New England's Metal Shows

This past weekend marked the inaugural premiere of Connecticut's very own destination festival, Revolution Rock Fest. A one day festival put on by AEG Live who are known for putting on the festival Rock on the Range. Concert goers traveled from all over  New England to come see Revolution Rock Festival which featured the bands Avenged Sevenfold, Slayer, Killswitch Engage, Anthrax, and Chevelle just to name a few. The festival took place just outside Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mashantucket, CT. The performance areas were set up facing each other. Both separated by an eighth of a mile stretch providing an easy flow from stage to stage.

What started as an cloudy morning eventually transformed into a sunny paradise as the music kicked off around noon time with Crobot. Crobot has developed quite a Connecticut fan-base since their last Connecticut performance. It was quite aparant by the size of the crowd. They had done a phenomenal job warming everyone up. Now everyone is whipped up into a frenzy. They are ready, eager, and willing to rock out with the bands for the rest of the day.

Anthrax went on around 1:30 producing a "thrash-tastic" set. They kicked it off with "Caught in a Mosh."  One of the crowd favorites. They also called for their "WARDANCE" during the closer "Indians." It's a shame that their set was so short but that is one of the cons of a festival.

I had a chance to speak with a few festival attendees in between sets. One of the questions asked was "What's been your highlight of the festival so far?" Their answer was simple: "KILLSWITCH ENGAGE"

Killswitch marched onstage around 4:30 bringing every ounce of energy they had for a Connecticut crowd. Festival sets are always unique due to the songs being mainly fan favorites. KSE opened their set with "My Curse" one of their most popular songs. It did not take long to get the gears of the mosh pit rotating. Two songs in the band paused their set due to someone in the crowd being injured. KSE still pushed on cranking out a few other well known tunes which included "Rose of Sharyn," "The End of Heartache," and their amped up cover of Dio's "Holy Diver."

Chevelle had made their return to Connecticut having not played here in over a span of two years. It seems like forever since the song's "The Red" and "Send the Pain Below" had even been played. The band sounded amazing and tore up the main-stage like tissue paper.

Volbeat sounded amazing. This was one of the first times I had caught them with Rob Caggiano (formerly of Anthrax) so they definitely had sounded a lot heavier. Vocalist Michael Poulsen had his fun with the crowd throughtout the set even busting out Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" getting help from the crowd on the chorus. That fun led into their similar sounding song "Sad Man's Tongue." I love Volbeat's banter they are one of those bands that can just make you smile by messing around. They even teased AC/DC's "Back in Black."

Sevendust was given a short set on the second-stage before Slayer would go on. It's always fun to see vocalist Lajon Witherspoon greet the audience with a huge smile. Fans moshed away to "Face To Face," "Decay," and "Thank You" while getting more and more anticipated for the next few bands.

Slayer was one of the primary reason festival goers attended this festival. What metal head DOESN'T love the thrashy riffs of "Raining Blood" or "War Ensemble." Vocalist  and bassist Tom Araya delievered a five-star performance alongside guitarists' Gary Holt and Kerry King. Both Holt and King would trade off solo's throughout their set. Thirteen songs were played including the classics "Seasons in the Abyss," "Black Magic," "South of Heaven," and "Dead Skin Mask." Many of the old school fans were left astonished having seen such a perfect set. The younger fans who had perhaps never seen Slayer had  had their minds blown.

"SEVENFOLD! SEVENFOLD!" chants erupted prior to the band taking the stage. The opening chords to "Nightmare" rang causing an enormous pop from the crowd as both guitarists' Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengance appeared. Behind the microphone was M.Shadows, displaying the reason behind why he has one of the most prominant voices in metal today. Tonight also marked one of A7X's first  Connecticut shows with new drummer Brooks Wackerman.  Among tonight's setlist were classic songs "Gunslinger," "Second Heartbeat," and "Afterlife." However there were also a few "deep-cuts" as M.Shadows would proclaim. Sevenfold busted out "Planets" alongside "Acid Rain" both from the most recent album Hail To The King.  The band left the stage together eventually returning to inform us that "HE WHO MAKES A BEAST OUT OF HIMSELF... GETS RID OF THE PAIN OF BEING A MAN." A line from their hit "Bat Country" which immediately followed. To finish off their set A7X  ripped into "Unholy Confessions" and initiated a chain reaction of circle pits.

Revolution Rock Festival seemed to be a huge success. I would like to thank all the bands for coming out to deliver an amazing show to the fans. I would also like to thank AEG LIVE and Kristine Ashton-Magnuson for all of their behind the scenes work and making this festival a success. I have high hopes in seeing this festival return next year with even more bands!