photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

The concert, or the tour, or the notion, is called the Big Four, and it needs an asterisk. Long ago one of the four became much bigger than the rest.

In alphabetical order, Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica and Slayer -- who all played at Yankee Stadium in a thorough and memorable seven-hour concert on Wednesday night -- were the most popular bands of mid-1980s thrash-metal. (Some would prefer a Big Five, and include Testament or Exodus.) Thrash was a powerful mutt: it ran at hardcore-punk speeds and wedged hyper-articulate firebomb guitar solos into small spaces...

[Metallica's] set list was almost identical to what the band played in Indio. It started with the old ("Creeping Death"), moving to the new ("All Nightmare Long") and a we've-earned-it instrumental section ("Orion"), then the hits and landmarks ("One," "Master of Puppets") and back to the old again ("Seek and Destroy"). And it was a proper retrospective, with songs fast and slow and medium, compassionate and merciless.

The last set also included a song involving members of all four bands. Cleverly it was a version of Motorhead's "Overkill," a song that keeps stopping and starting up again. Each time it reanimated, a different drummer took over: Lars Ulrich of Metallica, Dave Lombardo of Slayer, Charlie Benante of Anthrax; the guitarists traded off too.
[New York Times]

We previously posted video of Metallica's epic rendition of Motorhead's "Overkill" with members of Anthrax, Megadeth, Exodus and Slayer, and pics of the Rocks Off Cruise to the stadium, and of all the openers. Here are pictures of Metallica including some shots of the collaboration at the end the set. They continue below...

Continue reading "pics of Metallica @ Yankee Stadium (The biggest of the Four)"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Slayer / Anthrax

Right from the start, when Anthrax hit the stage for its very early 4 p.m. slot, the collective goal of artists and audience alike seemed to be to peel the paint off the walls with violent volume and loosen the bolts that held the joint together, with the bounce of dance moves.

Of the opening three acts before Metallica took the stage at 9 p.m., Anthrax was the outfit that owned The Bronx.
Over the course of an hour, the quintet wowed the fans with cornerstones of their songbook such as "Indians," "Thrashing Mad" and "I Am The Law."

Megadeth was the second band to play and was the least successful act on the bill. Lead singer Dave Mustaine told the house he had just had neck surgery earlier in the week, adding "I shouldn't even be here." He was right.

Slayer was the heaviest band on the bill. Their set was pure brute force. The shred guitar solos were impossibly fast, and the drumming made thunder sound tame...[NY Post]

And we already talked about what Metallica played as well as the Motorhead cover that brouht all the bands back to the stage. We also saw pictures of the Rocks Off boat cruise that brought a few hundred fans up to the Bronx on Wednesday (9/14). Now here are the pictures from the first three bands that played the 'Big 4' show (Metallica pics HERE). They continue below...

Continue reading "Slayer, Megadeth & Anthrax @ Yankee Stadium (Big 4 pics)"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Rocks Off hosted a boat cruise to the Big 4 show at Yankee Stadium (Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax). The pictures from the actual concert are coming shortly, but here are some taken on the high seas (the Hudson River) on the way there. They continue below...

Continue reading "pics from the boat ride to Big 4 @ Yankee Stadium"

by BBG

They hit the west coast last weekend, and now "The Big 4" will make the journey east for their second show together in The Bx. Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth & Anthrax will play Yankee Stadium on September 14th. According to Metallica's site, "tickets go on sale Friday, May 6 at 10:00 AM via www.ticketmaster.com. Met Club members should log in for more information about a special pre-sale starting on Wednesday, May 4. Yankees season ticket holders will have their own pre-sale, also on May 4, starting at noon."

Hopefully by the time the NYC show rolls aroundm Slayer will have founding member Jeff Hanneman back in the fold, though he did made a brief appearance in Indio last weekend...

Slayer hit the stage and even the sun appeared slightly scared as it sank behind the mountains. They were the hardest and most relentless band of the day. Dave Lombardo's double bass drums were thunderous, not so much supporting but propelling the music as Kerry King delivered frequent guitar-shredding solos...They played a new song "America" (sp?) that fit right alongside the classics. As he has been since February, Gary Holt of Exodus sat in for guitarist Jeff Hanneman who is suffering from necrotizing fasciitis in his arm. To the crowd's great delight, Hanneman appeared and played during the last two songs of the set, "South of Heaven" and "Angel of Death". -[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]

Check out a video of "Angel of Death", one of "Am I Evil" and a trailer for "The Big 4" show, below...

Continue reading "Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth & Anthrax (The Big 4) playing Yankee Stadium! (played Indio, CA)"