So seeing Exodus, Death Angel and Testament was by far my best concert experience in a long time. I have decided that I really prefer these smaller venues than the big arena shows because you get a lot more interaction from the band at the smaller venues. The only downside is that I was on my feet for seven hours while I was there. But otherwise I had a phenomenal time.
I got into the music hall and I was able to get into the third row from the stage, really close for when Death Angel came on. A great vantage point. At one moment Mark Osegueda looked right at me while performing, and I pointed to the Death Angel patch on the front of my jacket, then put my fist over my heart. He gave me a little smile at that. you dont get those kind of moments at a stadium show.
Like most thrash concerts, the crowd was in a nice frenzy for everyone. The pit was a good size, and often surged beyond it's borders into the row I was standing in. So even when I wasn't a part of the pit, I was still being shoved to and fro. Great fun!
I lost my good spot by the stage for Exodus because I went to take a piss and came back after they started. my new position at state right gave me some good views of the crowd as well as the stage. Exodus was fantastic on stage, and was very pleased with the crowd's energy. Lots of good body surfing. There was the worlds Greatest Dad in the pit for Exodus, holding his son on his shoulders the whole time. Circling around and this kid was getting high fives from everyone and he had the biggest smile I've ever seen on a kid. #1 Dad! Exodus loved seeing that too, and invited the kid up on stage after their final song to play a few chords with Gary Holt. Lucky damn kid.
Testament came on last and they played a hell of a show. Now I hadn't really previously given Testament a lot of my attention in the past. I knew a few of their big hits but that is about it. I had thought that Exodus was much better and should have been the ones headlining. However, Testament blew away my expectations! They played a loooong set, almost 16 songs. The crowd energy went from frenzy to berserker as soon as they started their set with Practice What You Preach. It kept that level of intensity through the whole performance. Chuck Billy didn't slow down at all that whole time, he fed off the crowd's energy. Testament is the real deal when it comes to thrash and that night made a fan out of me.
The night ended with Testament taking their bow, and I actually caught Dave Lombardo's drumstick. What a momento! What a great night. I blew off a lot of pent up emotions. made some great memories, headbanged until I couldn't hold up my head anymore, screamed myself hoarse, got shoved around in the pit and shared in the experience with 3000 other of my brothers in metal, bonded by blood!

Hopefully Anthrax in August will bring a similar experience but I think they will have to work really hard to top that night.