Thursday, January 27, 2000
Anthrax show a plus even minus one singer
BY CHRIS VARIAS
Enquirer contributor
What was supposed to be a novel turn in the world of reunion tours didn't materialize, but it was a reunion with a reason for being anyhow.
The thrash-metal group Anthrax has recently reformed. The band, which appeared Tuesday night at Annie's, released a greatest-hits album and scheduled a tour to support it. The plan was to bring along both of the band's lead singers, Joey Belladonna and John Bush. Mr. Belladonna was sacked in 1992 and replaced with Mr. Bush.
But Mr. Belladonna backed out of the tour. According to a press release from the band's publicist, the singer's change of heart concerned an “inability to come to a financial agreement.”
It'd be going too far to say Mr. Belladonna's absence was addition by subtraction. But Mr. Bush did a more than adequate job of handling the proceedings himself. Judging by the fervor of the crowd, 600 strong, it didn't seem to matter who was singing.
The 11/2-hour show was full of Anthrax classics dating back to “Metal Thrashing Mad” from their 1984 debut Fistful of Metal.
Today there are countless bands climbing the charts with a rap-and-metal sound. Anthrax has been exper imenting with that hybrid for more than a decade. Tuesday they played strong versions of “I'm the Man” and Public Enemy's “Bring tha Noise,” two of the earliest examples of a rap-metal song.
Other crowd-pleasers they played included “I am the Law,” “Antisocial” and “Caught in a Mosh Pit.” Even newer stuff like “Inside Out” received a favorable reaction from the crowd.
The crowd also liked the preceding band, Fu Manchu, which played fuzzed-out, riffs-o-plenty metal in the tradition of hard-rock hippie bands such as Blue Cheer and Black Sabbath.
The Southern California group did a brief seven-song, 35-minute set. The only thing they did wrong was quit too soon.
Ex-Kyuss drummer Brant Bjork was the force behind songs like “Regal Begal” — complete with its trope of Blue Cheer's “Summertime Blues” — and the sprawling, Sabbathesque set-closer “Pigeon Toe.”
Show openers the Unband weren't so well-received. The New York trio were double-heckled. First for their smart-guy, punk attitudes. And again for the fact that their songs were equally twirpy.
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