Lamb of God/Anthrax- Philadelphia, PA Concert Review

Lamb of God, Anthrax, Deaf Heaven, Power Trip

Date: Saturday, January 16, 2016
Venue: Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA

Media Mikes Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Lamb of God made a stop in the city of brotherly love on January 18th as part of their winter headlining run which is in support of the group’s most recent release “Sturm Und Drang”. Along with the Richmond, VA natives were NY thrash metal legends Anthrax, black metal group Deafheaven and the crossover/thrash 5 piece Power Trip. The historic venue was packed to the rafters with energetic metals fans who were more than ready to live up to their “Killadelphia” name sake.

Starting of the night was the impressive Texas based thrash band Power Trip. The group blazed through a 30 minute set which grabbed the crowd’s attention and didn’t let go. Front man Riley Gale put on a stellar performance that was two parts vintage 80’s thrash and two parts modern metal making for a great start to the evening. Deafheaven would take the stage next basked in an eerie green glow that did little to win over the Philly fans. Despite the lack of vocals in the bands overall mix the group’s unique sound only further agitated the crowd who were not shy about showing their displeasure for the group. This displeasure from the crowd was returned with several gobs of saliva courtesy of lead singer George Clarke. Thankfully things did not get too out of hand as the bands set came to a rather unimpressive end.

Anthrax would follow giving the night the proverbial shot in the arm it needed after the previous bands rough time. The band sounded tighter than ever and looked great. Each of the members worked the stage like the veterans they are as they shredded their way through classic tracks such as “Caught in a Mosh” and “Antisocial” before performing their newest song “Evil Twin” which is the first single of the bands upcoming album titled “For All Kings”. Though the bands set was brief they packed every ounce of energy they had in to those 9 songs bringing the sold-out venues energy to maximum levels. Headliners

Lamb of God would close out the night in the city they consider their second home as Philadelphia was one of the very first cities to really embrace the band and their sound. Lead singer Randy Blythe made several notes of the bands relationship with the city to which the capacity crowd responded with huge applause. The groups set was a perfect mixture of both new and old as in between such classic LOG songs as “Desolation”, “Walk With me in Hell” and “ Now You’ve Got Something to Die For” were new tracks such “512” , “Still Echoes” and the bluesy tinged “Overlord” a song I was certainly excited to hear live. Despite vocals being a bit hard to hear at times the bands set was tight and well rehearsed. I am sure it will only get better as this was just the second night of a tour that runs through mid February.

If the combination of a capacity crowd and a solid bill of heavy music wasn’t enough to make you have a good time this evening then you may have wanted to check your pulse. As the sweat soaked fans spilled out on to the chilly streets on Philly it was safe to say that most if not all in attendance got their monies worth and then some.

Anthrax Set List:
1.) Fight’Em Til You Can’t
2.) Got the Time
3.) Caught in a Mosh
4.) Antisocial
5.) Evil Twin
6.) March of the S.O.D.
7.) In the End
8.) Indians
9.) Among the Living

Lamb of God Set List:
1.) Desolation
2.) 512
3.) Walk with Me in Hell
4.) Still Echoes
5.) Ruin
6.) The Subtle Arts of Murder and Persuasion
7.) Overlord
8.) The Faded Line
9.) Now You’ve Got Something to Die For
10.) Set to Fail
11.) Blackened the Cursed Sun
12.) Erase This
13.) Vigil
14.) Laid to Rest
15.) Redneck