Touring Europe with Testament on the 'Bay Strikes Back' tour, Exodus and Death Angel arranged a couple of solo dates on the days Testament wanted as rest days, which saved us a trip to Bristol and the tedium of watching Testament...
The venue was pretty packed and close to sold out, if not actually sold out and we only had about 20 mins to wait from arrival to the start of Death Angel's set. We hadn't seen them since 2003 and they were really good, with a perfect sound.
Exodus sound was a bit less clear and a bit louder (I'm sure the two are not entirely unconnected!) and their set list feels a bit tired now. They really need to start bringing back some of the great songs they never play from 'Pleasures of the Flesh' and 'Fabulous Disaster' and they really need to start playing anything from 'Impact is Imminent'. I never get bored of hearing tracks from 'Bonded by Blood', it's a seminal thrash album, but they have more to offer and I feel like they are selling themselves short by being predictable.
Also 'Deathamphetamine' and 'Iconoclasm' need to fuck off now... they are good songs but live they just drag on and on. Still it was good to see Gary back in the fold now that his gig with Slayer has finished and the impromptu version of 'Princess of the Night' during 'Toxic Waltz' was nearly as funny as the 'Benny Hell / Angel of Death' intro tape.
Easily the best gig of the year so far, but for my money Death Angel stole the show this time.
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