Gigantour wrap-up!

Gigantour
Aragon Ballroom, Chicago
Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Decades ago metal was proclaimed the beast that refused to die. But now it seems to be merely immortal. Gigantour, which made its Chicago stop on its international tour at the Aragon on May 6th, showed how metal has maintained its infinite vitality.

Visit the official Illinois Entertainer Photo Gallery to see more Megadeth concert pics.

Headlined by thrashmetal pioneer Megadeth, frontman and still-lion-maned Dave Mustaine (with new guitarist Chris Broderick) created a riff-fest. As Metallica’s guitarist and then leader of his own band, Mustaine was a leader of the movement that stripped the bloat and goosed up the tempo of classic heavy metal. Despite various personnel changes in his band and his innumerable rehab stints, Mustaine’s vision, well expressed in the 1985 debut Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good!, has remained as constant as the weary pain in his snarly voice. “We shouldn’t sacrifice our lives for a stupid effing war,” he said between songs.

Unfortunately the band was sacrificed by the Aragon’s atrocious sound system, which muddied and muddled their bottom into a sludge and drowned the top. Mustaine’s vocals were obliterated, except when he spoke directly to the audience. Too bad, because clever, meaningful, and ironic wordplay is a strong part of the band’s appeal. Actions by the current American administration gave new life to Megadeth’s old war-horses like “Peace Sells,” “Holy Wars” and “Symphony Of Destruction.” New material like “Washington Is Next” (a cut from 2007’s United Abominations) ratcheted up the righteous rage.

Multi-band concerts like this one, and the innumerable metal festivals found all over the world, build and reinforce commitment to a global metal community by a variety of mix’n’match metal moves — long-lived bands with a multigenerational fanbase play on bills with younger acts, old, new and reinvigorated styles co-exist, and U.S. and foreign-based bands share the same stage.

High On Fire, are a California trio who channel Motorhead through a frenetic stoner haze, but, outrageously and disappointing to those who especially wanted to catch them, their set ended before the announced, way-too-early 5 p.m. starting time. They were followed by Job For A Cowboy, from President Bush’s home state, who played a competent but undistinguished death metal set.

The night’s most successful acts that night came from Scandinavia, the global center of metal since the early ’90s. Children Of Bodom’s mainmain Alexi, like Mustaine, shredded a flying-V and sang, although on his leads he held the guitar vertically. The five Finns played a blackened thrash that in a better setting sounds sublime — here it was merely good. They played the title cut fromBlooddrunk, but they saved their best for last, 1999’s “Downfall.”

Hailing from the ground zero of modern metal, Gothenburg, Sweden, In Flames forged their sound from a variety of musical styles — reinforcing their original death metal base with thrash and classic metal. Since their 1993 debut they’ve emerged out of the underground increasingly adding more melody. Full of mid-range, In Flames’ music did not succumb to the sound-destroying venue. Their Janus-faced set looked back to their subcultural peak and forward to mainstream success. And it was from this more accessible direction that the evening’s best performance came — “Take This Life”
from their well-received 2006’s Come Clarity.

As Megadeth’s stage was being constructed, the P.A. system played Iron Maiden’s “Run To The Hills.” Released before half the audience had been born, the whole of the Aragon broke out in a community sing-along.

— Deena Dasein

Category: Live Reviews, Weekly