Last night, I trekked my ass down to Sayreville, NJ. There, at the Starland Ballroom, I paid witness to the return of the original lineup of thrash metal greats, Anthrax. (Ok, yes, to be pedantic, it wasn't the original lineup, it didn't have the singer who was only around for their first album and fired shortly thereafter, it had Joey Belladonna, who came after and lasted for nearly a decade or so).
Starland is a great little venue. I had arranged for pre-show soundcheck access. Because the soundcheck kept getting delayed later and later, the Starland folks agreed that when we all came back after soundcheck (because you get kicked out in between soundcheck and doors-open), we would use the VIP entrance, and come in 15 minutes before doors-open. This way, we all had first pick of the choice spots against the rail. And there I was, at stage right, for the entire evening. Right behind one of the camera-crew for the live DVD they will filming of the show.
It was a setlist filled with old classics that we haven't heard Belladonna sing live in years. I would have been intrigued to hear him try out some songs from the John Bush era (after all, Bush tackled Belladonna-era songs with the Greater of Two Evils CD). But, alas, it did not come to pass.
The show was great. Security was awesome (even gave me a bottle of water midway through the show, which I slugged from and then passed back to the masses like a good concert-goer). It was just an extremely pleasant experience all around.
I miss John Bush, though. It's still sorta up in the air what's going to happen with the "present-day" lead singer. In actuality, I don't think Joey has the right voice to sing Bush-era songs. So if Joey is back "permanently", those Bush-era songs are going to vanish into the ether more or less, which is shame, because some of those albums are just phenomenal, like Sound of White Noise or We've Come For You All.
Perhaps they could end up with the "two lead singers" thing. Joey singing Joey-era songs, John singing John-era songs, and then collaborating with some of each on new albums. That would be the best of both worlds, but who knows if something like that could come to pass.
Anthrax is going out on tour this summer with this lineup, you should definitely check them out when they come around.