Megadeth live at Brixton

My very first gig of the year has finally come and gone and I've come out of my bone idle metal-less ways. Last time I came to Brixton it was for Nightwish and it was packed then as it was last night for the visit of Dave and crew. Super Collider is a decent album IMO and it was about time I saw the mighty Megs again after boycotting the last show at the Electric Ballroom due to the stupid money they were charging.

Anyway last night was a pretty cool show but could have been a bit better to be honest. First of all whoever chose Bleed From Within to be the support act needs their head testing! These guys are very average deathcore and were pretty painful to listen to live especially considering the atrocious sound they had to work with. Evile should have been the support band like a few years ago or other cool English thrash bands.

Finally at 9pm Megadeth came on to a very warm and intense welcome and the familiar drum patterns of Trust started before the band kicks in with the riffing. The sound was rather dodgy from my vantage and never really became good at really apart from the odd song here and there. The volume level was pretty acceptable making ear plugs not really necessary which was a good thing but I have to report that Dave's vocals and both guitars were often drowned out by bass and drums which were far too prominent in the soundmix for my ears.

On to the band performance and music in general. Well it was all pretty flawlessly played by the guys with big crowd participation on the sing along parts of course. It was good to hear a couple of tunes I've never heard live before at a 'deth show namely Countdown to Extinction and Architecture of Aggression which both sounded very good especially architecture. I also loved the Thin Lizzy cover Cold Sweat from the new album. Dave sounded bloody great on that. The set continued with a mixture of old and new tunes as well as a surprise wit the punky attitude filled Poison Was The Cure which was played with blistering speed.

Finally the main set ended with a great version of Peace Sells followed by the mosh friendly Holy Wars of course to send them home tired and happy! Megadeth were very good but I can't help feel that the band's best days are sadly behind them as far as both recorded and live music is concerned. Of course I still hope this is not the last time seeing them and I'm sure it won't be!

Set list:
Trust
Hangar 18
Kingmaker
She-Wolf
Countdown to Extinction
Architecture of Aggression
Sweating Bullets
Ashes in Your Mouth
Dawn Patrol
Poison Was the Cure
A Tout Le Monde
Whose Life (Is It Anyways?)
Public Enemy No. 1
Super Collider
Cold Sweat
(Thin Lizzy cover)
Symphony of Destruction
Peace Sells
Encore:
Holy Wars... The Punishment Due