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Gigantour

Live 2 CD Set

Written by: MY on 31/10/2006 14:01:03

Despite the fact that it rarely has more than one stop in Europe, Ozzfest is probably one of the most important, most blabbered, and highly awaited events of the year, in the metal world. Last year, Sharon Osbourne's Ozzfest welcomed a rival: Dave Mustaine's Gigantour. Organised by the Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine, co-headlined by Megadeth and Dream Theater, the seven week festival also featured Anthrax, Fear Factory, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Nevermore, Life Of Agony, Symphony X, Dry Kill Logic and Bobaflex. Everything started perfect, with the general consensus that it had the best metal bill of the year. So definitely a metal onslaught, but as time went by, rumors started spreading that the bands were playing in front of a very small audience and as a result, the festival-tour was ended earlier than planned. The concert attendances announced confirmed the lack of the crowds but there is no official statement from the Gigantour side.

After all this, I didn't think I would hear the name "Gigantour" again but here I am reviewing the festival's live compilation. It is released in two versions, 2 disc audio and 2 disc DVD. I have the audio version to review and the differences between them are big: the audio version has three more songs and the DVD has many special features such as life on a bus, tour management, pranks, cover songs, backstage footage, and even birthdays. Each band contributes to the album with two songs, except Megadeth of course, who have 3 songs.

We can all agree that the festival line-up was amazing. So my expectations were understandably high, but yet after listening to the record countless times, I still can't understand how my favorite bands can sound that bad?

The first CD kicks off with Dream Theater. The fans of the band know that it's almost impossible for Dream Theater to be bad live and not suprisingly they don't fail this time either. They open the album with their 'for the fans of Muse' track "Panic Attack", followed by "Glass Prison". Bless them many many times for their awesomeness. The second band is Anthrax. Ok, I'm not the biggest fan of Anthrax nor thrash metal, but as they have been accepted as legends for years, I thought they would blow my mind with their blasting sound. No. I just looked at the speakers and said "is that all they can give?". Life Of Agony, Dry Kill Logic and Bobaflex follow in the footsteps of Anthrax, and despite being the young padawans of the tour, they seem to have much more energy and a far better sound on stage than the masters themselves.

On the second disk, the festival's promoter Dave Mustaine and his band Megadeth have the first three songs. The first two are Megadeth's hits: "She Wolf" and "A Tout Le Monde", and the third one is the first single of their latest album, "Kick The Chair". There is no doubt that Dave Mustaine is one of the most important names in the music world in the last 2 decades, but accept the fact or not, he's never been too good at singing. And these three songs show that he has gotten a lot worse. Fear Factory follows Megadeth with two songs. Thank God it's just two songs, as I don't understand what's going on in their music, especially live, it just sounds horrible to me. And then Nevermore, the band I've been a fan of for years, and yet I haven't even had a chance to see them live. The problem is not their sound, the backline nor the music. It's just Warrel Dane, his vocals are so bad live that I'm still trying to convince myself there was something wrong with him that day. Then comes Symphony X as the last band to close the album. Sir Russell Allen and his friends are nothing less than a cure for your poor ears after all these hard moments. They are super, super, super!

By releasing this live compilation, Dave Mustaine and SPV Records probably want to refresh the good old memories, but it hasn't turned out to be a real success. If you see this album on the music store shelves, don’t let the big names on the cover take control of you, and instead just leave it there and run away screaming.

Download: Panic Attack (Dream Theater), Inferno (Symphony X)
For the fans of: The bands listed on the cover
Listen: Gigantour Live@Amazon.com

Release date 02.10.2006
SPV Records
Provided by Target ApS