The Megadeth Encounter

This post describes the story behind how we met Megadeth.

Day 1: 2 days before the gig

We reached Bangalore first thing in the morning and acted on a tip-off we received that Megadeth would be staying in ITC’s Windsor Sheraton. We went there, got thoroughly lost and entered one of their presidential suites. Gawd, that place is nice but confusing.

The hotel attendants, ever the nice chaps, create an impression that Megadeth will be staying at their hotel. Not really content with  their answers we snooped around some more and headed to Taj Westend near the racecourse. 250 buck coffees and 750 buck sandwiches later we questioned the clueless attendants over there only to be greeted by an alarming degree of rudeness.

Day 2: 1 day before the gig

We whiled away our time on tasteless sandwiches and godawful five star coffee. These hyper-rich loonies are so boring.The security suddenly tightened and we knew that the band had arrived. The hotel staff warned us of any movements at all. Not even our eyes, for heavens sake. Dave arrived in one of the most innocuous ways, donning a monkey cap, shades and a stubble. He was hardly recognizable. But there’s something about Dave that is unmistakable, his aura.

Dave walked right past us and didn’t really seem to notice us. We somehow pulled up our hand-made poster reading ‘Dave Mustaine is God’ and he finally acknowledged our existence. He flashed a wry smile and walked to our table.We don’t really know what exactly we mumbled in front of him. We might have told him how we didn’t properly sleep and eat since the last 2 days or something to that effect. Dave smiled, nodded and continued signing our stuff.

We wanted a pic with Dave, but he didn’t really like the idea because he hadn’t shaved and was looking very tired. He said he’d be back after a quick shower. He never really came back and the remainder of the day was spent in literally fighting with the security and the stupid attendants at Taj Westend. Boy, was it bad and I never felt so humiliated in my whole life.I hate Bangalore.

Day 3: Gig day!

You can read more about the gig in my Rock in India Review. After the gig, we decided to take another shot at Taj. It was on the way back in any case. We entered the hotel and discovered that the environment had suddenly changed.  Everyone was a lot more nice, this time around. We waited some more in the restaurant and splurged some more on some silly coffee with which we could have rather brought 3 packs of D’Addario strings. Like, damn.

Mustaine and Co arrived just outside the lobby. He remembered us and readily took pics with us. James LoMenzo and Chris Broderick were there as well. They’re really nice chaps to talk to! Sadly, Shawn Drover was missing. The band manager informed me that he’d already left for US. Boo.

I got to do a small interview with them as well.

Me: So, now that the tour has come to an end, when will you guys work on the next album?

Chris Broderick: We’ve got the Gigantour lined up where we will be touring with Children of Bodom, Inflames and a host of other ass kicking bands. After that we may most probably get down to work in the summer.

Me: Hey James, tell us more about you.

James LoMenzo: When I was 7 years old, I used to play drums then moved on to guitar and then finally settled on bass when I was 12 years old. I really wanted to be like Angus Young back then. He inspired me to become a bass player.

Me: What music do you listen to?

JL: I listen to a variety of music and I am a hardcore funk fan. I also believe you should listen to a variety of music.

Me: Dave, you’re God

Dave Mustaine: Thank you so much. (I forgot all my questions, got my CD signed and got whisked away by the security.)

So that was our tryst with Megadeth. Do punch in your comments!

P.S. There have been some server issues and I am having to post this piece again.

P.P.S Apologies to all the readers for not being regular with the blog. Had 2 outrageously busy weeks, post the gig.

Tags: india, megadeth, rock in india

Rock in India Megadeth and Machine Head Review

Bangalore’s kind of a spiffy little city, really. No sweat with the climate and the people but the rickshaw drivers really love you. Or your money, rather. For the price they quote for a 2 mile ride to anywhere in the city, you could rather get on to Virgin Galactic and feel weightless for a few minutes.

The reason for Bangalore was Rock in India, India’s first international rock festival, headlined by Machine Head and Megadeth. Silly name not withstanding, the whole place really felt like a carnival of sorts and there was nothing stopping me from getting close to my God, Dave Mustaine.

