samedi 12 Fév 2011, 18h30m
The echoes and haze had barely cleared from Testament's set when the house lights dimmed, and the stage was illuminated in a swath of blood red lights. Over the strains of Black Sabbath's perilous self-titled masterpiece (and looked upon by Vic Rattlehead in a bunker somewhere in Area 51), a voice announced the imposition of martial law, the revocation of civil rights, and a command to "shut up" and do as we were told. Very X-Files, very Megadeth.
The last time I saw Megadeth was when the band was promoting United Abominations, back in 2007. Then, their set started with Dave Mustaine, silhouetted on stage, pounding out the intro to "Sleepwalker". But tonight was a special night, and with nary an introduction, all four members launched into "Holy Wars…The Punishment Due". Moshpits are never a safe place to be, and transitioning from "The Formation of Damnation" to one of Megadeth's most popular song surely caused fresh nosebleeds. The "new classic" lineup of Mustaine, Chris Broderick, Shawn Drover and back-in-the-fold Dave Ellefson celebrated the 20th anniversary of Rust In Piece with all the precision of a missile strike, and Seattle was the target. Washington, you're next, indeed.
Megadeth led the crowd through the various sections of "Holy Wars…The Punishment Due", knocking us over with the first movement, softening us with the second, and giving us whiplash with the third. After the song's climatic ending, and before we even had a chance to catch our breath, they launched into "Hangar 18". What was it like seeing Dave Mustaine and Chris Broderick trade those twisting, skin-shredding and physically impossible solos? There are some experiences in life that cannot be expressed in words, and this was one of them. You think about how many jaws dropped to the floor when the song came out in 1990, and you think that, twenty years later, it still has the same effect, if not even more so. Plenty has been said and written about Mustaine as a guitarist, but Chris Broderick is a monster onstage, who held his own against the likes of Mustaine himself, Friedman, Pitrelli and Drover, and then some. It's a good thing Dave has made peace with a lot of his demons now, because Megadeth won't get another guitarist like Chris Broderick anytime soon.
"Take No Prisoners" is always a good way to get the crowd involved after the guitar-centric songs that preceded it, but everybody was waiting for "Five Magics", which saw the light of day for the first time in 20 years on this tour. The stage lights dimmed and brightened on Ellefson, Mustaine and Broderick through the quick intro and solos. When the song picked up, though, the lights had a hard time keeping up. Mustaine isn't the best vocalist in the world by a country mile (and his vocals were the only weak point of Megadeth's performance), but how he could sing and play "Five Magics" (or, for that matter, any of the songs off Rust In Peace) will remain a mystery. The winding, falling solo saw off "Five Magics" and into the song's unearthed companion on the album (and the tour). When Drover and Ellefson were tapping out the intro to "Poison Was The Cure", I had to ask myself, "Am I really seeing Megadeth - and not just Dave Mustaine, but Dave Ellefson as well - in the process of playing the entire Rust In Peace album?"
Ohhhhh yeah.
The pit - already a tangled, swirling mass of sweat and flesh - was whipped into even more of a frenzy as Mustaine snarled his lyrics and played solo against solo with Chris Broderick. "Lucretia"s demented little laugh offered some respite from the intensity of the assault that preceded it. It didn't last long, as Shawn Drover counted us into "Tornado of Souls". Not as obscure as some of the songs in Megadeth's set, but no less welcome, Broderick had everyone in the WaMu Theater eating out of his hands with one of the best solos in all of heavy metal. "Dawn Patrol" did provide a bit of a respite (replete with a cameo from the guest of honor, Mr. Rattlehead himself), before Drover's drum solo brought the Rust In Peace set to its epic and insane conclusion, hammering home with ferociousness and finesse the legacy of Megadeth's magnum opus.
The rest of the set was an (understandably) abbreviated "best-of". Mustaine brought out his flying-M for "Trust" and stuck with an Explorer for "Head Crusher" and "Symphony of Destruction" (the packed-to-the-rafters lapping up Ellefson's bass). "A Tout Le Monde" lightened the intensity a little, but then Dave asked Seattle how much peace would cost. Then it was a final whirlwind of Ellefson's throbbing bass, Drover pounding the issue home and Mustaine and Broderick having some fun with their guitars, before sending the WaMu Theater into a frenzy with the final section of "Peace Sells". I took a look around me and saw everybody on their feet, every hand raised and fist clenched as we all asked, "Peace sells, but who's buying?" That night, there were no answers, and we didn't care a damn. Mustaine's voice was as weak as flat Coke, and we didn't care about that, either. We saw Megadeth - two original members, stalwart Glen Drover and metal machine Chris Broderick - play Rust In Peace, all of it, from "Holy Wars…The Punishment Due" to "Five Magics", from "Poison Was The Cure" to "Rust In Peace…Polaris".
There was only song from Endgame, but given everything that came before (and what was still to come, believe it or not), I found it exquisitely hard to complain. Mustaine reprised the final movement of "Holy Wars" to introduce the members of Megadeth and kick us our asses one more time, before leaving the hazy, smoky, sweaty, and bloody WaMu Theather in the hands of the band who made bloodshed an art.