From The Vault - BON JOVI

I'll embarrass myself a little bit here by admitting that not only have I seen Bon Jovi but bought one of the tour shirts. In my defense this was back during the band's early hair metal days in support of their second album, 7800º Fahrenheit. Bon Jovi had a couple minor MTV and radio hits by this point, but their nearly 30-year hold as superstars didn't begin until the release of their next album, Slippery When Wet.

I caught Bon Jovi on September 19, 1985 at the Five Seasons Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa as the opening band for Ratt. Bon Jovi was clearly on the ascendency as they got a huge crowd response. According to multiple online sources the band's setlist on this tour was "Tokyo Road", "Breakout", "Only Lonely", "In And Out Of Love", "Runaway", "I Don't Want To Go Home", and "Get Ready". I remember "Tokyo Road" being the opener and "In And Out Of Love", but I could swear they played "Silent Night" at this show, too.

Ratt, for their part, was awesome. There might not have been a better time to see Ratt than on the Invasion Of Your Privacy tour. This was one of the first few concerts I had been to so Ratt's huge stage with multiple ramps and bridges across the stage was impressive. Of course, all the band's best music was played - "You're In Love", "Lay It Down", "You Should Know By Now", "Wanted Man", "The Morning After", "Dangerous But Worth The Risk", "Back For More", "You Think You're Tough", "Round And Round", and a massive drum solo from Bobby Blotzer among others.

Bon Jovi performs tonight, Sunday, April 7 in St. Paul at the Xcel Energy Center.

From The Vault - ANTHRAX

I've seen Anthrax a few times throughout the years, and here's a few recollections from those concerts. The first time seeing them was in support of Persistence Of Time on the Clash Of The Titans tour, a triple-headlinging show with Megadeth and Slayer with support from Alice In Chains at the Five Seasons Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on June 8, 1991. The Facelift album was just starting to take off, yet Alice In Chains opened with the unreleased (at the time) song "Would?" that would later appear on Dirt. Following their 30 minute set, Megadeth, Anthrax, and Slayer each got about 50 minutes to floor the crowd. Shows of this type were rare in Iowa at the time, so this concert wasn't missed by metal fans in Iowa. You can download the audio of Anthrax's show here.

Following the shock of vocalist Joey Belladonna being replaced with Armored Saint's John Bush, Anthrax embarked on bigger headlining shows in support of Sound Of White Noise. I caught the band at the Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio during the summer of 1993. This and the Cedar Rapids concert in 1991 were the best shows I've seen Anthrax play, and at this show they played a good part of Sound Of White Noise along with all the favorites from the previous albums with Joey.

By the time Stomp 442 came out in 1995 thrash metal was largely dead as grunge had taken over. This tour saw Anthrax returning to clubs such as this show at The Lone Star in Kansas City with Life Of Agony and Deftones. The club had recently moved from their location in the Westport area of Kansas City and didn't seem set up to handle a packed, rowdy crowd. During the Deftones' set a railing on an elevated area near the stage fell off and caused some chaos for a few minutes. While it was great seeing Anthrax in a small venue, clearly some of the magic was gone with the departure of guitarist Dan Spitz.

Anthrax later hit the road in early 1998 before Volume 8: The Threat Is Real was released, and this show at Roadhouse Ruby's in North Kansas City with Season To Risk was the last time I saw them with John Bush. Again, another good show but the band's declining fortunes were palpable.

It's hard to believe seven years have now passed since I last saw Anthrax at First Avenue in Minneapolis (on January 14, 2006) when they surprisingly revived the classic lineup with both Joey Belladonna and Dan Spitz. The band was completely rejuvenated and in high spirits for this one. At some dates on this tour Among The Living was performed in its entirety, but not this one. This show was another favorite because they played a large chunk of Among The Living alongside a number of older songs from Spreading The Disease that I'd never seen them play, like "A.I.R.", "Medusa", and "Aftershock" as well as "Metal Thrashing Mad" and "Madhouse".

Anthrax performs Thursday, April 4 at First Avenue in Minneapolis with support from Exodus, High On Fire, Municipal Waste, and Holy Grail.

RELATED CONTENT: Here's some other recent Anthrax-related posts: audio downloads of Anthrax in 1991 on the Clash Of The Titans tour and former Anthrax guitarist Dan Spitz's new band Red Lamb in St. Paul on March 24, 2013, reviews of the Red Lamb album and March 24 concert (with pictures), pictures of S.O.D. in 1999 and 2000, and stories and pictures of former Anthrax vocalist John Bush with Armored Saint.

ANTHRAX - June 8, 1991, Cedar Rapids, IA

Anthrax

June 8, 1991

Five Seasons Center, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Anthrax and Red Lamb (featuring former Anthrax guitarist Dan Spitz) are both coming to town soon, so it’s time to dust something off that goes way back into my analog archives! Here is a completely uncirculated recording of thrash icons Anthrax at the height of their popularity with singer Joey Belladonna on the legendary Clash Of The Titans tour with Megadeth, Slayer, and special guest Alice In Chains. This was a rotating triple bill, so the sets of Anthrax, Megadeth, and Slayer were limited to around 50 minutes each. If I remember correctly, Megadeth was up first this night, followed by Anthrax then Slayer. Alice In Chains was well on their way to stardom by this time, and their opening set was notable for leading off with the then unreleased song “Would?”.

Don’t expect a great sound on this audience recording, I’d probably rate it a C. These were the days before cheap, high quality portable recording equipment was available. This was recorded on a Sony WM-D6 Walkman cassette recorder, the best recorder at the time since you could adjust the recording level and connect an external microphone. The recording level was kept low to minimize distortion; following digital transfer from the master tape, digital mixing was done to keep the bass distortion and tape hiss out as much as possible while keeping the guitars and vocals loud. The quality is what it is, but if you’re a bootleg buff you’ll probably want this.

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

Anthrax

Thrash Titans

June 8, 1991

Cedar Rapids, IA, Five Seasons Center

mp3@192 kbps, 72 MB zip file

1. Blues Brothers Intro (1:20)

2. Time/Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.) (6:23)

3. Got The Time (2:46)

4. Caught In A Mosh (5:16)

5. Keep It In The Family (7:40)

6. Indians (6:45)

7. Antisocial (6:38)

8. I’m The Man (5:25)

9. Won’t Get Fooled Again/I Am The Law (8:16)

Total time: 50:29

Anthrax performs Thursday, April 4 at First Avenue in Minneapolis with support from Exodus, High On Fire, Municipal Waste, and Holy Grail.

Red Lamb performs Sunday, March 24 at Station 4 in St. Paul with support from Candy Machine Guns, Prophets Of Aether, Monster Of Creation, and Pandemic.