Metal Tour of the Year 2021
Story and Photography by JD Cohen
On September 13th the “Metal Tour of the Year”landed in Boston at Leader Park Pavilion,the tours16thstop on a 28 date tour that began in Texas on August 20 and will end in Canada on October 2. Theoriginal tourwasscheduled to start on June 12, 2020buthad to bepostponeddue to Covid-19.After onefalse start, the rescheduled tour features co-headlinersMegadethand Lamb of Godalong withopenersTrivium and Hatebreed. HatebreedreplacedIn Flames from the originally scheduled2020lineup.Although Lamb of God front man Randy Blytheurged all fans coming to the see his band getvaccinated and wear a mask, the tour did not requireeither and it was hard to find a single person wearinga mask at the near capacityBostonSeaport Venue. Hatebreed, thehardcore band originally fromBridgeport, Connecticut took the stage as fanstrickled into Leader Pavillion. You could feel thepower and force of the band immediately andalthough they had no problem captivating andengaging the audience, it’s hard not to howimaginehowmuch more thrilling the band would be in a more intimate setting.All four bands on the tourhaven’t performed live for two years andon thFisnight,halfway through the tour, you could hear andfeel the energy and excitement of each band,thankfulto be performing for a live audiences againafter the extended hiatus. It was also clear that theentireaudienceregardless of who they came to seewere equally as excited. If there were two themes ofthenight,it was the appreciation to be performinglivemusicagain and no moshing. Each band,starting with Hatbreed made reference to the venuesno moshing policy but did their best to compensatefor thevenue restrictions. Hatebreed vocalist JameyJasta spelled it outwith a hometown twistwhen hetold the audience “this is not the Rat, the Channel orBill’s Bar”The aggressive nonstop assault of Hatebreed’s musicisn’tmade for thegenteel and open setting of theLeader Bank Pavilion but even in the back rows ofthe pavilion you could feel the force of the musicpropelled by the rumbling drums and bass. Jasta’svocals have a similar sound as Henry Rollinsand theband at times has the same relentless force and furyof the Rollins Band. It’s unfortunate that In Flames was not part of the 2021 version of the Metal Tourof the Year but Hatebreed did an excellent job fillingtheir spot and fit in nicely as the opener.Next up was Trivium,from Orlando Florida.Looking like he stepped right out of someblockbuster Holywood post-apocalyptic movie setfront manand guitarist Matt Heafy made repeatedefforts to engage the crowd between songs. Thecrowd however from the very start needednoencouragement. Trivium tee shirts were wellrepresented,and excited fans screamed out lyrics toanthems like“What Dead Men Say” and “The Heartfrom the Hate” as the Venue filled to capacity.Although Trivium is considered a metalcore orthrash metal band they are more progressivethan theother bands on the tourand delivered less of a punchand pure rock aggression than Hatebreed. Heafyrepeated the themes of the night and seemedgenuinely enthusiastic about playing for fans whoalso seemed genuinelypassionate about what Heafyand the band delivered during their 45 minute set. You could feel the energy change between sets asthe co-headliner Lamb of God prepared to take thestage. VIPs and Photographers crowded near the pitwaiting forthe curtain to riseand the band to beginsto play.The set opened with the slowly building “MementroMori” from the bands self-titledlatestrelease.Frontman Randy Blythe slowly sings the lyrics“Past the blackest heaven, above the dying starsI watch me breaking into a million shardsBut through the hardest hour, below the cruelestsignI know I'm waking up from thiswretched lie”beforeBlythe screams“Wake up!”andthe band kicksinto a full force and rage and the crowd goes wild.Blythe prowls the stage like a wild animal and hisenergy never lets up throughout thehour plusperformance. On stage Blythe is a man possessed andup closeyou can see the intensity in his eyes, fixatingand focused on theaudience.Like a KISS concert thestage set is big with plenty of pyrotechnics, flamesshooting upfrom the stage to the skyand spectacularlighting.Having played bigarenas and mega tours formany years now, Lamb of God have fine-tuned theirlive show combining an intense and emotional performance with a big concert production thatcompliments the big sound of the band withoutdistracting from it.Even in the 5,000+outdoor LeaderPavilion Lamb of God deliver a gripping performancethat makes a direct connection. The onlybreak in theenergy comes between songs where at one pointBlythedelivers the best line of the night, encouragingfans to get weird and “do thingsthat would upset yourmom” orwhen there is a stage malfunction and Blytheis forced tokilla few minutes with some stage banter. Blythe is a fascinating character and one of thegreatest frontmenin rock today. At the age of 50, it’shard to believe he can perform with the same level ofenergy night after night. In a 2021 interviewBlythediscussed hisbattles with alcoholism and his10 yearsofsobriety. Today the singer looks like a well-conditioned athlete, delivering a physically demandingemotionally taxingperformance.At the end ofthe explosive performance it felt likethings should have ended and everyone gone homewith the flavor of Lamb of God still lingering on theirpalate. Nothing more wasneeded,and it would havebeen a satisfying end to the evening. But there wasmore to come and Megadeth delivered a nice contrastto the younger bands.
When Megadeth started in 1983 they were one of theheaviest bands, largely responsible for thepopularization of the genreof thrash metal. DavidMustaine is the heart and soul of the band and hasbeen the one consistentmembersince co-founderDavid Ellefson’s recent exit from the band.38 yearslater, Megadeth sounds much more melodic and songorientedthan they did when they first started.Mustaine recently recovered from throat cancer andhasn’t performed in Boston since 2017.On this night itwas Mustaine’s 60thbirthdaytouring with bassistJames LoMenzo, who was in the bandfrom2006-2010andKiko Loureiro(guitar)since 2015and DirkVebeuren (drums) since 2016.The band started things offto theslow and nastygrowlof MustainesingingHanger 18,from the bandspopular1990 album Rust in Peace. Dave’s menacingglare and raspyvocals add to Megadeth’s apocalypticlyrics and music, often religious, political and warrelated. Most of the song selection on the tour havebeen similar, drawinglargely from the bands earliermaterial dating back to 1983through2002. Mustaineis stilla master at his craft and the soaring guitar andmore traditional rock and metal sound provided a nicecounterpoint to the full on assault of the the opening bands. LoMenzo and Loureiro did their best rock starposing and looked like they were having a ball onstage, also a nice counterpoint to Mustaine’s grizzledold guitar master andstoiceldergrand wizard stagepersona.For anyone growing up in the 80’s or early 90’s theshow had a nostalgic quality but in the best sense. Themusic and the musicindustry have changed so muchsince 1983 but Megadeth continuesto thrive andtheyhave influenced so many new bands and whole newgenres of metal. Despite the controversy alwaysswirling around Dave Mustaine it was wonderful tosee him healthy and flashing guitar brilliance and rockand roll greatness with the still very much relevantand impressive Megadeth.
