The Bay Area Strikes Back Tour – Skyway Theater – Minneapolis MN – May 17th 2022

The Skyway Theater presents the Bay Area Strikes Back Tour staring Death Angel, Exodus and Testament.

First up was Death Angel. They opened with 3 from their debut album. The Ultra Violence, Evil Priest and Voracious Souls. This album holds a lot of personal memories for me. We used to listen to this all the time when it came out, and still do. The band is in excellent form and was more than happy to get back out on the road. The delay of two years showed on stage. They were maniacs running all over the place. The set list also gave us 6 songs from six other albums. The bummer was no songs off Frolic Through the Park were in the setlist. I know you can’t get to them all but I love that record. The band also started working on new material in March so hopefully we get a new record this year.  Death angel was a perfect start to the evening.

Setlist – The Ultra-Violence – Evil Priest – Voracious Souls – Seemingly Endless Time – Claws In So Deep – The Dream Calls For Blood – The Moth – Humanicide – Thrown To the Wolves.

Exodus, what more can you say. They have the big 4 with Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth and Slayer. Exodus should be part of this along with Testament and Overkill. The big 7 would be just fine. These guys have quite a past from deaths to break ups and a few line up changes. But is doesn’t matter cause they have always kept the thrash spirit alive with the band. I was not a huge fan of Rob Dukes vocals so I was really happy happy to see Steve back in the band. I know he has been back for a while but Rob was a little too much cookie monster for me. So anyway tonight the band was amazing. Gary is now concentrating fully on Exodus since Slayer has now retired. Gary is also one year sober and his playing has stepped up huge. The biggest highlight of the evening was Tom Hunting playing drums after battling cancer for the past couple of years. He addressed the crowd before the encore and got a massive round of applause. As he should he has been very open on his battle and we all were happy it is all going in the right direction. The band was so tight tonight. Every song had a huge pit going. The band put out Persona Non Grata last year. It was one of the highlights of 2021. We all were stuck for so long it was nice to hear new music while not doing much. We got three songs off that one , 3 off Bonded By Blood and a smattering from their other albums for the set list.The band was perfect tonight and looking forward to seeing this tour again in the fall.

Setlist – The Beatings Will Continue (Until Morale Improves) –  A Lesson In Violence – Blood In, Blood Out – The Years of Death and Dying – Deathamphetamine – Blacklist – Only Death Decides – Prescribing Horror – Bonded By Blood – The Toxic Waltz – Strike of the Beast.

Testament is headling the tour as they should. The merch line alone for Testament was super long. The band ripped into a frenzy right off the bat. This is a welcome back for Dave Lombardo on drums. He is pretty much drumming royalty in in heavy metal. I have never heard of anyone not liking Dave’s playing. The band is still in support of their 2020 release Titans of Creation which you all should get if you don’t have it. The album is amazing. As was the bands performance tonight. It’s like they play for each one of us individually. They acknowledge the audience like it’s a one on one show. Chuck Billy still has everything he had back in the day. It is amazing their 40th anniversary will next year. Tonight was a celebration of metal that we all have waited 2 years for. The setlist was three from The Gathering, The New Order and Titans of Creation. Five other tunes were scattered from five other albums. The bummer is Low is ignored on setlists. Another album that gets lost in the years. The show was exactly what we all needed. Alex showing off his guitar skills, Eric jumping and ripping all over the place, Steve on bass ia beast and loved posing for us in the pit. This show just released more dsates for the fall. Make sure to check this out.

Setlist – Children of the Next Level – The Pale King – Practice what Your Preach – The New Order – WWIII – Eye of Wrath – D.N.R. – Legions of the Dead – Electric Clown – Souls of Black – Night of the Witch – Over the Wall – Into the Pit – Disciples of the Watch.