MEGADETH, LAMB OF GOD, TRIVIUM, HATEBREED
SEPT 28, 2021 – The Armory, Minneapolis
Photos by Brett - Review by Nick
First off – it felt super good to walk back in to The Armory again after 23 months since the last time I was in the building.
The SOLD OUT and unfortunately now the last night of the Metal Tour of the Year 2021 ended at The Armory in Minneapolis, MN on a Tuesday night and the crowd was packed in there from the moment HB took the stage until Megad closed it down.
HATEBREED came out swinging with the classic “Empty Promises” right in to “Tear It Down” proving that this tour was going to live up to it’s name. Jamey Jasta declaring “I want everyone to have sore necks tomorrow!” The crowd obliged during the always crowd pleasing “This is Now” that always pits the left half of the crowd vs the right half to see who can be louder. The right side of the venue didn’t stand a chance! A lot of fans in the crowd very happy when they threw in their Slayer cover of “Ghosts of War” which was a very nice surprise. The surprises didn’t end there though! “Looking Down the Barrel of Today” was a huge pit starter. The crowd erupted when Art from LoG came out to take over for Matt on the drums for “Destroy Everything”. Art bashed those drums making that song harder than ever before and then Randy came running out to join in on the last part of “Destroy” and the crowd lost their minds. HATEBREED’s set everything you had ever wanted from the last night of a tour! HATEBREED did what HATEBREED does best, gets the crowd riled up for the rest of the night to try to top - which is always a friendly competition.
TRIVIUM came out with a very empty stage … only having the drums on stage, no amps or video screens. Just the four guys doing what they do best. Dominating. Straight out of the gate with the crushing “In The Court of The Dragon” from their Oct 8 album of the same name. They had the crowd in the palms of their hand from the first note. Coming up on having two albums out since they last toured, Trivium had plenty of material to choose from for their 40 min set. They played two from “What the Dead Men Say” next, the super catchy “Catastrophist” into “What the Dead Men Say” before the melodic part of the set came out with “The Heart From Your Hate”, “Strife” and the latest single “Feast of Fire”. Saying melodic as there are plenty of riffs to go around in those three songs. Closing out the (guitar, bass or drums .. your choice) clinic was the always crushing “In Waves” which I swear gets heavier every tour. I look forward to having them come back around on their own as they have a lot of new material to play for the masses.
LAMB OF GOD put on an arena sized performance from the moment the black curtain dropped after the intro to “Memento Mori”. This was a band that was clearly planning on how they could top their previous live shows in the downtime from the pandemic. LOG put everything they had in to the last show of the tour, laser focused on getting every ounce of energy out of the crowd that was pent up from the last 18+ months. “Ruin” showed up early in the set followed by the pyro heavy “Walk With Me In Hell” so hot you could feel the flames anywhere in The Armory. Being the good dudes they are, LOG paused after the first 3 songs so that the medics could get a fan out who needed medical attention. Wasting no time after it was cleared launching back in to “Resurrection Man” from the self titled record. The pits were loud and proud for “Now You Got Something to Die For” and “Set to Fail.”
I spent time wondering if anyone from HB or Trivium were going to come out and prank LOG during their set as if it was going to happen, it would be during their set … nothing happened. We came to the last 3 songs of the evening – a whirlwind “Contractor” followed up in break neck speed by “Laid to Rest” and “Redneck”. Lamb of God just showed that they are ready to headline festivals and arenas worldwide. Give them the sign and they will tear it down.
MEGADETH came out to a loud crowd with "Hangar 18" right out of the gate. Great visuals backed the band as they tore thru some classics in their massive catalog. The always fantastic "Sweating Bullets" sounded as great as ever with the crowd singing along! Where I was standing .. some of the crowd did the actual words and some of them did Dave's guitar part. Dave kicked throat cancer's ass and sounded fantastic. Closing out the night with 3 songs you can't argue with even if you tried "Symphony of Destruction", "Peace Sells" and "Holy Wars ... The Punishment Due".
Dave said that they would be resuming this tour next year as they didn't get to play any of the Canada dates on the tour due to the pandemic. Even if it's the same 4 bands again, I will gladly take a second round of this fantastic tour!
SEE MORE OF BRETT'S PICTURES OF TRIVIUM AND HATEBREED HERE!
SEE MORE OF BRETT'S PICTURES OF LAMB OF GOD AND MEGADETH HERE!
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