Kreator & Exodus. The Best Show…EVER!

Kind of after a last minute decision on Friday night, my friend Martin and I decided to go see Kreator, Exodus, Belphagor, Warbringer and Epicurean last night and man, I’m glad we did. Two veteran thrash bands on one bill, tearing it up like it was 1986.

It was crowded for 7:30 when we got there. Epicurean was playing and they were extremely loud, but pretty good. I’m not familiar with the band but they have a thrashy, almost death metal sound to them. I guess one of their guitar players bailed on them.

Warbringer picked up the pace a bit and was really cool. I’ll definitely have to make an attempt to listen to more Warbringer soon. Their drummer broke his arm or wrist earlier in the tour so the drummer for Epicurean was helping them out, playing double duty. Needless to say, Wabringer’s set was a slightly shorter. Belphagor was pretty good. I wasn’t really in to them, though.

Exodus was awesome. In fact, it was so awesome that I had to get in the pit for a few minutes. I forgot how fun it was and yet how tiring it is at the same time. I found myself very winded, very fast.

Kreator was even better than Exodus. They had the crowd even more awake and moving than Exodus did. The pit was almost constantly moving and people were having a blast. I got in the pit for a few minutes (or less) during one of the last few songs, I think it might have been Enemy Of God. We left as Kreator was doing an encore but it was cool. My head was ringing and I was ready to go.

This is what made the show great, besides the bands. The environment and the attitude among everyone there. The pit was like an old school thrash pit with no karate moshers and everyone was having a good time. If someone fell, three or four people would try to help them up. If someone was crowd surfing and heading for an empty spot in the pit someone would try to catch them or guide them in another direction. There was no one acting stupid, nobody was being a dick and it was all fun. I think this had a lot to do with the fact that it was a slightly older, more mature crowd than most of the shows I’ve been to in the past year. I have a few sore spots and it feels like someone took a baseball bat to my right calf, but it was all worth it.

I’m not sure how many more shows are left on this tour, but go! If you have to skip work, school or whatever, go! It’s well worth it.

(Image: © Metal Martyr 2009)