Megadeth -- Kansas City, MO -- December 5th, 2009

This was not a concert. This was a religious experience.

First band was Arcanium. They were marginally better than "Seasons After" who opened the Cannibal Corpse show a couple weeks ago. Again, they sounded like they'd be right at home on a rock station or nowadays Headbanger's Ball. Not so much clean singing, but still pretty lame. Props for them at least for winning over most of the crowd. 4/10

Tonight was the first date of the Endgame tour that had Warbringer instead of Machine Head. I thought for sure that the crowd would be full of scene kids hating on thrash, but Warbringer completely leveled the place. This is my third time seeing them and easily the best. They were top-notch. All the solos sounded just like they do on the album, and they got the crowd to pit and scream along all throughout their set. As always, Total War is always amazing to hear live, but Combat Shock is fantastic as well. Best straight-up modern thrash band today. 9/10

A small part of me (a very small part of me) thought that since Suicide Silence was so incredibly popular, that maybe they'd have enough crossover appeal to metal fans like me that I'd find something to like in their set. I mean, I like 2 songs (kinda) by Job For A Cowboy! But, alas, they were pathetic. Their stupid ways of getting the kids in the crowd to rebel against God in "Unanswered" was just about the dumbest part of the night until the final song, "No Pity For A Coward". I couldn't believe how amazingly retarded the lyrics are to this masterpiece. Everyone chanted along "Seconds from the end/What's it gonna be?/Pull the trigger bitch" and I couldn't help but laugh at how terrible it was. I assumed maybe some of the band would have some talent, but what little they gave us was soon followed by ten minutes of breakdowns. Killswitch Engage still may be the worst band I've ever seen, but Suicide Silence is a very close second. On a positive note: The song "Smoke" by them has maybe 20 overall seconds of what I consider "good" but that's about it. 2/10

But nothing was gonna bring me down for Megadeth. The place was absolutely packed for Megadeth and there was a push to the front as soon as the lights dimmed. As soon as Dialectic Chaos started, the crowd was whipped into a frenzy that didn't let up until the end of the set. I was eventually pushed from the front of the venue to around the middle because the chaos was too much. But about Megadeth: Dave Mustaine and Chris Broderick are solo machines. They nailed each note of each solo no matter how challenging or how long they were. Insane. And the crowd pretty much drowned out the vocals with their own singing on every song. Dave let the crowd sing the entire first part of "Sweating Bullets" and the end of "A Tout Le Monde" and, of course, "Peace Sells". If you step back and look at this Megadeth set, you might think that it's pretty weak. But I think that Megadeth falls into the same category of Iron Maiden. No matter what their setlist is, hearing any song in a live setting is amazing and unique. I will be telling my grandchildren to tell their grandchildren about how amazing it is to scream along every word of "Peace Sells" live in concert. I was covered in sweat, blood, beer, and everything else imaginable by the end of the concert, but I was euphoric. Nothing even compares.

Highlights: Sweating Bullets, Peace Sells, Wake Up Dead, Tornado Of Souls (THAT SOLO!)

10001230129/10

Warbringer:

Jackyl
Living In A Whirlwind
Severed Reality
Total War
Prey For Death
Beneath The Waves
Combat Shock

Megadeth:

Dialectic Chaos
This Day We Fight!
Wake Up Dead
Skin O' My Teeth
Headcrusher
A Tout Le Monde
She-Wolf
Tornado Of Souls
1,320'
In My Darkest Hour
Sweating Bullets
Hangar 18
44 Minutes
Trust
Symphony Of Destruction
Peace Sells
---
Holy Wars