Who would have thought that a trip to New York for the heavy metal tour of the year would make me appreciate Bangalore’s public transport system?
It was the last day of the ‘Heaven and Hell tour’ (‘Black Sabbath’ fronted by Ronnie James Dio on a reunion tour with openers ‘Machine Head’ and ‘Megadeth’). ‘Megadeth’ made an appearance at a record store in New Jersey.
Having travelled thousands of miles, I sat at the Metropark railway station, barely three kilometres from the store and unable to make my way there because there was no public transport. I had to take a massively overpriced taxi.
A week later, I was back at Metropark with the same problem. This time there was a heavy drizzle and cold sweeping winds. But nobody cared.
Being two hundredth in line to get something signed by Dave Mustaine does, however, have its advantages. I was greeted by his trademark snarl when I finally got to the front of the queue. He too was largely unimpressed at the journey I made. When would he come to India? “Not any time soon,” he said.
The experience at the show was unlike anything in India. The rain and winds had not abated, and those of us who had foolishly sacrificed warmth and comfort for style were chattering in unison in our thin and soggy ‘Black Sabbath’ T shirts.
Having reserved a seat months earlier, I could arrive at the venue after the gates had opened. The show began five minutes ahead of time, a feat which I used to believe was impossible.
‘Machine Head’, reputed to be one of the best live acts around, started things off typically aggressively with Imperium followed by two songs from their recent acclaimed album, The Blackening (Aesthetics of Hate and Now I Lay Thee Down). Two more songs and their energetic and awe-inspiringly loud opening set was done.
The opening sequence of Megadeth’s Sleepwalker, from their new album, United Abominations set the tone. The stage was enveloped in bright light to reveal Mustaine and co. Glen Drover’s piercing solos and Mustaine’s relentless rhythms are a fantastic were breathtaking. Megadeth were in good form.
As if acknowledging this, their set consisted entirely of faster, more complex and technical songs. Four songs off the classic 1990 album Rust in Peace included a scorching rendition of Take No Prisoners.
It would be mathematically impossible to compose a better 70-minute ‘Megadeth’ setlist than this.
Perhaps in response to being on the same bill as a band like ‘Machine Head’, or maybe because of Mustaine’s apparent musical resurrection, the pop and soft rock influenced songs like Trust and A Tout Le Monde that had become a staple of recent ‘Megadeth’ shows were conspicuously absent. ‘Megadeth’ was one of the first thrash metal bands, and they finally seemed to remember that.
A great thrill at a live show is when unexpected songs are ‘pulled out of the vault.’ The middle section of the encore song, Holy Wars was extended when Mustaine suddenly launched into the intro riff of The Mechanix, much to the delight of the now huge crowd. Tumultuous applause and a quick bow ended Megadeth’s set.
By now I was shivering fairly hard. I realised that there is more to a show like this than focusing on the technical side of things. The people who invented a genre.
The frontman, Ronnie James Dio, who popularised the famous devil horn hand gesture that is now inseparable from heavy metal in general.
Tony Iommi, a truly miraculous guitarist who, despite missing two fingertips on his fretting hand, is one of the greatest guitarists of all time. The dense rhythm section of Geezer Butler on bass and Vinny Appice on drums.
With a combined age well in excess of 200, ‘Heaven and Hell’ is one of the oldest touring bands. Not that it matters, of course. Excitement grew as a massive gothic set came into view. It was a set designed to rival even the mighty Iron Maiden’s.
In typical Sabbath fashion, the show opened with a dark, slow, heavy and brooding song After All (The Dead).
We may be used to hard rock and heavy metal shows beginning with faster songs to excite the audience.
This was quite different. Tension was built up. Dio and Iommi had the audience in their control. Songs that hadn’t been played on tour in years were given life again. And one now understood why they decided to tour as 'Heaven and Hell', rather than ‘Black Sabbath’, a name to which Tony Iommi has the rights.
Nobody was yelling for Ozzy-era songs like Paranoid or Children of the Grave. It gave the band the opportunity to play songs for the real fans. So we got songs like Voodoo, Die Young and the great Sign of the Southern Cross to name a few.
Iommi’s guitar sounded typically, well, Iommish. His extended solos bore his trademark rapid pentatonic licks.
The two new songs, The Shadow of the Wind and The Devil Cried were perfectly in place with older classics Falling off the Edge of the World or Children of the Sea, but the piece de resistance was an extended version of the band’s title song, Heaven and Hell.
The crowd’s spirit was extraordinary. It was the same at the Symphony X show the next week. They realise that they have at least one thing in common and are determined not to ruin the experience for others.
They hold places in line for others and break no rules to get closer to the action. The focus is then purely on the performance, which everybody enjoys just a little more. Someday, hopefully, we’ll get that way in Bangalore.
‘Heaven and Hell’ is rumoured to be making its way to India at some point. It is good to know that however long the wait it will be worth it.
