LOUDNESS - May 19, 2001

Loudness

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Ground Zero, Minneapolis, MN

Click any of the pictures to see more photos of Loudness performing live (37).

Japanese greats Loudness did a rare U.S. tour in the Spring of 2011 to celebrate the band’s 30th anniversary. This show was a late addition to the initial batch of announced tour dates so this nearly missed my attention. Loudness never broke through in the U.S. and hadn’t toured here in over 20 years. I still remember all the hype in the mid-80s about guitarist Akira Takasaki being the “Japanese Eddie Van Halen”, so my expectations were high as I finally had a chance to see Loudness. The full show is at long last here for you to download.

Local industrial band As|Of opened the show followed by Mommy Sez No, who filled in for the last minute cancellations of Warmachine and Dirty Passion. The club wasn’t full, but there still was a good turnout by the time Loudness took the stage. As the intro music played the only thing visible was the LED lights from Akira’s fretboard before showcasing his shredding on the instrumental “Fire Of Spirit”. Vocalist Minoru Niihara then ran out as they launched into “Hit The Rails” and a crushing version of their most well-known song in the U.S., “Crazy Nights”. The intensity never let up for an instant as the band tore through a selection of songs from most stages of their long career. The guitarwork of Akira was simply insane as his fingers flew all over the frets seemingly without effort. Other highlights were the drum solo that led into “The King Of Pain” and the dramatic “Shadows Of War (Ashes In The Sky)”. An encore of “Let It Go” and “S.D.I.” closed out an amazing show.

This was easily one of the best and most memorable concerts in the last few years. It was also up there with Manowar as one of the loudest concerts I’ve ever experienced. The band was in great spirits throughout the night and fed off the rapturous crowd response. Loudness makes a return to the U.S. this month for a very limited run of dates that are not to be missed.

The download link is here. As always, please share, but share the link to this post rather than the direct Mediafire link. Enjoy!

Loudness

Thunder At Ground Zero

May 19, 2011

Minneapolis, MN, Ground Zero

mp3@192 kbps, 109 MB zip file (artwork included)

1. Intro/Fire Of Spirit (6:02)

2. Hit The Rails (4:36)

3. Crazy Nights (6:13)

4. Heavy Chains (5:12)

5. In The Mirror (4:13)

6. Never Change Your Mind (7:26)

7. Shadows Of War (Ashes In The Sky) (8:35)

8. Get Away (6:38)

9. Black Star Oblivion (4:20)

10. The King Of Pain (6:58)

11. Crazy Doctor (5:18)

12. Let It Go (6:04)

13. S.D.I. (7:28)

Total time: 79:03

Loudness performs Saturday, April 27 at the Hi Five Bar in Burnsville with support from Downtread.