The Big Four

[VoiceX3]

I'll just say this...... I've seen all of these bands more than a dozen times each thruout their careers. In the beginnning saw all 4 separately at a shitty little venue in Trenton (City Gardens), in arena/stadiums at the height of it all then at smaller venues thru the late 90's into the 2000s. (except metallica who never went back to smaller venues).

Here's how I'd honestly rate them live TODAY.

Musical performance - 1. Megadeth (no contest either) 2. Metallica (although they don't write the best stuff these days, they can still play the shit out of the old stuff) 3. Slayer 4. Anthrax

Vocally - 1. Hetfield 2. Belladonna 3. Mustaine (never a great singer) 4. Araya (entertaining, but couldn't sing if he tried live or studio

Guitars - There are great players in all the bands....some shred, some kick the shit out of a rhythm and one does the best he can with the talent he has.

Bass - 1. Trujillo (duh) 2. Ellefson (would have been 3rd back in the day....obviously he's been practicing) 3. Bello 4. Araya

Drums - (This is the most difficult as they all, well mostly all, are amazing...but here goes) 1. Lombardo 2&3 Drover/Bennante (tie) 4. Ulrich

As for new albums - 1. Endgame, 2. World Painted Blood, 3. Death Magnetic 4. Worship Music? (probably would've rated higher if completed as I REALLY like what I had heard before Nelson crapped the bed)


I keep hearing about how 'Thrax shouldn't be part of the big 4. If you were there like I was from day 1, you just know. Anthrax brought an attitude and were afraid of nothing when it came to pushing the envelope. Granted I agree Exodus and Testament belong in the conversation as well...this ain't the big 6.

[nafe]

IMO all 4 are mere shadows of their former selves...
They all need to get together and go see a Testament show sometime to remind themselves how its supposed to be done.

[toejam]

I went to the movies earlier, and one of the previews was for this Big Four tour. I saw Get Him To The Greek with Russell Brand and Jonah Hill... very funny movie, and Lars actually had a small part in it.

[Scooter]

I went. Now I feel old.
Sound at the theater was beyond awful. It really did suck (insert relevant body part here.)
Hopefully the DVD will be better than what I saw, coulda been better for the money.
Anthrax tribute to RJD was really cool. Very, very nice.
Slayer, well, is Slayer. Tremolo, trempicking, there is NO order in chaos. Theory disspelled.
I'd have liked to seen Broderick playing his solos as opposed to watching everyone else.
During 'One' my wife leans over and sings with the song:"Now my voice is gone, I'm just done, oh please God help me!" I thought I'd piss myself laughing so hard.
Of course, the big jam on Am I Evil was really sweet.
I will say it was good, but should've been better.

[SlaytanicDude]

I saw it, I think Megadeth and Slayer had the top sets of the 4 bands. Anthrax seemed to have a somewhat rocky start, but they had a good set too. Metallica was better than I thought they would be (mostly cause they played Harvester of Sorrow and Hammett brought out the old Jackson) but Hammett was a little sloppy- For Whom the Bells Tolls is what he fucked up a bit I think, but that's just the nature of a live show.

At any rate, if this comes to the US it will definitely be worth it.

[Scooter]

Yeah, I was lovin' the guitars. Ian had the NOT, an Adrian Smith, and his new one. Ellefson playing the Jackson basses was a pleasant surprise. I'd love to see this come close by, I want to see the whole show.

I just saw there is another thread in non-related talk too. See ya there.

[SlaytanicDude]

All of the bands had a Jackson except Slayer, and then Megadeth was the only band not to have any ESPs...Hammett also brought out that old '59 of his.

[Chrisb]

Was a great show. Metallica had the best mixing for sure. Megadeth sounded terrible. And I hated the set. I was hoping for more from RIP since they played all of it on the first Sonisphere show. Still hearing "Hook in Mouth" was a very cool suprise. Metallica's set was killer shame we didn't see alot of it. Slayer we missed a few gems as well but they played most of the good stuff. Joey sounded terrific, especially on Heaven and Hell. I saw a ton of Jacksons from almost every band except Slayer (of course). Metallica has a great live "presence" that the other bands just don't have. Yea Lars is even worse than he ever was (some truly bad drumming last night. Especially compared to Drover, Benante and Lombardo) and Kirk manages to fuck up even the most basic solos at times.

Dave sounded really horrible to, he was doing this awful muffled falsetto on high notes, I wonder if his voice is shot after that rather lengthy tour?

Oh and on the subject of new albums, I have to give the nod to Metallica by a wide margin. Endgame is a great cd but Death Magnetic has at least one instant classic (All Nightmare Long) and a few more that are great live songs (Cyanide).

[RacerX]

I see they're broadcasting again tomorrow night at certain venues

http://www.fathomevents.com/concertsandmusic/series/the_big_four.aspx

[Grim]

Megadeth must have Jacksons to retain the perfection of RIP.

I always thought Coroner should be in the big four.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ0AH7G2x7k&feature=related

Talk about a song that influenced my playing!

[javert]

Megadeth played RIP at a new festival in Copenhagen (called Copenhell) two weeks ago - the show was announced as part of the tour for Endgame, though. It was windy, the rain was pouring, the smoke and light effects combined with the weather to make it surreal - and I was completely wasted, right in front of the stage and it was awesome

Good to see Ellefson back. Broderick fell right after the solo in Tornado. It was a nice touch that he waited until the solo was just done... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czG40cEQkt0

[Grandturk]

Hmm... playing again tonight in NYC - anyone into checking it out?

[VoiceX3]

Joey was good at the time, but John is better. Hell, I'd take Neil Turbin from the first album nowadays over Joey.

Well, I went last night and before the start of the show did agree with you about thinking John was better not thinking Joey could pull it off anymore. I don't say this often....but I was dead wrong. Joey was GREAT! I forgot what Indians, Caught in a Mosh, Madhouse and the other legendary classics are supposed to sound like. John never really pulled them off and even his stuff was good, but not great live. Joey on the other hand was great. Didn't realize he'd be able to pull off Heaven and Hell as well as he did either. The biggest surprise in their set was Metal Thrashing Mad. Overall 'Thrax were really good, WAY better than expected.

The whole show was good. Megs set was musically flawless and Dave's vocals were good with the usual weakenings in the higher vocal register....live Dave has always been that way. Slayer were good, but you really couldn't hear Tom's bass in the mix so it was a little weird, and I thought Kerry sounded much tighter and cleaner than Jeff guitarwise. Metallica were well, Metallica. Timing was up and down, but overall the songs were just way too fast. Good set although Nothing Else matters could have been left out. Am I Evil jam was hella-cool! Strange to see the lovefest that ensued, Dave hugging Lars and Jamez was surprising, but the biggest surprise to me was Dave and Kirk hugging Dave saying something in his ear and both of them walking away laughing. It was truely historic. If you missed it....shame on you! lol

Did notice something in the interview about Dio in the middle. When they were talking about the last time they each saw Dio, Lars said that he last saw him backstage in 2007 in LA when they were on tour with Megadeth. The media would have had us believe Dave and Lars couldn't be in the same room at that time.......obviously not true, this may have been a publicity stunt for the past few years? If it was, these guys are genius. Think about it, the Big 4 are back and all relevant right now. I just think this was the plan all the long..........

[toejam]

Cool. Thanks for the review, Jim!