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10/24/2016

Anthrax turns The Hawthorne into a 'Madhouse'

By Ruben Mosqueda // Anthrax played to a sold-out Hawthorne Theater on October 21st, 2016.

Anthrax played to a sold-out Hawthorne Theater on Friday October 21st, 2016. Anthrax is co-currently touring with Slayer [headlining] and Anthrax in the middle slot with Death Angel in direct support. Anthrax has been booking their own headlining shows on off days from the Slayer tour. Anthrax are currently supporting their latest effort ‘For All Kings’ [2016] which like with their 2010 record ‘Worship Music’ has also received rave reviews.

Things went awry [without notice] when doors opened earlier than expected which put Death Angel on stage at 7:30 and was off the stage by 8:15 PM. Keep in the mind it was listed that the doors opened at 7 PM and show at 8 PM. Needless to say that there were a number of fans that didn’t show up to the venue until 8 PM [this writer included] and either missed or only caught the tail end of the Death Angel set. That was incredibly disappointing.

Anthrax hit the stage at 9 PM to a 600 sweaty, enthusiastic capacity crowd. Anthrax opened with the classic “A.I.R.” which launched the crowd into a frenzy. Singer Joey Belladonna is fit trim, he still has his long black hair and most importantly he can still hit those high notes. Guitarist Scott Ian stomped around the stage perfectly complementing bassist Frank Bello’s animated facial expressions and charismatic performance. Holding down the fort was one of the most underrated thrash metal drummers Charlie Benante. The latest addition to the band is Jonathan Donais [formerly of Shadows Fall] who has already been in the band for 3 years. While Donais plays the classic stuff true to form; he looks lost on stage at times with such an energetic ‘classic’ line-up.   

Anthrax managed to squeeze in “Monster at the End,” “Evil Twin” and “Breathing Lightning” from ‘For All Kings’ and two cuts from ‘Worship Music;’ “Fight ‘Em Till You Can’t” and the epic “In the End.” The set was balanced with new material and classics such as; “Caught in a Mosh,” “Madhouse,” “Medusa,” “Antisocial,” “Got the Time,” “Be All, End All,” and the encore “Indians.”

There were two surprises in the Portland set; Anthrax added S.O.D.’s “March of S.O.D.” which led into “In the End” and they threw in “I’m the Man” prior to closing with “Indians.” Anthrax put on an excellent show [again] as a collective unit. It didn’t matter if you were 15 or 55 it was clear; Anthrax brought the ‘madhouse’ down and put on a hell of a performance in Portland.

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