Despite already being on the road with Slayer on The Farewell Tour, Anthrax and Testament are bringing their thrash metal to even more cities along the route. June 18th they stopped into New Orleans, because, really, who can resist a stop in Nola? The East and West Coast Kings of Thrash performed to a crazy crowd at the local House of Blues.
Berkley, California natives, Testament, were up first, kicking off their powerful set with “Brotherhood of the Snake” the title track of their latest release. Chuck Billy is a commanding frontman, stalking around the stage and screaming along with fans. The twelve song set included hits “Dog Faced Gods” and “Into the Pit.” Halfway through the performance the band had a full out jam session with Eric Peterson (guitar), Alex Skolnick (guitar), Steve Di Giorgio (bass), and Gene Hoglan (drums) all taking turns showing off their skills to Black Sabbath's “Into the Void.” Testament's set for this show ran a few songs longer than their set on The Farewell Tour, giving the fans even more time to mosh and jump around. The set closed out with the band's first single, “Over the Wall”
Brotherhood of the Snake / Rise Up / More Than Meets the Eye / The Pale King / Dog Faced Gods / Into the Void Jam (Black Sabbath cover) / Stronghold / Practice What You Preach / Into the Pit / The New Order / Disciples of the Watch / Over the Wall
NYC veterans, Anthrax, closed out to the show as the crowd on the floor of the House of Blues swelled. After their classic intro of Iron Maiden, followed by Otis Redding, Joey Belladonna ran onto the stage as the band tore into “Among the Living.” The classics continued with “Caught in a Mosh” and their cover of “Got the Time.” Much like Testament, the longer set time allowed Anthrax to expand on their song choices, and add some lesser played songs to the set. Though the set leaned heavily on their older music, New Orleans got to see the band perform “Breathing Lightning,” one of the songs added from their set from The Farewell Tour. Scott Ian (guitar) is always incredible to watch perform, but his connections with the audience, and his banter with Belladonna on stage, are just as fun to catch. Between Ian's posing, and Belladonna treating the stage like a track, running back and forth continuously, it's hard to keep up with them, while Frank Bello (bass) and Jonathan Donais (guitar) played off of each other. Anthrax closed out the set with mosh anthem "Indians," which had the crowd throwing down and going wild.
Among the Living / Caught in a Mosh / Got the Time (Joe Jackson cover) / Madhouse / Fight 'Em 'Til You Can't / Breathing Lightning / Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.) / Medusa / I Am the Law / Be All, End All / Antisocial (Trust cover) / Indians
Anthrax
Testament