Can anybody explain me why did both acts were represented by only one man from each side? I mean, that's what I saw when arrived at their press-conference three hours before the show had to begin. OVERKILL's Bobby Ellswarth and ANNIHILATOR's guru-man Jeff Waters (with a short hair... whatta mess!) - that's all. Perhaps, they were frightened that journalists will be in a very little number, so "who cares anyway?" Nevertheless, they comported themselves in a rather friendly (hate this word!) way, in the end letting almost all of those present to have their pictures taken (together with the ones who was eager to do that, of course).
Ok, closer to the subject of this report. Y'know, I was somehow assured that those who could attend this gig back in mid-eighties, I mean, the times when thrash was much more popular than now, in the year of 2000, came this time. "The same people" is what I'm talking about, if you didn't get me. Furthermore, I've met lots of those whom I recall from MANOWAR's concert. Yeah, regarding the crowd's number - it was really huge. No, wrong am I. It was FUCKING huge. Nearly 1500 souls, I suppose. And that's not the kind of number I expected to see coming at OVERKILL and ANNIHILATOR.
ANNIHILATOR were the first ones, opening their set with (guess what?) "W.T.Y.D." Speaking plainer, as always. Both guitarists were just perfect on stage, performing their parts the way I couldn't cavil at anything, anything at all. And that's pretty strange fact, believe me. Randy Rampage, this insane-glam-rocker-looking-alike freak complemented the whole picture fine, although let me doubt if he's the best choice for ANNIHILATOR. Despite the fact he's into singing for a long, long time, his voice is far from being perfect. Anyway, the crowd was pleased, and there's nothing strange in it. ANNIHILATOR performed almost all of their best tunes, from each CD, of course with an exception for that industrial crap, "Remains". Their set was finished by Randy who (suicider!) jumped right into the crowd...
Ladies and gentlemen, this is OVERKILL. These guys are splendid show-men, hence I bet no-one considered this band's set to be a boring one. The sound was nearly stupendous, and let us not forget about amazing performance's energy! While playing their first-ever ("their first-ever" that evening, of course) piece, "Necroshine", OVERKILL proved that they're something more than just a living idol (icon?) for 30-years olded thrashers. B.t.w., they somewhat reminded me of good 'ol melodic JUDAS PRIEST in extreme thrash metal treatment... or am I wrong? Perhaps, only deaf ones could stay indifferent to OVERKILL's set... the crowd went mad... and it was mad during all the time these guys performed their stuff on stage. From "Wrecking Crue" to "Elimination" through MOTORHEAD's classic, "Overkill", in between.
Speaking honestly, I still don't have any albums by neither ANNIHILATOR nor OVERKILL at home (even though I'm familiar with the latter band's materials quite good), however this gig made me to change my opinion regarding thrash. I'd better go and buy few CD's this weekend... guess what CD's I'm talking about???