“Dystopia World Tour”
Megadeth, Meshuggah, Tesseract, Lillake
Friday, June 23rd 2017
Tag’s Summer Stage, Big Flats, NY
Our score: 3 out of 5 stars
The rolling hills of Upstate New York came alive on June 23rd as Megadeth kicked off the summer leg of their summer “Dystopia World Tour” at Tag’s Summer Stage in Big Flats, NY. Along with the veteran metal act for this leg of the tour were Meshuggah, Tesseract and Lillake who all performed to a damp crowd under foreboding skies which gave the night of music a very European festival feel.
As rain drop still trickled down over the outdoor venue known as Tag’s Summer Stage the band Lillake would start the night off. Despite a few technical glitches at the start of the bands set the group did a great job not letting it get to them as they performed a brief yet solid set of vintage tinged heavy metal but with a modern twist that had early concert goings up and moving. Tesseract a progressive band hailing from Milton Keynes, England would take the stage next for a similar length set which further helped the still semi-wet crowd dry off a little as the performed songs from their 3 studio albums including their latest single “Smile” which the crowd seemed to really enjoy. Meshuggah a band I was anxious to check out would hit the stage next and after about 2 very long minutes I was wishing for them to be done. Lack luster stage presence and even less impressive instrumentation really left me with an incredibly bad taste in my mouth however, the one positive I did find in the groups set was drummer Tomas Haak who despite the many off time signatures and sonic dirge kept the band tight and on beat. Closing out the night would be Big 4 Alum Megadeth. After an extended wait time the band burst on to the stage with a renewed sense of energy courtesy of the bands newest member guitarist Kiko Loureiro. The band shredded through material both new and old including “Hangar 18”, “Trust”, “A Tout Le Monde” and fan favorite “Symphony of Destruction”. Even front man/founder Dave Mustaine who when I have seen the band before would often remain fairly motionless was making tracks around the stage giving the night’s performance a breath of fresh air.
Fans of heavy metal music will certainly want to check out this tour if comes to your area. Don’t let the smaller production or newer acts on the bill fool you as the “Dystopia” tour is a stripped down lean, mean, metal machine which gives fans an in your face dose of metal in its purest form. No hokey stage tricks, props or gigantic movie screens here folks you get the bands exactly for what they are.
Megadeth Set List:
1.) Hangar 18
2.) Wake Up Dead
3.) In My Darkest Hour
4.) The Threat Is Real
5.) Sweating Bullets
6.) She-Wolf
7.) Trust
8.) Poisonous Shadows
9.) A Tout Le Monde
10.) Tornado of Souls
11.) Dystopia
12.) Symphony of Destruction
13.) Peace Sells
14.) Holy Wars…The Punishment Due
