Man, we had quite the show at Slim’s yesterday.  The show wasn’t sold out, which surprised me, seeing as we had 4 bands from San Francisco on the bill.  Full crowd or not, the concert was top notch.  A few pictures at the bottom.

Passive Aggressive:

I think it’s a real shame I didn’t do my homework going into this show, because these guys sounded fun.  I picked up a copy of their demo for future listening.  They didn’t have wild stage antics or a massive crowd response (although there were one or two people trying to get a pit going throughout their set), but they had a great sound.

Anvil Chorus:

Here’s another place where my lack of concert preparation came back to bite me in the ass.  I really liked the sound of these guys, and if I had known more of their music, I might have been able to enjoy the show a bit more.  The crowd started getting interested around the time they hit the stage too, I saw some frequent headbanging and briefly, a small pit form.

Heathen:

Intro
Dying Season
Control By Chaos
Goblin’s Blade
Mercy is No Virtue
Arrows of Agony
Death By Hanging
Open the Grave
Hypnotized

These guys were the first band I knew going into the night, and boy did they show up.  Once they opened up with the Intro to their new album, Evolution of Chaos, they tore through the second track, Dying Season.  The crowd truly came alive here and everyone started having fun.  They were plagued with some mic feedback and other sound issues, but they managed it pretty well.  I spent the whole set up in front of Lee Altus, who seemed like he was having a killer time.  Frontman David White is a truly entertaining frontman, who seemed to have a lot of fun interacting with the crowd, belting out album-quality vocals all the while.  At the end of the set, Altus invited a kid up stage to play a little guitar with the band.  The set in my opinion was nearly perfect, and not too many bands could follow it up…

Exodus:

But Exodus can.  You know that post-concert euphoria that sweeps you after a show?  Exodus managed to take that euphoria and kick it up a notch.  They opened with the first two tracks of Exhibit B, and while I was skeptical about how good they would be live, they were pulled off with finesse.  Although I do prefer Zetro, Rob Dukes really has proved himself to be a good frontman.  He was energetic and he appeared to be having a lot of fun up on stage.  The crowd at this point was absolutely ridiculous, the pit was getting pretty damn big.  The most impressive part of the night though, was Exodus’ set list.  They played some killer new stuff and some killer old stuff.  They pulled out Hell’s Breath, Impaler, and a personal favorite, Metal Command.  Also, after Strike of the Beast, David White came on stage again and dedicated the show to late manager Debbie Abono.  He also added “But she went out on the same day as Ronnie James Dio so she’s in some good company!”  Gary Holt and Tom Hunting then jammed on some Dio tracks before thrashing into Bonded by Blood.  Just like at the end of Heathen’s set, Altus invited a kid up to the stage to play a few notes with the band.  All in all, Exodus managed to be the best band of the night in with some serious competition.

The Ballad of Leonard and Charles
Beyond the Pale
Iconoclasm
Downfall
A Lesson in Violence
Metal Command
Fabulous Disaster
Blacklist
War Is My Shepherd
The Sun Is My Destroyer
Impaler
Strike of the Beast
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Bonded by Blood
Hell’s Breath
Toxic Waltz
Good Riddance