Sepultura and Kreator brought their co-headling tour, Klash of the Titans, to San Diego on May 26th to play for a sold-out crowd at the House of Blues! This tour also included support from Death Angel and Spirit World.
As we roll into downtown San Diego, looking to swoop in on a free parking spot, we see the block was completely wrapped with thrash metal fans anxiously waiting for doors to open. I’ve been doing this for many, many years and the show anticipation never gets old. Seeing a sea of battle vests and concert tour shirts makes me want to scream out the window, “My people!” The excitement of walking up to the doors, getting your ticket scanned, having IDs checked (I like to pretend it’s because they think I look under 40), and then finally being free to move about the venue after getting through security. I head straight to the photo pit and Kaiya goes straight to the mosh pit/rail. With Vicariously Thru Us you get two very different perspectives of the same concert.
Kicking off the night was Spirit World! The Vegas band took the stage and at first, I wasn’t quite sure what we were in for with the cowboy hats and country look. A little bit of country, rock n roll, punk, horror, and a lot of metal mixed together make for a great opener getting the fans fired up. Even with all the hard headbanging, the cowboy hats never came off.
In between sets, I’m waiting for Death Angel like it’s my first time seeing them. Pacing back and forth, checking the time, waiting for the lights to dim for the boys to come out on stage. Death Angel is one of my favorite bands for so many reasons. Of course, because they are amazing musicians and performers, but it’s more than just that. I discovered them back in 1988 with their second album Frolic Through the Park. I was ‘that’ fan girl back then writing them letters, but they wrote back! They say you may forget what someone says, but not how they made you feel. That album and letter got me through tough times. Even though the line-up has changed a bit, Death Angel is all about their fans. On this night, security was having a tough time and honestly, it was quite concerning. Lead vocalist, Mark Osegueda saw a crowd surfer fall over the rail during their first song “Lord of Hate” and leaned over the stage asking if the fan was ok, and he didn’t miss a single beat! Thankfully, the crowd surfer was fine. I loved this setlist which included two songs from their first album, Ultra-Violence, for us old-schoolers, mixed in with “The Dream Calls for Blood,” “The Moth,” and their Grammy-nominated song “Humanicide.” They closed out their set with “Thrown to the Wolves.” We are super excited to see Death Angel again in September at the Blue Ridge Rock Festival! Watching the crew set up for the German thrash band Kreator was a show in itself.
We see a blowup doll come alive, ok maybe not a doll, maybe it was a blow-up Satan!
This was my first time seeing them and I absolutely loved them! Lead Vocalist Miland “Mille” Petrozza with his hypnotic deep voice talking to the fans in between songs was mesmerizing and had my attention locked in the entire set. At the beginning of “Awakening of the Gods,” he says “San Diego! Show us the first wall of death of the evening. You people up on the balcony, if you want, you can jump into the crowd.” The crowd had already divided, so they’d be jumping straight to the floor. While introducing the next song, “666 - World Divide,” he told the story behind that song and how they were getting ready to go on tour in 2020 but then the world stopped, the music stopped. “The world is in flames, but we are united!” I love old-school thrash bands that have synchronized headbanging and guitar moves. They ended their set with “Pleasure to Kill '' and threw out a ton of picks, setlists, and sticks to the fans.
Closing out the night was Brazilian band, Sepultura! This was also my first time seeing Sepultura as a band. I have seen lead vocalist Derrick Green at Dimebash with a full drum line which was amazing! Opening with “Isolation”, “Territory” and “Means to an End”. Unfortunately, we did miss quite a bit of the show hanging out at medical. As I mentioned earlier, security was struggling quite a bit. We all know the risks of going to concerts, especially if you choose to be on rail, but we also depend on security to help us out by pointing out the surfers coming up behind us and catching them as they go over the rail. Kaiya got hit pretty hard a few times and they wouldn’t help her get out to get help. She got checked out by the medical staff. I could hear the songs “Refuse/Resist”, “Arise” and “Ratamahatta” through the wall. After deciding Kaiya was ok, medical staff were helpful in finding a seat for us just in time to watch my favorite Sepultura song which was also the last song of the night, “Roots, Bloody, Roots.” There are still a few dates left on the Klash of the Titans tour so be sure to go if they are coming to a town near you!
Remaining dates for Klash of the Titans tour!
05/ 31 @ Vancouver, BC
06/02 @ Salt Lake City, UT *
06/ 03 @ Denver, CO
06/05 @ Minneapolis, MN *
06/06 @ Chicago, IL
06/08 @ Toronto, ON *
06/09 @ Montreal, QC
06/10 @ New York, NY *
* Sepultura Closing
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