Photos by: Greg Walkowiak
Review by: Greg Walkowiak
Show Photos:
Megadeth: HERE
Black Label Society: HERE
Device: HERE
Newsted: HERE
Hellyeah: HERE
Gigantour 2013 came into Mohegan Sun Arena and hit with atomic might. The tour had a lineup this year that gave every metal enthusiast a show that was burned into ones memory for life. The electricity was high and the artists were blowing up the stage with super charged energy. Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine started organizing this event in 2005; he has had many top artists perform on this ticket since and this year was no different.
Death Division opened the show with surprising results. They came out and layed the foundation down for the night and for what was to come. They were able to provide a little taste of their style of metal and they succeeded with more than convincing results.
Newsted as always was explosive and showed that they were there to rock everyone into a chaotic state of metal adulation. He played a few off of their recent release “The Heavy Metal EP” and of course they threw in a personal favorite, Metallica’s “Whiplash”, which sent the fans into a roaring applause.Ex Pantera’s co-founder Vinnie Paul and Hellyeah shot a missle of metal into the crowd and they responded with a rousing acceptance of the band. Like a dog licking his chops, Hellyeah fed everyone a veritable feast of heavy metal madness. Mudvayne founder and current vocalist of Hellyeah Chad Gray opened the door to the night, taking hold of the reigns while driving the crowd into the ground.
Dave Draiman’s new venture Device held the crowd hostage, the minute he walked out onto the stage everyone hailed him with overzealous welcoming. Playing songs from their debut cd, Virus, former Dope and Rock of Ages member blistered the crowd with his heavy riffs and left them craving more. Drummer Will Hunt was more than commanding, he played like he had nothing to lose and it was obvious.
Black Label Society speaks with a fork tongue and shouts metal with every word sung and every chord struck. Zakk Wylde was in rare form and once again cemented his graphic style in the world of heavy metal with his incensed guitar playing. They performed viciously as always for the crowd and primed them for what was to come to close out the night.
At the end of the night only one band was left and that was none other than Megadeth. What more could be said about this iconic band who just released yet another cd “Super Collider”. This cd features a more diverse Megadeth and it appears that the fans are in approval of everything they do. The cd is jammed full of hits which they mixed with old favorites. Mustaine is masterful on guitar and his mates always play with the same force that he does. In the end Gigantour 2013 quenched every dry pallet in the arena, another one down and already planning for next year’s show.