There were 2 stages, a smaller one for the Indian bands and the bigger one for 2 of the most prominent metal bands on the planet. Very few really gave a damn to all the Indian bands and were assembled near the main stage booking their places for Megadeth and Machine Head. The bands that played were Thermal and a Quarter, Millenium, Junkyard Groove, Motherjane, Prestorika and Pentagram which got a lot of boos from the crowd.Then it was time for Machine Head to hit the stage and the crowd sent a ear splitting scream through the Bangalore sky which was being interspersed with jolts of lightning, quite literally. Machine Head played some songs from their albums ‘The Blackening’ and ‘Ashes of the Empire’.

There was no let up of energy throughout their set and Rob Flynn sent his murderous riffs and his powerful vocals like cannonballs into the crowd. He got them involved like no other and left the hapless audience gasping for more. Machine Head veni, vidi and effin vici!

Megadeth were delayed by a good 20 minutes and the crowd condition got really pathetic. Everyone wanted water and all the DNA guys could say was “Let the show begin, they’ll forget every pain they know.” True, but inhuman. I suggested them to install water cannons at the next show.Finally at around 20:45, the Sleepwalker intro played through the PA and everyone knew, the moment had arrived. The endurance would pay off and the pain would be dissolved in a whirl of pure thrash metal. The lights went off for that moment and came back on with Mustaine and Co. sending ripples of relief into the exhausted and de-hydrated crowd.

Dave, Chris, James and Shawn did the only thing they could. Kick some serious butt, ‘Deth style. They displayed amazing energy on stage and never did the instruments go off even once. The vocals and overall sound disappointed and Dave even ran out of breath a couple of times. But no one seemed to give even half a damn, everyone was busy screaming their lungs out.

I could have possibly cried when they played A Tout le Monde. Such was the intensity of seeing my God live! Megadeth played some songs from Peace Sells, Rust in Peace, Countdown to Extinction, Youthanasia and Cryptic Writings apart from United Abominations. I would really have loved to see some more songs being played but time lost could not be gained again. Megadeth topped of the set by playing their most insane track, Holy Wars, which sent everyone into a tizzy. Chris played the Arabic solo, finger style and procured his plectrum back from thin air! Midway they switched to playing Mechanix and a large part of the crowd was just itching to sing Four Horsemen (if you did not know, 4 Horsemen actually happens to be Dave Mustaine’s composition). They resumed playing Holy Wars and hell was well and truly unleashed.

My jaw hit the floor with Mustaine playing the final solo and head banging as though he were applying butter on bread. That guy is crazy!That was the end of one of the best gigs I had attended but I felt the Megadeth set could have been longer had the time been managed better.

After the gig, we stormed into the bands hotel and we finally got to meet Megadeth. Do read it and tell me what you think!

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Tags: india, machine head, megadeth, rock

Gig review Iron Maiden Somewhere Back in Time 2008 Mumbai

The stars were all aligned perfectly, this time. This ruddy time The Maiden could not evade me. Heck, a random force even pointed me towards JW Marriott which I gluttonously stormed to get pictures and autographs; to hell with their peace and quiet.

Maiden kicked of their Somewhere Back in Time tour from India which was to revive all the classics of the yesteryears.( when Maiden were younger and had a bit more of adrenaline than they do now) I presume it was geographical reasons, but what the heck, I can thump my chest with pride anywhere in the world and say “India is the starting point for the Beast to start their tour!” Muhahaha.They even got their very own Boeing 757 decked up with trademark Maiden colors and announced their arrival in style. Here are some pics

The path to the gig was set up a bit more elaborately this time with markers near the venue pointing the way. (there was none of this in their Bangalore leg, I was told.) Once there, I could see a flood of Iron Maiden tees eagerly waiting under the blistering sun to witness one of the finest metal acts on the 3rd rock from the Sun.

The Mumbai crowd was horrid to say the very least. Crowd waves erupted at every second minute and I got a taste of the madness in the queue itself. The gates opened at 4:30 and I was happy to be standing in the 10th or so row. That’s what I thought. The crowd waves got really wild and for no good reason.. Mumbai metal heads sure are a wild lot, not to say dumb and tone deaf too.

First to come on stage were Nervewreck who were the winners of Campus Rock Idols 2008 and opening for Iron Maiden was the first prize. I noticed that the sound of the bass was a bit too high for anyone’s liking, not the bands fault. They were fairly decent but still not good enough to open for a top quality metal act like Maiden. I bet there were better local bands in the fray that could do justice to the stage.

