Today (actually I guess it's yesterday now that it's 2 in the morning) my friend (nimatoad2000) and I went into San Francisco to go see Kreator's Hordes of Chaos Tour at Slim's. It was insane! I'm half deaf, sore all over, my lower back hates me, I reek of BO and my ears are still ringing as I type this. All signs of a great metal concert.
Slim's took a while to open the doors, but when they did I was thankful because I was shorts and a T-shirt and it was windy and cold outside. I got a really cool Kreator tour shirt, it isn't the hordes of chaos albm art, it's a demon with huge wings and such. I wanted it right when I saw it. We got a spot fairly close to the front stood around waiting for a while. Eventually Warbringer came on. They were very good especially considering they're fairly new to the thrash metal scene and only have two albums out at the moment. They're definitely one of the best of the newer thrash bands, if not THE best. If thrash ever makes a big comeback these guys will be leading it.
After Warbringer finished up Belphegor came on. I had seen these guys before with Amon Amarth, they're not all that great in my opinion and I think their act is pretty corny but I can tolerate them. I'll admit I actually enjoyed a couple of the songs a little, but overall it was just pretty mediocre. They weren't really on top of their game either, I think they played better when I saw them with Amon Amarth last year.The bbest part of ther performance was the short pregnant-looking guy without a shirt on in the middle of the mosh pit screaming "SATAAAAAN!" at the top of his lungs. His sheer insanity brought a smile to my face.
Once Belphegor was done we waited a good half an hour for Exodus. Probably a fair amount more I wasn't keeping track. Seriously Exodus took their sweet ass time setting up. Once they were good to go it was more than worth the wait. The mosh pit was so crazy you could feel it's reprecussions throughout the entire crowd. You couldn't move in any direction than towards the stage where people were pushing you, it was insane. About this time is when a group of people ahead of me left and my friend and I got to move right up to the front. Exodus played great and they really got the crowd going. The pit was huge in comparison to what Warbringer and Belphegor were able to create. There were people stage diving, and at the end of their act Exodus organized the crowd to perform a wall of death (which was really fun btw). It was absolutely isnane. Just when I thought it couldn't get any better Kreator came on.
Exodus was surely a hard act to follow but Kreator blew all of the other bands away, including Exodus. Kreator played perfectly, no exaggeration. They were, without a doubt, amazing. Mille Petrozza is an awesome frontman. He interacts with the crowd a lot, has a great stage presence, and has a real set of lungs on him. Seriously, this guy was the definition of loud. The pit was huge, and I saw some people crowd surfing. They played like four encores as well, it was crazy.
There were a lot of people on drugs this time, way more than usual. It was an amazing concert and I can't wait to see Kreator again whenever it is that they come back. Next concert that I have tickets for is Opeth with Enslaved in May and then I just recently got my ticket for Mayhem Fest in July as well. Can't wait for the next concert!!!