it just sapped all of my excitement and of course then they can't play as many songs in the set, which was just a waste.  I became wistful and more than a little depressed that this was perhaps the winding down of my faithful companion for the past 35 years.  I still enjoyed the show, it was still very good and these are all just minor flaws of a hardcore fanning pining about the loss of his own youth.  I told others at past shows when there was a lineup change or something wasn't as great as it could be: "a bad Megadeth show is better than many bands' good shows".

Finally, Slipknot.  I've seen Slipknot many, many, many times and after they struck it big, a home state show is always a glorious, high-energy affair.  And this was no different.  But after being somewhat let down by Megadeth, having been on my feet for 9+ hours, having nothing to eat or drink...I was worn out and not really in the mood.  I retreated further back onto the festival grounds to further distance myself from the crowds and just watched the video screens.  It is pretty amazing to see how they have transformed over the years and honed their sound.  Slipknot was good but a little after midnight, I decided that I was done for the day and headed for the exit and shuttles.  I did miss the last couple of songs and the Paul/Joey tribute but I was ok with that so that I could avoid the crowds...and I am glad I did.  I was able to get directly onto a bus and was back to my parked car in about 40 minutes, which wasn't bad.  But as we are getting dropped off at 1am, over the bus' radios you can hear the dispatcher begging for the drivers to return to the festival fairgrounds and pick up more loads of people.  From the radio chatter, it sounded like the production company had only contracted the drivers until 1am and so they were all taking their buses and going home...but the show didn't get over until 12:30am.  Later, I heard a bunch of people had been stranded at the festival grounds until 3 or 4am due to lack of buses and drivers.  Just another poorly planned aspect by the production company.  Personally, I was starving and parched so I headed to the nearest fast-food restaurants...all were closed.  I guess I hadn't really been out late since COVID started and hadn't realized that all these restaurants that used to be open until 3am or even 24 hours were now closing early.  Even most gas stations were closed.  I was thankful to find an open Quik Trip gas station and it was packed with fellow Slipknotters. I grabbed a soda and their last microwave sandwich (which was awful, but also delicious since I hadn't eaten anything since 13+ hours earlier).

Odd Fact

Bet you didn't know you could order Dave Mustaine (from Megadeth) blends of coffee.

Mustaine Blends at Networth Coffee (blends also available from Charlie Benante of Anthrax and wrestler Goldberg)

I trust no one more to satisfy my palate than the person that wrote the lyrics "I spread disease like a dog." I wish the names for the blends were more creative like Ashes in your Mouth blend or Brewing is my Business blend, etc...

If I drank coffee at all I would try it in an instant...Dave and the boys' music was a strong force in my life for many of my impressionable young years.