Slayer & Lamb of God in Concert - July 19, 2006

On July 19th, Mike and I went to the "Unholy Alliance" tour which consisted of Slayer, Lamb of God, Mastodon, Children of Bodom and Thine Eyes Bleed. The show was at the HP Pavilion in San Jose and started at 6pm. After a days work, Mike picked me up and we ate at In-N-Out Burger before the show.

Once at the arena, we picked our spots to stand on the floor about 30 feet from the stage on the right side next to the "moshing barrier." Thine Eyes Bleed was first up and they were what you would expect from an opening band - nothing too special, but provided 30 minutes of warmup metal. Children of Bodom was next and I was very impressed with what I saw and heard. They had some nice, heavy tunes and the keyboard player kicked ass. He had what amounted to a whammy bar on his keyboard and played some solos that you wouldn't be able to differentiate from guitar solos if you weren't watching him smoke that keyboard - awesome. Next, Mastodon took the stage and were a bit of a let down after watching of Children of Bodom. They had a lot of energy on stage, but their material wasn't up to par.

At about 9:00pm, Lamb of God took the stage. It was obvious that this is what the fans were waiting for. The mosh pits were huge and the band was feeding off the energy of the crowd (and vise versa). For the entire 1 hour set, they held the crowd captive with their complex guitar riffs, deep, screaming vocals and bass heavy drum beats. Here's their set list:

Ruin
Hourglass
Laid To Rest
Now You've Got Something To Die For
11th Hour
Purified
As The Palaces Burn
The Faded Line
Vigil
Redneck
Black Label

Finally, at 10:15pm, Slayer was on stage and ready to rock the audience. While the crowd was rockin', it wasn't quite the same energy I felt when Lamb of God was on the stage. Maybe everyone was getting tired at that point, but it was still a great show. I was standing if front of Kerry King the whole time and was able to watch him rip some great solos on his guitar. It was nice to see that Slayer can still thrash with the best of 'em and their 1 hour 15 minute set contained some of the best, early, influential metal that paved the way for all the bands that opened for them. Here's their set list:

South of Heaven
Silent Scream
War Ensemble
Blood Red
Cult
Disciple
Mandatory Suicide
Seasons in the Abyss
Chemical Warfare
Dead Skin Mask
Hell Awaits
Raining Blood
Antichrist
Angel of Death

Overall, I had a great time and am glad I was able to see a combination of established metal bands as well as up and coming bands in the same show. My only regret is that I didn't get one of the signs in front of the stage that said, in big black letters, "BEWARE, moshing may occur."