The Sigil of Slateman: Concerts: 2001

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Overkill: 23rd November, 2001 - L'Amours

6th time seeing the 'Kill and they are as good as ever. Sounded great, the crowd was awesome, so much energy. Almost gave up after Necroshine, as the tour wasn't the best IMO - but Bloodletting is a fantastic record and their song choices for this show were phenominal...

The first 3 songs are in order, as well as the encore - the rest is jumbled.

Coma
Deny the Cross
E.vil N.ever D.ies
Hammerhead
Overkill
Battle
It Lives
Necroshine
Long Time Dyin'
Bleed Me
Death Comes Out to Play
Horrorscope
I Hate
In Union We Stand
Thunderhead
E: Rotten to the Core
E: Elimination
E: Fuck You

Awesome I tell you....They've still got it after all these years. I can't say enough. Brooklyn made me proud this evening, as when they came around in April the place was quiet. :/ Blitz even jumped in the crowd at the end. Sign of a good show. In Union We Stand was so loud, the crowd roaring the chorus. Fan-fucking-tastic.

Slayer: 16th November, 2001 - Roseland Ballroom - God Hates the World Tour

This was my 6th time seeing Slayer - and while I never get as excited as I did when I was 15, they still put on an excellent show. Full of intensity, speed, aggression. There's simply nothing like a Slayer show. Many will agree w/ that.

Roseland is a good size for a show like Slayer, especially considering last time I saw them was at Nassau Colisseum on the Pantera tour. Quite a striking difference really between the two locales. This time, I was able to get right up front, absorbing much of the moshing behind me. It doesn't matter much, b/c the adrenaline level of a Slayer show is not to be matched. You'll find you can take more of a beating when seeing this band.

Slayer fans will be Slayer fans, and it was hot in Roseland. After New Faith the band stopped due to sound problems. You don't want to be stuck in the middle of a Slayer show in NYC mind you - it took them about 10 minutes to fix the PA. Hot angry Slayer fans chanted everything from Roseland Sucks, the Sound Guy Sucks and the typical Slayer chants. Impatience is not the word, as we'd heard several songs already. It might be the middle of November, but it was HOT in there! Not much longer and there could've been fights.

Fortunately the sound problems were fixed shortly and they returned. Tom Araya mentioned that some people threw beer on the wires and that screwed w/ the sound. They returned and all was forgotten, as the pit started up again with the next song. Postmortem->Raining Blood->Hell Awaits. That is just awesome! I noticed a lot of younger fans who didn't know the words to these, but that's ok, as the intensity level was at a peak.

The older songs were as you expected them. No real surprises here. The selection of songs was typical, 3 from RiB and Seasons, with only one from Diabolus and sadly only one from Show No Mercy.

As the years go on this band gets tighter and tighter. Slayer solos are sloppy messes, but they pull them off without a hitch live. Tom is angrier than ever and Paul is simply a machine behind the kit. How a band can continue w/ such intensity and aggression 20 years into their careers eludes me. They kicked ass, like always.

Hoping they mix up the encore next time around, it was the same as the Pantera tour and virtually every other tour in recent memory.

Darkness of Christ
Disciple
War Ensemble
Stain Of Mind
New Faith
Postmortem
Raining Blood
Hell Awaits
Die By The Sword
Dittohead
Bloodline
God Send Death
Dead Skin Mask
Seasons In The Abyss
Mandatory Suicide
Chemical Warfare
E: South Of Heaven
E: Angel Of Death

This would be the last few days with Paul Bostaph as he soon left the band.

Slayer/Pantera: 21st June, 2001 - Nassau Colliseum - Extreme Steel Tour

Pantera may have headlined this tour, but Slayer cannot be followed. It is simply impossible. After the pure intensity, speed and aggression that Slayer came out with, Pantera sounded terrible. I think I may have enjoyed them had they opened.

The setlist:

Intro
Disciple
Death's Head
Dead Skin Mask
Raining Blood
War Ensemble
Bloodlines
Stain of Mind
Mandatory Suicide
Chemical Warfare
E: South of Heaven
E: Angel of Death

Apparently the warmup dates had a number of other classics, namely Hollowed Point, Necrophiliac, Die By the Sword, Seasons and one I would've loved to see again, Postmortem. Outside of the band opening, the show was fantastic. Tom mentioned that they were taking up a little too much time, so they'd have to speed up some songs. I didn't really take them seriously, until I noticed South of Heaven was blazing fast and forget Angel of Death. The ending of that song was the fastest I've ever heard Slayer. The guitars sounded excellent, you could hear Jeff well, which is a rarity. The band was as animated as I've seen them, running from side to side, headbanging as you must. Paul was insane, playing extra hard, super fast and somehow headbanging himself the whole time. It was the best they've sounded ever. The show certainly doesn't live up to the Undisputed tour, but they sounded great.

Opeth: 5th May, 2001 - L'Amours - Blackwater Park tour

I've waited a long time to see Opeth. I missed them when they came by for the Milwaukee Metalfest, but was happy to finally get to see them on their first US tour.

Brooklyn is an hour's drive away, and they were scheduled for an 11:30 start. We got there and I grabbed a Blackwater Park shirt and then moved down to get a closer look. The place seemed really psyched to see theml, with numerous chants and plenty of good old headbanging.

The setlist: (in order)

White Cluster
Forest of October
The Drapery Falls
Advent
Demon of the Fall

On certain dates on the tour Forest of October was replaced by both Credence and The Leper Affinity. I'd love to see both, but glad I got to see one track from every album. I was slightly disappointed as the choices from the latest 2 records were among my least favorites on the album. I would have much preferred The Moor over White Cluster or anything but Drapery. All their songs are amazing though, so I can't complain.

The crowd was definitely looking for more, too bad they couldn't play longer. Perhaps they'll get a headlining tour next time. Stacy and I grabbed another shirt (the Opeth logo) and headed home.

Overkill: 20th April, 2001 - L'Amours - Bloodletting tour

This was my 5th time seeing the band.

The setlist: (in no order)

Rotten to the Core
Overkill
Wrecking Crew/Powersurge
Hello From the Gutter
Skullcrusher -> Spiritual Void
E.vil N.ever D.ies
Elimination
It Lives
Gasoline Dream
Necroshine
Bleed Me
Thunderhead
Fuck You

I think I'm missing something there.

Unsurprisingly, they did the Wrecking Crew -> Powersurge (complete w/, "Power up Shithead") as well as Skullcrusher -> Spiritual Void. I wish they'd break them up at one point or do some new combo at least.

A Perfect Circle: 1st March, 2001 - Hammerstein Ballroom

This was not in tour of anything, but it was the band's final tour before Tool came back.

This record took me a bit to get into, but the magic of the album is likely due to layering. The production is spectacular and between the multilayered vocals and guitars, there's a lot going on.

Live, with 1 guitar player, is a different story. They didn't catch me nearly as much, and had I seen them w/out knowing who they were, I probably wouldn't take notice. Maynard's vocals were excellent as always, but they just don't seem to me a live band. Playing virtually the entire record, plus a few covers (David Bowie's ??? and something from Maynard's newest side project w/ Trent Reznor (Tapeworm)).

The crowd was definitely not my typical type either.