Sporting one of the coolest lineups of the summer tour season, Megadeth are about halfway through their headlining run with supporting acts Meshuggah and Tesseract, and opener Lilake. Metal Insider contributing photographer Nathan Katsiaficas (link www.nkatsphoto.com) caught up with the tour as it made its way to a Boston’s House of Blues on June 25th.
I arrived at the House of Blues just in time to see Lilake play the final song in their set—but in time to see the mighty Tesseract take the stage shortly thereafter. The band opened their set with a new single they just put out called “Smile,” before moving on to “Dystopia,” and “Concealing Fate, Part 2: Deception.” Vocalist Daniel Thompkins was on top of his game on this night, this was easily the best I’d ever seen him. Tesseract are probably the odd men out on this tour, but they didn’t seem to let that effect their performance. And the crowd was certainly into it for the most part, though there were a few obnoxious folks in the front row heckling the band the entire set. Tesseract closed their set with “Of Mind – Nocturne,” and preparations for Meshuggah’s set began.
TESSERACT
After a bit of a wait for the stage changeover, Swedish extreme metallers Meshuggah took the stage, backlit by a wall of lights they launched into “Clockworks” from their latest release The Violent Sleep of Reason. This was my first Meshuggah live experience….and holy shit are they a tight live band! I’m not sure how they manage to execute their frenzied, syncopated brand of metal so flawlessly, but they continued to do so throughout their set, which would go on to include “Born in Dissonance,” “Demiurge,” and fan-favorite “Bleed.” They held the audience in thrall throughout their entire performance, and easily had the most crowd surfing action that evening.
MESHUGGAH
Finally, it was time for Megadeth. As this run is on the shorter side, the band doesn’t have a ton of production with them, so this was more of a stripped-down performance focused on the music and less on staging and lighting. Mustaine and his cohorts wasted little time, emerging and launching straight into “Hangar 18,” and “Wake Up Dead.” This felt like almost a greatest hits set as they continued with “In My Darkest Hour,” and “Sweating Bullets.” They did play some newer material from 2016’s Dystopia, including “Conquer or Die,” “Lying in State,” “Poisonous Shadows,” and “Fatal Illusion.” The crowd was going wild the entire set, but really went nuts for a few of the fan-favorites, prompting mass sing-alongs with “A Tout Le Monde,” and “Peace Sells.” The band closed out their set with an encore of “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due.” You can catch Megadeth out on this run until July 11th and then on some festival dates right after til mid-July—the remaining dates are below!
MEGADETH
Jun. 30 – Columbus, OH @ Express Live
Jul. 05 – Windsor, ON @ Colosseum at Caesar’s Windsor (MEGADETH and MESHUGGAH only)
Jul. 07 – Saint Charles, MO @ Family Arena
Jul. 08 – Oklahma City, OK @ The Zoo Amphitheater
Jul. 09 – Houston, TX @ Revention Music Center
Jul. 11 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
Jul. 13 – Oshkosh, WI @ Rock USA (Just Megadeth)
Jul. 14 – Bridgeview, IL @ Chicago Open Air Festival (Megadeth and Meshuggah)
Jul. 15 – Cadott, WI @ Rockfest (Just Megadeth)