Their compositions were average and they got plenty of boos, cans and bottle thrown at them from the agitated crowd. But in all seriousness, they were way better than FTN (That godawful nu-metal band which opened for Maiden last year). Good vocals and riffing, even better soloing and decent drumming along with a tight bass line ensured that at least those who knew music fairly well would appreciate them.

One thing I would like to point out was the supremely kiddish behavior of the crowd. When the band played a clean melody, everybody booed them off. The moment the overdrive kicked in everyone put their arms up in the air and started showing the devils horns. Distortion, of all things is Mumbai’s definition of music. Nice, very nice.

Up next was Lauren Harris and I thought she would up her ante from last years dismal performance. But to no avail. She still could not stretch her voice beyond a single octave and she strictly sounded like some college girl trying a trifle too hard. She knew her music was hardly any good to satiate the crowd and used her body to the fullest to win some brownie points. The only good thing was her guitarist who was a cut above the average vocals and lyrics Lauren was belting out.Everyone knows this and I doubt if there’s any need to say it. She gets to open for Maiden and gets free publicity only because of her father, the legendary Steve Harris. Like father, like daughter? In your bloody dreams.

Thankfully she was pushed down the order, and even daddy dearest decided that Parikrama were a tighter band than Miss Sexy-Chicken-with-wild-flapping-action. They played their usual set and it was good. It would have been better had Nitin Malik, the vocalist, showed an iota of common sense to control the crowd.

The crowd waves were getting really dangerous (someone could have easily cracked a bone had they not been careful) and he was actually encouraging them!! I couldn’t believe it! Since when did this rather nice guy turn so blissfully oblivious to his responsibility of controlling a 50k+ crowd? Shame Mr. Malik, so what if you opened for Iron Maiden “4 times in the last 1 year”? It doesn’t make you any less mortal.By this point I had lost a huge amount of water in my body and I couldn’t take the crowd waves any more. There was no real need to watch Maiden perform from so close, I had gotten close enough to them, in their hotel in any case, I thought. But one part of my brain made me stand where I was. My cerebral matter couldn’t have been more right.It was only a few moments later when all the lights came back and the crowd erupted in an ear splitting scream. Showtime!! I forgot all the pain from the pushing and shoving I endured in the last 5 hours and forgot that I was thoroughly dehydrated. I sang like I did not in a long time as Aces High sliced the BKC air. I screamed for Bruce, I screamed for Maiden, I screamed with Mumbai.

It was really amazing how Bruce had so much energy left even at this age. He was jumping all around the stage and never ever went even slightly off-pitch. He even climbed on the side harness of the stage and sang from there hanging like a monkey!! Talk about showman-ship. Throughout the concert, he sounded mostly like on the CD. I would give an arm and leg to any artist who can still sound so fresh after almost 25 years of ruling the metal charts, the world over.

Even the other musicians, Dave Murray, Steve Harris, Adrian Smith, Janick Gers and Nicko McBrian showed no signs of age playing catch up with them as they too did perfect justice to their parts. Dave was in a positively good mood and was playing all his solos with a smile on his face.

The stage was a masterpiece, decorated with Egyptian crypts and trademark Maiden artwork with a Pharoic twist. They were changing the backdrop of the stage at every song and so was Bruce who changed his attire almost after every song. Well, they forgot to change after Rime of the Ancient Mariner when Powerslave started, but who cares, we don’t get dynamic backdrops everyday, you know.

The crowd went positively wild when Maiden played Fear of the Dark and I bet most of the crowd knew only that one single song. They got a mosh pit going too. Wonder what the others from all over India must be thinking at such classy behavior.

Maiden ended the gig with ‘Hallowed be thy name’ and I felt the gig got over a bit early. I was left wanting a bit more and at the end of the day I didn’t really feel like I saw some major metal act. It was pretty much like walking out of any other gig. The crowd waves robbed me and many others all the fun. I also wish the organizers had given better sound. The gig lacked any sort of feel and the music didn’t really touch me. A band like Maiden cannot positively play on above average sound and neither have I emptied my piggy bank to be treated to such lackluster sound. Even iRock sounds better. Damn you,DNA.

Despite everything, the stars still shone with a magical mischief over Mumbai. Up the irons, bretheren!

Tags: 2008, iron maiden, somewhere back in time, world tour