The Phoenix was packed with middle aged metal heads, looking for a night of horned hands, crowd surfing and the hardcore adrenaline that is associated with metal music. The line up that evening didn’t disappoint, with Sepultura and Prong as supporting act to Testament.
The lights went down at 9:30pm and Testament took to the stage with an auditory assault to the masses. The crowd cheered in excitement. Chuck Billy and the boys performed a marriott of tunes current and old school, starting the set with a new song off their latest album released in August 2016 called Brotherhood of the Snake. The entire set list encompassed 5 songs from the current 10 song EP. Songs such as The Pale King, Centuries of Suffering, Stronghold, Seven Seals and Brotherhood of the Snake. The big crowd pleasers came with songs such as Into the Pit, Souls of Black, The New Order and of course the pinnacle song of the evening was left until the encore with Practice What You Preach.
Throughout the evening the different band members showcased their individual talents with solos. Following the fourth song Centuries of Suffering, Guitarist Alex Skolnick delighted the crowd with his shredding abilities. Eric Peterson followed up with his solo a few songs later. Switching it up from strings to percussion, drummer Gene Hoglan bashed the beats with aggression and perfect tempo. Last but certainly not least, bassist Steve Di Giorio slapped his strings, and showed the low end of things, naturally progressing into the instrumental tune Urotsukidoji.
Chuck Billy told an interesting story about the inception of the title Practice What You Preach. While in Texas filming a video, the bottle of Jack Daniels made it’s round through the group. Deciding to continue the party after filming they went into a local club and there was the boys from Pantera. A night of booze and partying ensued. On their way back to the hotel, Billy describes it as a lightbulb moment when the words “Practice What You Preach” blurted out and that was how they came up with the song and title.
The start of the evening was pretty tame with the audience, but as the hits started, so did the crowd surfing. I originally thought that maybe based on the average age of the crowd there wouldn’t be much happening, yet was proved wrong on so many levels. I even found myself headbanging and waving my horned hands in the air while bouncing around. (Yes, I did pay for it the next day barely able to roll out of bed, but it was worth it!)
A special thank you goes out to Live Nation for the accreditation.
All photos by Darren Eagles
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Sepultura:
Testament:
