First, let me get my bitching and moaning out of the way. Megadeth has been a favorite band of mine for several years now – they were one of the first “real” metal bands I discovered. I’ve seen them live twice, once with crappy support, and once with Exodus, but unfortunately, I missed them. Since I first heard about Gigantour, I’ve been stoked about the idea of Dave hand selecting bands for a traveling festival, as I’d get to see them with some good support. However, the first go around they completely skipped over my area not coming within an eight hour drive. Then Gigantour 2 (which this DVD focuses on) is announced, and we’re skipped over once again. Most recently, Gigantour 3 also skipped right over us. Three great package tours passed right on by. What the fuck Dave? Is Missouri not good enough for Gigantour? Now that’s out of the way, onto the review.

Since Gigantour is just that, a gigantic tour, we don’t get the entire show – we get select cuts of each band, presumably picked by Mustaine. What we don’t get is a great selection, but the camera work is great here – nice long shots that really allow you to take in the show (the best you can from your couch anyway), and the sound is superb.

As far as the track selection is concerned, I’m still baffled at the inclusion of The Smashup on this tour let alone the DVD – terrible, terrible stuff – I couldn’t watch their one track “Effigy” for more than 10 seconds without wanting to spew across my TV screen. Sanctity also has one entry, “Beneath the Machine”, which is one of their better cuts, but here they don’t seem to be on top of their game. Into Eternity’s contribution “Severe Emotional Distress” is executed flawlessly and shows their live energy in full. Overkill gets two with the solid choice of “Rotten to the Core”, but the other, “Necroshine” could have been better chosen. Either way, their performance was top notch and energetic (watching this really makes me want to kick myself in the ass for missing them last fall). Arch Enemy’s two tracks “We Will Rise” and “Nemesis” are two of the weaker selections, but they put on just a good of a show as they have both times I’ve seen them live. Since all of their songs are on the long side, we only get one Opeth track, but a good on it is with “The Leper Affinity”. Their performance here is kind of dull in terms of on stage movement, but that I don’t think is their focus. Instead, they blow you away with flawless execution and precision playing. Lamb of God have two entries with “Vigil” and “Now You’ve Got Something to Die For”, both are nice choices, and as always, they put on a killer high energy show. Finally, Megadeth has three tracks. “Take No Prisoners” (would’ve rather it been “Holy Wars” or “Tornado of Souls”), “The Scorpion” (“Kick the Chair” or “Back in the Day” would have been good cuts from that album) and “Washington is Next” (good choice). Similar to Opeth, Megadeth do not move around much, but the show is pretty much spot on. I must say though that Glen Drover looks pissed on stage, like he doesn’t like being up there – that is until he hits a solo, where he goes from expressionless to a slight smile or “O” face or maybe bobs his head a bit.

The Special Features is basically one long section (about an hour) that ranges from introducing all the bands with comments from Mustaine, to talking with crew members about their days and what they all do, to the workings of pyro and setting the show up, to shenanigans like Mustaine and the Megadeth “camp” pulling a prank on Opeth which is actually quite funny. They make it look like a dreaded “Dickhead Dave Mustaine” story, but end up getting a good laugh out of everyone. Also listed under Special Features is Megadeth performing “Peace Sells” with a bunch of members from the other bands coming out on stage to help with the gang vocals at the end of the song. Why this wasn’t just included in their section of the concert portion escapes me, but whatever – it’s pretty cool regardless.

Not a bad DVD, but it could have been better. Some more bonus content would have been nice, and of course better song selection. But I suppose if you didn’t get to see the actual show, it serves as a pretty good representation.

[Visit the band's website]

---

Comments