Megadeth, Lamb of God, Trivium, and In Flames Laval Concert Review

Sheila

Concerts

4 minute read

Coming up with a tour name is no easy feat, and when you label the tour as the, "Metal Tour of the Year" you better live up to the name. Now the question is, did Megadeth, Lamb of God, Trivium, and In Flames live up to the expectations? Read on to see if they did.

In Flames

With four bands of this caliber on the same bill, it meant that there would be an early start to the night. Hitting the stage at 6pm, Swedish metal heads, In Flames got things going at Place Bell. Cloud Connected, Behind Space, and Everything's Gone, got things started for the night. Frontman Anders Fridén was joined on stage by guitarist Björn Gelotte, Drummer Tanner Wayne, bassist Bryce Paul, and guitarist Chris Broderick who is currently filling in for Niclas Engelin.

Where the Dead Ships Dwell, Call My Name, and All For Me came next followed by fan favourite, I Am Above. Before closing out their set, Anders encouraged fans once again to give the security guards something to do up at the barriers by doing a bit of crowd surfing. As the first few notes of Take This Life were played, the bodies began to fly.

Trivium

Up next were the Floridians, Trivium. Last October they released their tenth studio album, In The Court Of The Dragon, and the title track got their set started followed by Beyond Oblivion. Frontman Matt Heafy mentioned that they'd be switching up their set for the Canadian shows adding Dusk Dismantled for the fans in the great white north. He also pointed out that guitarist Corey Beaulieu is of French Canadian descent. C'est vrais!

Strife, Rain, Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr were next before In Waves ended their night. A nice added touch from a fans perspective was the use of multiple microphones on stage; this way it didn't matter where you were sitting -- you were able to feel a little bit closer to the band as they continuously traded spots throughout their performance.

It looks like the fans in Montreal weren't the only ones who had fun, Matt later posted a crowd photo with a caption that read,

"Montreal tonight was one of the best North American shows we’ve ever had… ever. Doing this crowd justice in photos would be impossible, but to the packed to the gills arena in Laval tonight… merci!"

Lamb Of God

As the giant curtain covering stage dropped, co-headliners Lamb of God were more than ready to keep the energy levels up inside Place Bell. Starting off with Memento Mori, and Ruin, next up was Walk With Me In Hell. With flames bursting out of the stage, the crowd wanted more! Resurrection Man, Now You've Got Something To Die For, Contractor, and 11th Hour came next.

Prowling the stage like a caged animal, frontman Randy Blythe was joined on stage by guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler, drummer Art Cruz, and bassist Phil Demmel who is filling in for John Campbell. Before starting the next song, 512, Randy said it was about "a little vacation he took in a gated community in eastern Europe" alluding to his time spent in prison following manslaughter charges.

Ghost Walking, Vigil, and Laid to Rest were next, and, before their last song, Redneck, Blythe said, "right now it's time to get your fucking money's worth, Canada. I want to see a huge fucking circle pit; the biggest pit this venue has seen". I can honestly say that out of all of the shows I've had the pleasure of seeing at Place Bell, the fans took his instructions to heart, and created a circle pit that almost crossed the whole width of the floor.

Lamb of God is one of those bands that always leaves you wanting more; here's hoping that they'll be back soon.

Megadeth

Normally seeing Lamb of God, Trivium, and In Flames on the same bill would've been the end of the show, but no, there was still one band to go. Not just any band, but one of the "Big 4". It was time for Megadeth.

Once again, the stage was covered by a giant curtain before this legendary band took to the stage. Once it fell, there was one of the highest drum riser I've ever seen... maybe 1 story high, maybe more? Below the drums were huge stacks of amps and video walls.

With 15 albums under their belt (and another one due out in July), Megadeth has a huge catalogue to choose from, and they made sure they included some of their best. Hangar 18, Sweating Bullets, A Tout Le Monde, and Symphony of Destruction were definitely some of the crowd favourites.

What can we say about Dave Mustaine; this 61 year old has taken control of his addictions, he's survived cancer, he re-taught himself how to play guitar after illness, and that's just to name a few. While his name is synonymous with Megadeth, he also shares the stage with other gifted musicians including Kiko Loureiro on guitar, Dirk Verbeuren on drums and James LoMenzo on bass. There have been many line up changes over the years, but this group work so well as a cohesive unit last night.

Even with these 4 amazing bands, after rocking out at Place Bell for almost 5 hours, the fans were the biggest stars of this show. From start to finish, they gave it their all, and the bands definitely took notice. So the final question is this, did this show live up to it's billing as the Metal Tour of the Year? Hell yes it did!