Well right off the bat I need to say that for those of you that have never been to The Fillmore in Charlotte, NC, don't hesitate to go see a band there! This is THE place in that area to see a live band. I drove an hour and a half and it was well worth it! The Fillmore Charlotte knows how to handle an event. All of the staff was professional and couldn't have been nicer. I had heard some bad things about the place but what I had heard was apparently just not true. Not one bad seat in the house! Well, they don't actually have seats (unless you are in the v.i.p area) but you know what I mean... No long lines to get in the huge bathrooms, you can walk all over the venue, and they even have a place outback for you smokers. It takes a lot to get me jacked-up about a venue these days but again The Fillmore in Charlotte, NC gets my vote 150%.. to be honest, watching a show at a coliseum just wont do it for me anymore!
ok..ok... on to the good stuff! Megadeth, plain and simple, Rocked!?? - no fancy light shows, no huge explosions, no huge stage production.. they just let their natural talent do all the work.. and they did it right! This was the best show I have ever been to!
I started off the evening waiting out in the cold at Will Call with about 10 other Meet-N-Greeters.. We were kindly greated by our host - I didnt catch her name - who took us to see the band, the "back way" up through the loading-dock behind the stage with all the road-gear. We waited another 10 minutes or so when the guys in Megadeth finally came out for some small talk, a few hand shakes, some autographs, and some photos. All of the band members seemed really cool and it was a great chance to just get a glimpse of each of their personalities. Maybe my opinions are based just upon how I was greeted but James LoMenzo seemed to be the most gracious of them all. And for some reason I started feeling a bit sorry for the guy as all of the meet-n-greeters seemed to just be into "The Man Himself" Dave Mustaine, then Chris Broderick, and then Shawn Drover. During my few minutes with the group, Dave seems to be a man of a few words and a little shy - which seems very odd to me, Chris seems to be the all-around cool guy guitar player - well after all he is the coolest and one of the best guitarists out there, Shawn seems to be the quiet drummer - until he gets behind his set, then all hell breaks loose, and then "my buddy" as I will call him, James, seems to be the guy that you could go have dinner with and talk about music and family all night.
So, after the meet-n-greet was over, we exited the same way we came in and went back out front of the venue to gain entrance into the show. That was kind of weird to me but thats how they wanted us to do it.
Anyway, at 6:30pm, Arcanium opened the show for about a 20 minute set. Then Suicide Silence for about a 30 minute set, and then Machine Head got the crowd pumped and banging their heads for about 45 minutes... all in anticipation and preparation for.... Megadeth!
The show starts and of course the crowd at The Fillmore Charlotte goes nuts! Megadeth takes the stage in a simplistic but very cool professional and personal way... The stage is dark with background theme music playing. The spotlight brightens and dims on Shawn Drover as he pumps his arms up in the air behind his kit, then the spotlight is on and off on Chris Broderick, then James Lomenzo. About 15 seconds later, Dave Mustaine appears in the middle of the stage in front of 6 of his signature Marshall "stacks"... takes his kick-ass guitar playing stance... and all hell breaks loose as he starts to shred and shake his head to the intro to Dialectic Chaos which is the same song that starts off their latest album, "Endgame". Then Megadeth breaks out into 1,320 - another tune off their latest album. Holy crap Batman.. this song is way cooler and makes more of an impact live. Being able to finally see Dave and Chris dueling back and forth on their guitars during this song was almost worth the price of admission alone. (For those of you that have read my album review of "Endgame" knows about how I feel about that part of the song). Then its time for a few classic tunes - as a teaser to what is about to come..... Wake Up Dead and Skin O' My Teeth... hell, im getting goose-bumbs thinking about it again... then its on to their new mega-hit Headcrusher - that simply has made the crowd go F'n nuts! And yes a small pit of about 20 people has even formed up close to the stage. So Mustaine and crew take advantage of the situation and just rock the hell on thru all of their massive hits...A Tout Le Monde, Hook in Mouth, Tornado of Souls, 44 Minutes (another soon to be classic), In My Darkest Hour, Washington is Next!, Sweating Bullets, Hangar 18, Trust, Symphony of Destruction, Peace Sells, and then the song that everyone knows they will end with, Holy Wars.
What a night. Im still shaking my head back and forth in belief.. did I really just see Megadeth.. did I really shake hands with the man himself, Dave Mustaine? Did I just experience the pin-point precision of Broderick's guitar shredding? Did I just hear the pounding ground-shaking beats of Shawn's drums? Did I get my picture taken with one of the top hard-rock/heavy metal bassists of all times.. HELL YES I DID!! And you should experience most of that too! Get on Megadeth.com and find where they will be playing next and go! And here is the latest news! Most metal heads that buy a ticket and go to one of the shows remaining on this tour will be able to actually meet Dave and at least a few band members after the show for an autograph signing of their latest album Endgame! Better take that offer soon before Megadeth heads off on a coliseum/arena tour with Slayer and Testament in 2010 as Im sure you wont be able to even touch these guys then.
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A special thanks to Dave McRobb at the MegaFanClub and to Dave, Chris, Shawn, and James for taking the time to meet some of their fans before the show and a special thanks to them again for Rocking the Hell out and keeping Metal alive! You are right Mr. Mustaine, all of the record company BS and radio stations can try their best but they cannot and will never be able to kill Metal Music and their Fans!!! Rock On!
