| rev:text
| - Yet another review of the "UNHOLY ALLIANCE TOUR (SLAYER, LAMB OF GOD)" culled from the Archives.
So we get down to the venue, never been here, where do we park? Oh yeah, I forgot....just follow the wall of black shirts, tattooed and pierced people. When we get to the end of the reprobate ranks, there still is much parking in the back. Walk into the arena.....and goddamn the "huge!!!!-ness" of the venue hits. Last month they had a monster truck rally here. I wish they had both events at the same time....mounds of dirt + metal. huh-huh-heh-heh.
Lights go up again, people know what's coming up. Floor clears up a bit, we try to find better spots. Cub takes off his glasses, I take out my keys and we both hand over our cellphones to Viz. Though the venue may be slightly bigger, we both knew what was to come when the boys from "Richmond Muthafuckin' Virginia" hit the stage. Five minutes later, some asshole in a hockey mask comes out asking the crowd to throw their meth on stage. Some people cheer, but the majority are either pissed or wtf? Same dude then tries to get all Motley Crue and shit, asking chicks to show their tits "or Lamb of God won't come out to play." There are assorted cheers and jeers, until finally someone in the far back area of the arena obliges. "One pair of tits? In Sin City? Jesus!" That shit was classic.
Lights go dim, asshole leaves the stage, then the beating begins with "Ruin." Cub runs up to bang right in front of the stage, I get pulled into the pit. Where I pretty much stay for the remainder of the set: (from what I remember) Ruin, 11th Hour, Now You've Got Something To Die For, Faded Line, new single Redneck (from the upcoming Sacrament album) Hourglass, Bloodletting, As The Palaces Burn, Vigil, then (naturally) Black Label. At one point singer Randy Blythe chastizes the crowd for not slamming hard enough with "Come on Los Angeles, that's all you got?" Which again was met with "Wtf? This is VEGAS, dude" and laughter. I guess all the touring does fuck you up. Along with the nonstop Jager and Marlboro Reds in between songs. I don't know how the hell he does it.....back in 2006 Cub and I wondered the same thing. "Black Label" wall-of-death pretty much caved me in, everyone was dragging and someone almost tore my left shoe off. They carried someone out in a stretcher before the lights went up; I guess he cheap-shotted the wrong person and got knocked tha fuckout.....as there were some cheers when he was being tied down.
The whole time I was in the maelstrom that was the LOG pit I would occasionally glance over to see how my mates were doing; Cub was merrily POGOING away in his white-dress-shirted glory while fucking people up around him, Viz was up against the barrier with most of the other grrrls, busily headbanging and elbowing all the sweaty assholes who dare draw near. This made me smile, as I got popped in the back of the head and ate it for the umpteenth time. Fuckin' skinny kids these days. Where the hell is security? Oh that's right...hiding behind the metal barrier as elbows split lips and boots mash fingers of the unfortunates who go down. Fuck it, shoulda gone to Celine Dion if you can't throw down in the pit.
Then arrived the moment everyone was waiting for.....SLAYER.....!!!!!
Well, not yet. Cub wordlessly goes past us with disheveled hair and shirt, glassy eyes fixated toward the concession stands at the back of the arena. Viz grabs my sweaty face and smears it around even more. Thanks! We hang out and wait for Cub to return, watching people going apeshit to the Pantera being played over the PA as a large silkscreen of Dimebag is used to cover the stage instead of a curtain.
Then of course, it's all speed, all the time! Slayer blitzed through the murderous classics: "War Ensemble" into "Angel Of Death," then the aforementioned "Hell Awaits." If there's one minor caveat with this show, it was that Mr. Araya was "hardly singing." Hey, he's 40-plus, bringing the violence for more than 20 years? He can do whatever the fuck he wants.
I guess since it was the second to the last show of the tour he was content to watch the crowd and headbang. The twin-guitar attack of Hanneman-King kept things rolling, and the pit must have stretched all the way to the middle of the arena from where we were at. There must have been at least 20 people just, y'know....hanging out in the middle of this big, churning circle pit.
Our ears didn't stop ringing for at least 3 days.
This is the same Engelbert Humperdinck ORLEANS? Yup. I'ma start a circle pit when he hits town this October.
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