The Bay Strikes Back Tour hits Oklahoma City’s Diamond Ballroom with a night full of heavy riffs, scorching guitar solos, and powerful thrash metal vocals.
Death Angel kicks off the night with three classics from their first studio album, The Ultra-Violence, released in 1987. Right away the crowd is captivated by singer Mark Osegueda’s stage presence. From his signature wails and powerful thrash metal vocals to his eccentric microphone stand tricks and ability to fire the crowd up, Mark Osegueda really commanded the energy in the room.
Mid-set Mark expresses how grateful Death Angel is to be back on stage. To hype up the crowd, Mark states, “We’re a thrash band, we’re on a thrash tour, you’re at a thrash show, we came here to f**cking thrash!” Following his speech, the band plays “The Dream Calls for Blood.” Death Angel’s high skill level is evident with their quick thrash drumming, headbanging guitar riffs, and complex solos.
Before playing their final song, Mark toys with the crowd and states that security is having too easy of a night and that Oklahoma City is docile, but that their final song has nothing to do with being docile. Their closing song is “Thrown to the Wolves.” Mark’s speech was the push that was needed to take the energy up a notch. During their last song, the first crowd surfer of the night could be seen. There were easily 15-20 more crowd surfers during Death Angel’s final song.
Exodus starts their set with “The Beatings Will Continue” from their latest album Persona Non Grata released in late 2021. This is the first tour in which Exodus has had the opportunity to play their new material live. Before Persona Non Grata, it has been seven years since the release of Exodus’s last album. Exodus played four songs from this album, one of which being “Clickbait.” Before “Clickbait,” Zetro (vocalist) tells the crowd that a girl from the VIP Meet and Greet made her own Clickbait shirt, so they decided to add the song to the set last minute because they thought her shirt was awesome. The new material from Persona Non Grata was very well-received by the audience.
Guitarist, Gary Holt, wore a University of Oklahoma shirt to the concert and told the crowd about his father being from Oklahoma. Gary encouraged the crowd to raise hell and make his dad proud.
Exodus made sure to include songs from their older albums as well for their old-school die-hard fans. They performed an 11-song set, spanning over six albums. Their oldest song dated back to their 1985 album, Bonded by Blood. Exodus performed an impressive, fast-paced set. They ended their set with two classics “Toxic Waltz” and “Strike of the Beast.” During these final songs, the mosh pit’s energy accelerated to an intense level, taking up the majority of the ground floor. The security had their work cut out for them as a never-ending stream of crowd surfers went over the barricade.
This thrash metal tour has been a dream line-up for many fans, and with the recent return of legendary heavy metal drummer Dave Lombardo to Testament, fans have even more to be excited about. Lombardo was the drummer for The Gathering, one of Testament’s most popular albums, released in 1999. Testament starts their set off strong with “Children of the Next Level” from their latest album Titans of Creation released in 2020. This is the first tour in which Testament has had the opportunity to play their new material live. Throughout the night, two other songs from their newest album were played, one of which being “Night of the Witch” which turned the pit into an absolute warzone.
During time away from the stage due to the pandemic, vocalist Chuck Billy still pursued some notable endeavors. One of his endeavors was starting West Coast Fire Pros, which is a company dedicated to restoring fire-damaged homes and helping those in need get into better housing. This speaks to the stand-up guy that Chuck is, which could also be seen throughout the night by the positive energy that he exuded during Testament’s performance. Another notable pursuit during the pandemic was that Chuck was asked to do voice-over work for the Marvel series “What If…?”. Chuck is the voice of Evil Doctor Strange, a part that he was sought out to perform by the director who is a huge Testament fan.
It comes as no surprise that with the return of Dave Lombardo, Testament played multiple songs from The Gathering. Two songs from that album that really got the crowd moving were “D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate)” and “Eyes of Wrath.” One memorable moment of the evening was when Chuck Billy introduced bassist, Steve DiGiorgio, as Steve began the bassline to “Souls of Black,” a song known for its highly technical bass intro. Recently, it was revealed on Sirius XM’s Liquid Metal that Steve DiGiorgio played bass on the newest Megadeth album.
Throughout the night, Testament played sixteen songs, spanning over nine albums. The oldest song played was “Over the Wall,” a song from their 1987 album The Legacy. During their entire set, there was a large mosh pit that took up almost the entire standing area. At one point, fans gathered in the center of the moshpit with arms wrapped around each other, forming a large circle in which they all headbanged together. This moment spoke to how tightknit the metal community is.
The Bay Strikes Back Tour is an impressive tour package, with some thrash metal legends. The tour goes on until late May. Many shows are already sold out, so it is encouraged to purchase tickets as soon as possible.
TESTAMENT
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EXODUS
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