Australian act King Parrot was the first of the two bands to hit the stage. King Parrot is known for their very active live shows including a lot of crowd participation. King Parrot is hard to pin into one genre. The band has a mix of hardcore, punk, and thrash. All that genre naming means nothing when you feel the power of King Parrot’s music live.
The band seemed to be having a blast as they performed their set. Lead singer Matthew Young explained to everyone where they were from in between one song and explained that it was their bass player’s birthday to which everyone cheered! Young and another member sprayed beer all over the stage and crowd as I ran for cover to protect my camera gear. King Parrot often had members of the band jumping into the crowd, and Young crowd surfed for quite some time around the venue which was fun to watch. You could not look away from the stage during King Parrot’s entire set! It was a blast from the first song to the last!
King Parrot:
GUITAR – Mr. White GUITAR – Squiz BASS – Slatts DRUMS – Toddy VOCALS – Youngy
As King Parrot wrapped up and cleared the stage, the anticipation of the packed house for Phil to take the stage was insane! When Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals walked through the door and took the stage the crowd went nuts! To turn the crowd’s energy up another notch to insanity the band started the set off with Pantera’s “A New Level”. This gave me goosebumps! I never caught Pantera live back in the day so this was amazing see and hear!
The band then jumped into their set performing songs off of their latest album, Choosing Mental Illness as a Virtue. Phil looked amazingly young on stage and his vocals were on point! The aggressive energy each of the members of the band displayed was felt by all in attendance. Phil’s intense look and powerful posture matched the blistering sound of the music. The thrash metal sound and the excitement of the frenzied crowd was completely mesmerizing! Any time the crowd seemed to slow down a bit Phil would tell everyone he wanted a circle pit! If you are a fan of Phil Anselmo, Pantera, or just want to experience what a real hardcore thrash show is about, get your tickets and go to one of these shows!
Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals:
Philip H. Anselmo – Voice, Guit & Handmade Special FX; Stephen Taylor – Axe; Joey Gonzalez – Drumbeat Beast; Mike DeLeon – Lead Axe; Walter Howard – Bass Axe
