Mosh-pit bruises from The Black Crusade (featuring Machine Head, Trivium and Arch Enemy) a mere fortnight ago had barely had time to fade before the metal juggernaut that is Gigantour rolled around to Perth. With four big bands on the bill, there was no time for local band slots – a long line of punters were still outside waiting to get into Metro City when openers Lacuna Coil started playing.
Hailing from Italy, the five-piece band co-fronted by Andrea Ferro and the gorgeous Cristina Scabbia are not as well-known in Australia as overseas. The combination of male and female vocals along with their goth-rock look has been copied extensively, but with a sound much heavier than most of their imitators, Lacuna Coil were out to demonstrate where bands like the hugely popular Evanescence stole all their best moves.
Scabbia and Ferro, backed up by Cristiano Migliore and Marco Biazzi on guitars, Marco Coti Zelati playing bass and sporting some enormous pants and Cristiano Mozzati on drums, played songs mostly from 2006 release Karmacode ( To the Edge, Fragile, Our Truth ) and 2002’s Comalies ( Swamped, the popular Heaven’s a Lie ), although their material spans four full length releases and two EPs and goes back to 1996.
Problems in the mix early on buried the vocals somewhat, but the two singers made up for it later, Ferro’s more traditional metal tenor providing a base for Scabbia’s amazing big notes. Lacuna Coil’s cover of Depeche Mode’s Enjoy the Silence – given a beautiful and utterly fitting metal treatment – gave the crowd a chance to sing along to a song they knew.
Credit is definitely due to the stage crew, who managed to swap the setup between bands with impressive speed. DevilDriver were up next. Last in Perth supporting Fear Factory in 2006, the California metallers fronted by the enigmatic ex-Coal Chamber vocalist Dez Fafara have since released their third studio album, The Last Kind Words, and attempted a Guinness world record for the largest circle pit at the 2007 Download Festival in England.
Launching into End of the Line, Fafara led guitarists Mike Spreitzer and Jeff Kendrick, bassist Jon Miller and drummer John Boecklin through a set including songs from all three of DevilDriver’s albums – I Could Care Less and Swinging the Dead from self-titled debut; Hold Back the Day and End of the Line from 2005’s The Fury of Our Maker’s Hand ; and Clouds Over California and The Axe Shall Fall from The Last Kind Words.
As DevilDriver were recording video footage for an upcoming DVD, the crowd was encouraged to go mental. Although not likely to be of world-record proportions, Fafara instructed punters to form a circle pit, requesting “no emo screamo karate-kicking shit” and reminding them to pick up their fallen brothers – and a pretty decent-sized effort was made in front of the stage.
After another quick change, it was Static-X ’s turn. Currently on their third trip to Western Australia, the band has managed to shed the nu-metal label that dogged them in their early years and a fair few local fans turned out to see them especially.
Starting out with Push it – the catchy opening song from debut Wisconsin Death Trip – frontman Wayne Static, bassist Tony Campos, returned guitarist Koichi Fukuda, and drummer Nick Oshiro did an impressive live job of performing songs heavy in electronics. Dirt House, from 2005’s Start a War, was particularly well-received; as were the wacky samples of I’m With Stupid and Cold, featured on the Queen of the Damned soundtrack.
Static’s amazingly unmoving vertical hair and plaited beard, long enough to interfere with his guitar playing, is as much a part of the spectacle as the band itself. Stopping to do shots on stage twice – and toasting the Perth crowd, although it could really have been anything they were drinking to – Static-X then finished off their set with This is Not Me from Machine, a great sing along for the metal kids.
With the headliners on next, the stage was cleared completely. After a few minutes of taping and shuffling, roadies unveiled an absolutely massive drum rig on an equally massive riser, to cheers of anticipation. The recorded opening strains of Sleepwalker – from latest album United Abominations – signalled that the main event was starting, and Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine walked out into the almost empty stage to roars from the crowd, followed by guitarist Glen Drover, bassist James Lomenzo and drummer Shawn Drover.
Mustaine’s reception on his first visit to Perth can only be described as reverent. Ripping from Sleepwalker straight into Take No Prisoners from 1990’s classic Rust in Peace and then onto Hangar 18 from the same album, not a word was spoken – and none needed to be. After he responded to chants of ‘Megadeth’ with two fists in the air, the crowd’s reaction made it clear that this man could do no wrong.
Standing at his mic with trademark hair covering his face, Mustaine could have been an awkward teenager playing guitar in his bedroom, save for the brilliance of his playing. Each solo was technically flawless; a feat even more impressive considering that in 2002 nerve damage to his left hand left him unable to even make a fist.
A Toute le Monde – originally released on Youthanasia in 1994, and re-recorded with Cristina Scabbia for United Abominations – featured the Lacuna Coil singer herself, as had been highly anticipated since Gigantour was first announced. Mustaine then decided to break his silence and address the crowd – revealing that he wasn’t wasting time talking because the venue had a curfew of 11pm.
Symphony of Destruction, from 1992’s Countdown to Extinction was next, well received by the crowd thanks to its inclusion in Playstation game Guitar Hero. The politically charged Washington is Next and game-inspired Gears of War – both from United Abominations – were followed by Ashes in Your Mouth from Countdown, Tornado of Souls from Rust, In My Darkest Hour from 1998’s So Far, So Good…. So What! and Peace Sells, title track of Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying, the oldest song played. There was no doubt throughout that the crowd was largely made up of hard-core fans: it seemed every other person was wearing a Megadeth t-shirt or singing along to all the songs.
Looking at the time, Mustaine announced that the next two songs would take them past the 11pm deadline, but that they would play them anyway. Burnt Ice from United Abominations was introduced with the statement “if you do crystal meth, you’re a loser”. The final spot in the set was kept for yet another Rust classic, Holy Wars. After returning for a traditional hand-in-hand stage bow, Gigantour was over for Perth.
