(House of Blues, Lake Buena Vista FL) Friday night August 12 2022 I witnessed Anthrax tear the roof off of House of Blues in Disney Springs when the legendary thrash metal band annihilated their 12-song setlist much to the pleasure of more than 2,000 headbangers in attendance.
With 2 very strong preceding performances by Hatebreed and Black Label Society, the crowd was wildly amped for Anthrax to take the stage.
Tonight's photographers had permissions to shoot from the pit, immediately in front of the stage. However, we couldn't move into position as we normally would have as a huge cloth backdrop covered the stage. When the lights went out, the backdrop served as a projection screen onto which a 7-minute video featuring a multitude of prominent members from other bands and a few popular celebrities told of the impact Anthrax had on them. As the video came to an end, in dramatic fashion, the backdrop was released where it fell to the ground directly in front of the stage. As stagehands recovered the cloth, the photographers were rapidly ushered in place directly in front of the band who were rhythmically crushing 'Among the Living.'
A little over a year ago on July 18 2021, Anthrax celebrated its 40th anniversary as a group, having been co-founded by then-17 year old rhythm guitarist Scott Ian and former bassist Dan Lilker. Lilker departed the band in 1984 and was replaced by Frank Bello. Also in '84, Joey Belladonna joined the group as its lead singer. Current band drummer Charlie Benante has been with Anthrax since 1983. On this awesome night in Orlando, Ian, Bellow, Belladonna, and Benante are still on stage together with relative 'newcomer' guitarist Jonathan Donais who joined in 2013.
Anthrax performed only a dozen songs this night, but I'm not quite sure that the audience could have handled much more. Crowd surfers were hoisted overhead and passed around almost immediately once the curtain dropped to introduce the first song, and the guitar action was in-your-face heavy for every single song. If you survived the person in the crowd next to you essentially within their own one-man mosh pit, you likely would have found yourself exhausted at the end of the set as the adrenaline and tempo never came down.
There were a few moments during the show where I was able to take a step back and actually process that I was watching something legendary, that this band has been rocking out venues for four decades, that they'd be wrapping up their North American tour here in just a few more weeks before heading out to Europe for their next leg. These are iconic metal gods who've done their thing and blazed musical trails for many a long-haired, black-shirt wearing rocker to follow.
Tonight's show was impressive as hell, and I'm so thankful to have been a part of this one.
Happy 40th, Anthrax!!
Bailey Guinigundo
Tonight's setlist:
1. Among the Living
2. Caught in a Mosh
3. Madhouse
4. Metal Thrashing Mad
5. Keep It in the Family
6. Antisocial
7. I am the Law
8. In the End
9. Only
10. Got the Time
11. Bring the Noise
12. Indians
With 2 very strong preceding performances by Hatebreed and Black Label Society, the crowd was wildly amped for Anthrax to take the stage.
Tonight's photographers had permissions to shoot from the pit, immediately in front of the stage. However, we couldn't move into position as we normally would have as a huge cloth backdrop covered the stage. When the lights went out, the backdrop served as a projection screen onto which a 7-minute video featuring a multitude of prominent members from other bands and a few popular celebrities told of the impact Anthrax had on them. As the video came to an end, in dramatic fashion, the backdrop was released where it fell to the ground directly in front of the stage. As stagehands recovered the cloth, the photographers were rapidly ushered in place directly in front of the band who were rhythmically crushing 'Among the Living.'
A little over a year ago on July 18 2021, Anthrax celebrated its 40th anniversary as a group, having been co-founded by then-17 year old rhythm guitarist Scott Ian and former bassist Dan Lilker. Lilker departed the band in 1984 and was replaced by Frank Bello. Also in '84, Joey Belladonna joined the group as its lead singer. Current band drummer Charlie Benante has been with Anthrax since 1983. On this awesome night in Orlando, Ian, Bellow, Belladonna, and Benante are still on stage together with relative 'newcomer' guitarist Jonathan Donais who joined in 2013.
Anthrax performed only a dozen songs this night, but I'm not quite sure that the audience could have handled much more. Crowd surfers were hoisted overhead and passed around almost immediately once the curtain dropped to introduce the first song, and the guitar action was in-your-face heavy for every single song. If you survived the person in the crowd next to you essentially within their own one-man mosh pit, you likely would have found yourself exhausted at the end of the set as the adrenaline and tempo never came down.
There were a few moments during the show where I was able to take a step back and actually process that I was watching something legendary, that this band has been rocking out venues for four decades, that they'd be wrapping up their North American tour here in just a few more weeks before heading out to Europe for their next leg. These are iconic metal gods who've done their thing and blazed musical trails for many a long-haired, black-shirt wearing rocker to follow.
Tonight's show was impressive as hell, and I'm so thankful to have been a part of this one.
Happy 40th, Anthrax!!
Bailey Guinigundo
Tonight's setlist:
1. Among the Living
2. Caught in a Mosh
3. Madhouse
4. Metal Thrashing Mad
5. Keep It in the Family
6. Antisocial
7. I am the Law
8. In the End
9. Only
10. Got the Time
11. Bring the Noise
12. Indians