We checked into the Great American Music Hall on a Monday Night in San Francisco, and it really hit me how much this town lives for Metal shows. Granted the show was basically sold out and already full of people. Doors were supposed to be 7 and the show at 8 pm, but Dead Heat went on early and were crushing it when we got in the place. All good. I got into the venue early enough to enjoy the gig. I have seen the band a few times and they got a huge reaction from the crowd. I popped by the merch table to say hi to Richie Cavalera, slinging shirts and merch for his father and uncle in Cavalera, like a champ. Always good to see him and he let me know about some new Incite news coming soon, so I was Jazzed!
Necrot was up next and this was basically a hometown show for them! Their recent record Lifeless Birth (Tankcrimes) was one of my favorite records of last year, and they absolutely killed it. They don’t overplay the Bay Area that much being locals, and you could see the crowd was hungry for maximum OSDM worship! The band tore through a list of new jams and old favorites and the pits were viscous. Seeing them go so hard, but slow down a little towards the end of the night so I was worried about later moshing. Judging by all the headbangers and vinyl flying off the table, I’d say it was a good night for the band. My homie and Angst bandmate Abe rolled in earlier and we chilled and enjoyed the bands and some adult beverages
At last, it was time for the main event! Max Cavalera has toured this area a lot with all his bands and they never fail to bring a crowd. There was a buzz in the room that felt special on this night with the expected old-school setlist. The Third World Trilogy tour was definitely the heights production we’d ever seen from the group with crazy mood lighting and video screens. The band came out firing on all cylinders as they tore through some classics from Schizophrenia, Morbid Visions, and Beastial Devastation!
Max and Iggor were incredible as was the rest of the band! Ax seemed to having so much fun, he played and screamed with amazing accuracy, for this one of the best Cavalera performances ever! We got treated to a medley of later-era songs like “Territory,” “Dead Embryonic Cells,” “Roots” and more. Iggor was a beast tonight and we got chills just watching him. It was also a unique choice of building a set list with the “a few tracks and few tracks more” approach from the different records, rotating in and out mini runs of tracks. This also gave a great pace for the moshers and crowd surfers, even tho most of the tempos were neckbreaking speed. It was fun watching kids smash themselves apart to songs that came out when they were not yet born. Absolute chaos and violence reigned with huge circle pits and a nice crowd of people just enjoying the metal flow! Fun stuff!
It was an explosive set of master musicians playing some of the best underground metal ever made. We are looking forward to seeing Cavalera play all of Chaos A.D. at Aftershock Festival in October!
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