Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/snap-your-neck/sets/72157627447829180/
Exodus, the band that could and should have been, the band other bands feared, the instigators of style and scene, the band banned by most venues on the early 80’s thrash circuit, the band that should be recognized as part of the big four, are now only five minutes away from gracing us with their presence on the Bloodstock stage floor. I’d pay the price the £105 Bloodstock price tag just to see Gary Holt tune his guitar, I’d pay £50 to see him tune it badly….. but hold on a minute, I didn’t pay anything for this festival, I very craftily managed to get in for free, but Exodus were worth every second of the time spent on those painstaking emails I sent, and the VIP treatment did help ease my tired email fingers.
I got my spot early near the front, well as close to the front as I could manage anyway, for eager thrashers had my idea first without letting me know about it. Time passed by slowly as I eagerly awaited some kind of introductory sign, it passed by even more slowly while technical difficulties prevented the band from playing on schedule, subsequently eating up a stammering fifteen minutes of their allocated time slot. Eventually though, the originators of thrash metal strutted out to the stage to a thunderous applause, and then my frustration subsided.
This is the first time I have seen Exodus with vocalist Rob Dukes, the last time I saw them back in 2004 while touring “Tempo of the Damned”, Steve “Zetro” Souza was singing. In my opinion Zetro gets way too much negative press, but the first Exodus album I bought was “Pleasures of the Flesh”, and it was Zetro’s vocals that initially won me over. Rob Dukes sings in a different style than Steve Souza, though he is very flexible and capable of quite convincingly emulated vocals from the albums that came before he did.
They kicked in at 100mph, the crowd went crazy, a circle pit of destruction spread like a disease as it recruited more and more members, taking out the weak and the posers. Names were added to Rob Duke’s “Black List”, garments were removed, tits were exposed, crowd surfers rode a heavy metal wave, a guitar was played by a singer to free up a guitarists beer drinking arm, risky opinions were spoken but not all agreed, my camera survived but by the skin of it’s teeth.
What? Already? Toxic Waltz? But that can mean only one thing, our Exodus experience is about to be drawn to a close, but 30 minutes isn’t enough.
Exodus played a fantastic set but it was way too short. The band cannot be blamed for the technical issues that caused the premature pull of the plug; these problems are unpredictable and cannot efficiently be prepared for. Overall though, I had a great time and will watch Exodus whenever possible.
8/10
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