A Look At Tonight’s “Metal Tour Of The Year” Gig At New York’s Jones Beach Amphitheater, Featuring Megadeth, Lamb Of God & More
The Metal Tour Of The Year — as co-headlined by Megadeth and Lamb Of God, and featuring support from Trivium and Hatebreed — kicked off last month in Austin, Texas. Postponed from the previous summer, many did not believe that the highly-anticipated tour would be happening as planned. After all, COVID-19 pandemic aside, Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2019. But after catching the Long Island, New York tour stop of The Metal Tour Of The Year, I am here to say that this is a must-see tour. It not only delivers as a top-tier showcase of metal giants, but also comes to show the power of a well-assembled, diversely-packaged, multi-band amphitheater tour.
Highlights from tonight’s gig are embedded below, along with my recent interviews with members of Megadeth, Lamb Of God and Trivium. Below is more information about each of the tour’s participants:
– Megadeth – It was over 30 years ago that Dave Mustaine founded Megadeth, in the process helping to pioneer the sound that would become known the world over as “thrash metal.” And from the very beginning, the band proved to be one of metal’s stand-out bands, starting off with its 1985 debut Killing Is My Business…And Business Is Good! and 1986’s seminal Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying?. Over time, Megadeth has gone on to sell more than 38 million albums worldwide, win major awards — including a 2017 GRAMMY Award for “Best Metal Performance” — and score 5 consecutive platinum albums. The band is slated to release its 16th studio album later this year. Mustaine is also the co-author of the recently-released book Rust In Peace: The Inside Story Of The Megadeth Masterpiece.
– Lamb Of God – The Richmond, Virginia-based band helped launch heavy metal into the new millennium 2 decades ago with the prophetically titled New American Gospel. They followed with 2003’s As The Palaces Burn, which made the Rolling Stone list of the “Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time.” Ashes Of The Wake, released in 2004, was the first Lamb Of God album to be certified gold by the RIAA, as was 2006’s Sacrament, which also made a Top 10 Billboard 200 chart debut. 2009’s Wrath earned the #1 album spot on Billboard’s Hard Rock, Rock and Tastemaker charts — with a #2 position on the Billboard 200 — as repeated with 2012’s Resolution, and similar chartings with 2015’s VII: Sturm und Drang. 2020’s self-titled album from the group, as featuring new drummer Art Cruz, has proven to also be a critical and commercial success; many fans have billed this one as the band’s best album yet.
– Trivium – Over the past 20 years, the GRAMMY-nominated band Trivium has quietly claimed its place at the forefront of heavy music in the 21st century. The Florida-based band had its ninth full-length album (What The Dead Men Say) released via long-time record label Roadrunner Records in April 2020. Trivium has had 6 consecutive Top 25 debuts on the Billboard Top 200 and 5e straight Top 3 debuts on the Top Hard Rock Albums Chart. The group has notably performed alongside Metallica, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden, beyond amassing over a quarter of a billion streams worldwide.
– Hatebreed – Hatebreed’s latest studio full-length is November 2020’s Weight Of The False Self. Weight Of The False Self was produced by frequent Hatebreed collaborator Zeuss and serves as a proper followup to 2016’s The Concrete Confessional, which has tallied over 42 million Spotify streams (and counting) and scored a 4-star rating from The Guardian. Thus, it is safe to say that 20 years deep into its career, the Connecticut-based Hatebreed remains as vital as ever to fans all over the world.
More on The Metal Tour Of The Year can be found by clicking here, here and here.
