Try Topping That
Earlier this year Lamb Of God released one of 2015’s finest. Even if you’re not the biggest fan of the band, you will have been fully aware of the tumultuous period of the last couple of years so to come through all of that and deliver one of the highlights of their career says a lot about the kind of characters who make up this band. It’s not really overstating things to say that Lamb Of God are one of the most important Metal bands of the 21st Century, and they’re paving the kind of career which in the future will be never be forgotten. Considering the fact that most bands would have crumbled and disintegrated under the kind of pressure Lamb Of God have been under, to have them consistently deliver punishing live show after another at such a high standard is truly testament to them. Cutting straight to the point, Lamb Of God co-headlined Wembley Arena tonight, but they could have just as easily done it on their own.
Right from the off, the band launched themselves in to the double header of Walk With Me In Hell and Now You’ve Got Something To Die For, which triggered scenes of chaos from front to back and across the arena. For both tracks the fervent, almost anguished, sound of the crowd singing along was a sight to behold. Despite this being a tour in support of the new album, they did keep it to a minimum with pulling tracks from it, sticking to the single Still Echoes and 512 which alone sounded huge. Much like the other bands on the bill, Randy Blythe introduced 512 with another touching tribute to all of the victims from the tragic events in Paris just 24 hours before.
They kept the new stuff to a minimum because they knew they only had just over an hour to blast through. Being the phenomenal live band that they are, this meant picking a setlist which was absolutely stacked with classics. Lamb Of God relish in getting a crowd going, so by including everything from Set To Fail to Laid To Rest to Redneck to Black Label it goes without saying that they achieved this.
Simply put, this was as good as Lamb Of God have ever sounded live. Randy Blythe was at his dominant best and Chris Adler’s absolutely stunning and powerful performance on the kit did have you wondering how he had the stamina to come out and do it all again for Megadeth half an hour later. It is one of those live shows where you begin to run out of superlatives. As you’ll read in our Megadeth review, it was almost impossible to follow. No matter who you are, if you’ve going on after Lamb Of God at any event in the next year or so, you better bring your ‘A game’.