I want you to think for a moment on the term “40 years”. 4 decades. 40 birthdays. If you’re 40 or older reading this, look back at all the things that happened during your life. School, graduation, driver’s license, maybe marriage and even having children. And watching those children grow up into adults. A lot can happen over 40 years, especially when it comes to music artists. Band members come and go, styles might change, new music is released, and multiple tours. This year, Anthrax celebrated its 40th Anniversary as a band in 2021. Due to the pandemic, they couldn’t get on the road to celebrate until now. Along for the celebration was Black Label Society and Hatebreed. The tour had a stop at House of Blues Orlando and I was fortunate enough to be there to review and photo the show.
House of Blues Orlando was a sold-out crowd on Friday, August 12th. Inside, people lined the floor shoulder to shoulder, lined the bars ordering drinks, and waited eagerly for the show to begin. The crowd was noisy in anticipation of seeing the bands, many wearing their Anthrax shirts over the years, others wearing Black Label Society motorcycle vests, and others wearing Hatebreed merch. But, all of them were lovers of metal and bonded over the music. The moment the house lights dropped that crowd roared the loudest I ever heard at that venue.
Hatebreed is a harcore metal band out of Bridgeport, CT that formed back in 1994. They released their first album Satisfaction Is the Death of Desire in 1997. Their second studio album Perseverance released in 2002 made it to #50 on the Billboard 200 in its first week. The remaining albums all peaked in the 30s on the Billboard 200. Hatebreed released 8 studio albums in total with Weight of the False Self being their most recent album released in 2020. Hatebreed is Jamey Jasta (vocals), Chris Beattie (bass), Frank Novinec (rhythm guitar), Wayne Lozinak (lead guitar), and Matt Bryne (drums).
Due to the sets from Black Label Society and Anthrax being setup on stage, Hatebreed had a small stage space. The drum set was closer than I’ve seen from bands at other shows. But, the band doesn’t care if they have 200 feet of room or 2 feet of room, they’re going to get on that stage and get that crowd going. And that is exactly what they did. Jamey hit the stage with such energy and got the crowd amped up with the band performing “Proven” from Perseverance. They followed with “Destroy Everything” from 2006’s Supremecy. And that guitar riff and bass line mixed with Jamey screaming, “DESTROY EVERYTHING!” had that mosh pit going insane. Everyone at the rail was doing the same, singing along with every lyric. “A Stroke of Red” from Weight of the False Self kept the crowd moving and singing hard with chorus repeating back “HARM DONE!” at the top of their lungs. Hatebreed was going all out for the crowd.
Jamey spoke to the crowd numerous times calling them “family” no matter if they were old Hatebreed fans or new ones. All he cared about was the crowd was having a good time and he repeatedly stated how much he appreciated them coming out to see them. Jamey also called out bassist Chris Beattie saying the Florida fans should give him some extra love tonight and they were happy to do it. For the extra love, Chris was all over the stage playing hard. Wayne as always kept cool and collected, while Frank played like a maniac and screamed into the mic providing backup vocals. Matt was focused all night thundering out the drumbeats. This was the best performance I’ve seen from them ever. And including songs “Tear It Down”, “Before Dishonor”, and “Perseverance”. But, it was the end of the set when they played “I Will Be Heard” where the crowd truly went nuts. All it took was that opening lyric of “Now is the time!” to get that whole crowd moving. What a fantastic set from Hatebreed that evening! You can find their music and merch over at https://www.hatebreed.com/
Their setlist that evening was:
- Proven
- Destroy Everything
- A Stroke of Red
- Bonded by Blood (Exodus cover)
- To the Threshold
- Tear It Down
- Before Dishonor
- This Is Now
- Smash Your Enemies
- As Diehard as They Come
- Last Breath
- Looking Down the Barrel of Today
- Perseverance
- I Will Be Heard
Black Label Society was next to the stage. The heavy metal band from Los Angeles, CA was formed back in 1998 and released their first album Sonic Brew in 1999. They have since released 10 additional studio albums with their most recent being Doom Crew Inc. which was released in 2021. The band includes Zakk Wylde (vocals/guitar/piano), John DeServio (bass), Daria Lorina (rhythm guitar), and Jeff Fabb (drums). The band played a full-hour set with some of the most fantastic lighting I’ve ever seen. Zakk was a wildman on the guitar, as expected, and performed some beautifully. At one point he and John had a guitar duel during “Fire It Up”. Zakk even manned the piano at one point during the set. “In This River” was a wonderful tribute to Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul. Overall, a fantastic set from Black Label Society with a huge fanbase cheering them on that evening. Sadly, we were not approved to photograph their set that evening.
