Bay Area Bashers kick up the d

- advertisement -

- advertisement -

Finally! Testament comes to town. About a year to a year and a half ago, Testament was supposed to play a venue in Tempe, Arizona called the Marquee. For some reason the show was canceled (I remember seeing the flyers, but maybe it was never confirmed?). They returned tonight, July 15th 2006, at the Venue of Scottsdale, to show us what we missed.

Tonight we witnessed the ferocity of a near original line up. Chuck Billy, Eric Peterson, Alex Skolnick and Greg Christain were joined by drummer Paul Bostaph who will be replacing the ailing Louie Clemente for the July and August tour dates.

To see Alex and Eric trading solos and trading dizzying riffs was awesome. While I for one was a bit confused when Alex left the band and concentrated on jazz, you could still tell how much Testament is a part of him. Its nights like this that make you remember the power of metal and the impact it had when it started to steamroll in the early to mid-80s. The mighty roar of Chuck Billy is an inspiration in itself. The man beat cancer and came back swinging. Prowling the stage and working the crowd showed he still has a lot of metal left in him.

Obviously not surprising, the set list was the same as it was the night before in Hollywood:

Setlist:
The Preacher
The New Order
The Haunting
Electric Crown
Sins of Omission
Burnt Offerings
Souls of Black
Into the Pit
The Legacy
Practice What You Preach
Trial By Fire
Over the Wall
Encore:
Alone in the Dark
Disciples of the Watch

While there has been no new music since The Gathering in 1999, I did manage to talk with Chuck after the show and asked him about a new album. “We’re working on it” he told me. The tone of his voice seemed to imply there might be some red tape hold ups. The guys were very cool and down to earth after the show, and even put up with the Arizona heat to talk to fans in the parking lot.

AZ Artist Development has really been bringing a lot of great metal shows to the Venue of Scottsdale (formally the Cajun House) lately. Nice to see another venue supporting the metal scene.

Photos (c) 2006 David Svendsen