Another year, another Gigantour. Last year’s show was very good but the crap factor that was Life Of Agony kind of ruined the middle of the show. Anyway, I wasn’t sure if Gigantour was a one time thing or if it could potentially turn into a yearly event. Thankfully, it seems, for now, to have turned into a yearly event… so on with the show!

For those that don’t know Gigantour is a show put on by Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, with Megadeth being the headliners. It seems that Mustaine hand-picks the bands in attendance but I could be wrong. This year’s line up looked slightly stronger than last years and I’d say I was most looking forward to seeing Arch Enemy live. Unfortunately, circumstances at work and getting down to the event prevented me from seeing the first three bands. So here is a band by band review of the show.

The Smashup! – I did miss this band but judging from the samples on the Gigantour site I wasn’t missing anything. A mostly hardcore influenced band they definitely did not fit my tastes in music and was my intention to miss them from the beginning.

Sanctity – Though I missed Sanctity as well I have seem them live before. The band has some cool riffs but a vocal style that doesn’t fit the band that well.

Into Eternity – I was very, very disappointed to miss these guys. They are currently one of my favorite bands and discussing missing them anymore only saddens me further.

Overkill– Ah, now this I was looking forward to. I arrived just as Overkill was taking the stage. I’m a huge fan of their early material and have a passing interest in their newer material as well. Their set consisted of a good mixture of new and old songs with my personal favorites being the older songs. Highlights were Rotten To The Core, Elimination, and the classic closer, Fuck You. The old Thrash classics were full of intensity and energy and left a permanent smile on my face during the duration of these tracks. The newer tracks translated well into their live sound but the heavy chugging sometimes drowned out Blitz’s vocals. Speaking of Blitz, his stage performance was very entertaining and he did a great job of getting the crowd pumped up, as did D.D. Verni. Though, only half of the people who eventually showed up were there at this point, there was a large Overkill contingent that reveled in every note played. Overkill set a great tone for the rest of the night and I look forward to seeing a full set from them some time in the future.

Arch Enemy – The band I most looked forward to opened up with a raging version of Nemesis that was slightly hampered by some amp trouble that Michael Amott had. Regardless the crowd was even more pumped as the more young centric audience members seemed to like Arch Enemy more than Overkill. Arch Enemy’s sound was huge and whether or not you like Angela’s Gossow’s vocals (I do), her stage performance is very commanding despite the fact she is extremely tiny. Seeing them live also reminded me on how awesome of a guitarist Amott is which sometimes gets lost on CD due to the vocals. The melodic sections, especially the one’s harmonized seemed to elicit a great response from the crowd and the overall energy from start to finish was more intense than Overkill. Highlights for me were Nemesis and my personal favorite song of the set, Ravenous. For some reason Arch Enemy’s set seemed to be shorter than Overkill’s and was, quite frankly, over too soon. I was especially impressed with the band’s stage presence as every member put on a “show” that didn’t take away from the music. For those curious, no pre-Gossow songs were present in the set.

Opeth – I’ve seen Opeth live twice before so I knew what to expect. Though I have grown to enjoy their music when I’m in a certain mood, Opeth do absolutely nothing for me live. Much was the case this time as well seeing as how I actually dozed off. I’m not trying to make fun of the band or question their music, because I do enjoy them, but I literally dozed off. Opeth’s music and stage performance (or lack thereof) does not lend itself to a live concert. About 90 percent of the audience disagreed with me as people seemed to enjoy Opeth even more so than Arch Enemy. I tried to inhale as much marijuana smoke from surrounding concert goers as I could but didn’t help. Alas, Opeth was a snooze fest live as they always have been and always will be. Though it appears my opinion was the minority that night.

Lamb Of God – Ya know, I don’t like Lamb Of God all that much. The music is generally good in an almost-Thrash way but I’ve yet to become accustomed to the vocals. Regardless, after a few beers and the laid back nature of Opeth I was really looking forward to Lamb Of God because I knew, no matter what, it would be an energetic show and the anger of their music would translate into the crowd for one hell of a time. And I was right. I’ve really never seen such a collective showing of moshing, head-banging, and all around “rocking out” than as I did with Lamb Of God’s set. Their almost-Thrash riffs and heavy riffing breakdowns were such a welcome change of pace from the acoustic interludes of Opeth. Highlight of the set for me was Redneck, which they played second to last. This was the perfect song to let loose to and I hurt my neck for a good week thanks to this song. Though I haven’t really been converted as a full-on Lamb Of God fan this was one of my favorite sets I’ve ever seen. I may never buy a Lamb Of God CD, but I will probably see them live every time they play here in Toronto.

Megadeth – It’s safe to say that Megadeth’s older material can be considered legendary now. Since they weren’t here promoting a new release like they were last year, we got to hear more of that legendary material. Peace Sells, Symphony Of Destruction, Holy Wars, Tornado Of Souls, Take No Prisoners etc. Every song was killer and the material just mentioned was fantastic. Last year I didn’t take many sit-down breaks in between sets and the result was my body being in intense pain from standing for so long by the time Megadeth came around. Thus I didn’t enjoy them nearly as much as I would have otherwise. This year I learned my lesson. I was able to enjoy Megadeth fully this time and though they played a rushed set (very little talking) the music was no-less effective. Highlights were Holy Wars and Peace Sells. During the last go around of the Peace Sells chorus members of Lamb Of God and Arch Enemy (including Gossow) came on the stage to sing-along. The result was 10 seconds of cheesy awesomeness that I won’t soon forget and threw of everyone into such a frenzy that it lasted for the rest of the set.

Overall I had a great experience. I don’t think I’ve ever head-banged so much at a show and Megadeth proved that though they’ve released some ass throughout their career a set full of “greatest hits” means nothing but (to quote a t-shirt I saw at the show) “Pure F**king Metal”. The turn-out was excellent and I truly hope that even long after Megadeth has gone off the radar (may never happen) that Gigantour continues and brings us great Metal year after year.