You can find their music and merch at http://blacklabelsociety.com Their setlist that night was:
- Funeral Bell
- Destroy & Conquer
- Overlord
- Heart of Darkness
- A Love Unreal
- You Made Me Want to Live
- In This River
- Trampled Down Below
- Set You Free
- Fire It Up
- Suicide Messiah
- Stillborn
And then we got to the headliners for that evening, the thrash metal band celebrating their 40th Anniversary, Anthrax!! The band out of New York City formed back in 1981. It wouldn’t be until 1984 when the band released their first album Fistful of Metal from the well-known Megaforce label. The following year they released Spreading The Disease which made its way onto the Billboard 200 peaking at #113. From that point on, Anthrax’s success was in full swing with multiple albums being certified Gold and making the Billboard 200 multiple times, which two albums getting into the Top 10. The band has released 11 studio albums with the most recent being For All Kings from 2016. Anthrax consists of Scott Ian (rhythm guitar), Charlie Benante (drums), Joey Belladonna (vocals), Frank Bello (bass), and Jon Donais (lead guitar)
Before they came on stage, a movie was projected onto the screen where a bunch of celebrities talked about Anthrax and how the band influenced them or how much they loved the band. Some prominent people in the music industry provided their love including Gene Simmons of KISS, Robert Trujillo of Metallica, Henry Rollins, Slash of Guns ‘N Roses, Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, and Kerry King of Slayer just to name a few. And at the end, “Anthrax” was repeated over and over that got the crowd saying it too and then the curtain dropped and Anthrax hit the crowd with “Among The Living” the title track from their 1987 album. And WOW, what a way to open up a show! The heaviness with Scott and Jon ripping out riffs and Charlie going nuts on the drums had the crowd seriously moving. And they were just getting started. Next was probably one of my favorite songs, “Caught in a Mosh”, from the same album. Frank provides such killer bass notes throughout the song you can’t help but want to move around while Ian kept that fast-paced rhythm riff throughout the song. It’s so good. They followed that up with “Madhouse” from Spreading The Disease. They were not going easy on this crowd, expecting them to keep up with them.
For the rest of the evening, Anthrax kept the crowd rocking with some truly classic songs. “Metal Thrashing Mad” from Fistful of Metal was a great pull from the catalog of songs and the fans truly loved hearing it. The crowd (including myself) sung at the top of our lungs when “I Am the Law” was performed. How could you not like a song about the comic book antihero Judge Dredd. And “In The End” which was dedicated to Ronnie James Dio, Dimebag Darrell, and Vinnie Paul was truly awesome. All night Joey’s vocals were fantastic. He constantly interacted with the crowd and never stayed still. At one point he literally crouched down on stage in front of the photographers for us to get some awesome closeups. Charlie kept focused on his drumming all night truly rocking out some awesome sounds. Jon was constantly headwhipping or headbanging having his hair constantly covering up his face as he played. His guitar playing is superb. Frank is just an absolute wildman on the stage. He’s constantly moving, screaming, jumping, and egging the crowd on to get crazy. And Ian, damn. That man plays with such passion and intensity. His heart and soul is filled with music and you can see it and hear it through every note. I love how dedicated this man has been to this band over all these years as the remaining original founding member.
Anthrax closed the night with “Indians” from Among the Living, which was the perfect way to finish the night. Such an excellent performance from Anthrax. You can find their music and merch at https://www.anthrax.com/ Their setlist that night was:
- Among the Living
- Caught in a Mosh
- Madhouse
- Metal Thrash Mad
- Keep It in the Family
- Antisocial (Trust cover)
- I Am the Law
- In The End
- Only
- Got The Time (Joe Jackson cover)
- Bring the Noise (Public Enemy cover)
- Indians
This was a night for fans to mosh hard and let loose between Anthrax, Black Label Society, and Hatebreed. If you have the opportunity to see this tour, do not miss it!
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