Megadeth at The House Of Blues Boston – MA

Review and Photos by Jeff Palmucci
Show photos HERE
 

“And then when I’m angry, which is a lot these days, I go to the garage… Metallica. Megadeth. Nyaaaah. Nyaaaah, gaaaah. I start fucking smashing shit. I start breaking shit and I hurt my hand.” – Silver Linings Playbook

Megadeth played

and a couple of other movie quotes between songs at their show at the House of Blues on Sunday.¹ That paints a pretty good picture of what its like to go to a Megadeth show. Megadeth’s tunes are characterized by galloping guitar and intricate rapid fire riffs. This is thrash metal. Want to listen to a nice ballad about heartbreak and get in touch with your feminine side? Go away. You are not wanted here.
Often when I go to a shows put on by bands that have been around for a while, they’ll plod a bit through the show. Not these guys. They were totally on last Sunday. Dave Mustaine has this way of belting out the lyrics. He doesn’t just sing them, he acts them out. He uses these sneering facial expressions and more frenzied hand gestures than my italian family arguing around the Thanksgiving table after several rounds of espresso. Take a listen to Sweating Bullets or Peace Sells with your eyes closed. You’ll be able to hear what I am talking about.
Megadeth has been around for a long time, so there were some of old guys like me in the house. However, it was mostly a younger crowd who probably weren’t event born when Megadeth first came out. Everyone was rocking out hard with a lot of fist pumping and head thrashing. Check out this crowd shot, which nicely illustrates the atmosphere.
Mustaine walked out on stage after the main set and before the encore. Waving at the crowd as we went wild, he kept repeating “Thank you so much.” It’s nice to see a rock star whose not so full of himself that he appreciates his audience. After talking about the Marathon bombings for a bit (“They fucked with the wrong city!”), they appropriately enough broke into Holy Wars.²
This is the second time I shot Megadeth. They consistently put on good shows year after year. So see them, and hope they never cut back on the espresso.
 

Set List

• Hangar 18
• Wake Up Dead
• In My Darkest Hour
• Tornado of Souls
• Sweating Bullets
• Set the World A Fire
• A Tout Le Monde
• Kingmaker
• Trust
• She Wolf
• Symphony of Destruction
• Peace Sells
• Holy Wars

¹ Another was

starring Dana Carvey as Garth. I was laughing hysterically at that one. It struck a bit too close to home for me. Man, I was a clueless teenager. There’s a girl out there somewhere that knows what I am talking about.