Special Edition: Extreme Steel Tour as experienced by Dr. Fever

Introduction from the editor: Originally we were supposed to handle coverage of the Extreme Steel Tour when it roared through Los Angeles. Well long story short, that didn’t happen. I knew if there was one tour most of our readers wanted coverage of, it was this one. Think they would let us pass up on SLAYER and PANTERA on the same bill? So naturally, the solution presented itself when I saw that the tour was playing in Dr. Fever’s neck of the woods. Knowing full well that Fever is probably the biggest Slayer fan here at antiMUSIC I asked him if he was interested, guess what his answer was?. If anyone was born to cover this tour, it’s our Dr. Fever.  Normally, when one of us covers a show we go to the venue, kickback, take photos if needed and maybe venture backstage to conduct an interview. A couple weeks later you, the readers, get a full report. Since Dr. Fever is anything but conventional when he sets out to cover a show, he gets right into the middle of things. He’s not contented being a mere member of the audience; he wants the full experience. As an editor I get to feel a little of what Rolling Stone’s Ben Fong Torres must have felt every time he sent Hunter Thompson out on assignment, wondering what kind of mischief the adventurous writer was going to get into. Anyone that follows Dr. Fever’s columns knows that one of his idols is Hunter Thompson. I have a sneaking suspicion that the good Doctor is trying to live up to his idol’s exploits, as you’ll soon read he is well on his way.  So with out further blathering from me, here is the Doctor to tell you about his new nickname courtesy of Dimebag and his adventures at the Extreme Steel Tour. 
 

Huntington West Virginia Pantera | Slayer | Static X | Skrape | Morbid Angel 

On June 27th, yet once again, the fine folks here at antiMUSIC sent me out to cover the rock. And, yet once again, it turned out better than I could have imagined.

The fateful day rolled around and the excitement level was high. I headed to my friend Dana White's house (owner/operator of Cornzine.com and my photographer for this trip) and then we rushed to Huntington. After just about every delay you can imagine we made it to the show at about 7pm and made our way to the will call window. It was at this point we realized the show started at 6, not 7. Static X was already on the stage (we could hear them all the way out in the lobby) and we were kinda bummed, but it was all good-we hadn't missed SLAYER (or Pantera for that matter). The will call window provided yet ANOTHER adventure, they had LOST our tickets and photo pass. Much anger. After finally getting some tickets (but no photo pass) we took our chances and went to the Bus Parking area to seek out help.

After some creativity and me breaking out a copy of my confirmation email (good call Ed. on suggesting I print that out..otherwise I never would have thought to do it) we were introduced to a nice lady who I believe was Slayer's road manager. She produced an All Access Photo Pass for Dana and (as a way of making up for will call's screw up) she also gave us two All Access Guest Passes, which meant me and Dana were going to the aftershow party backstage. More on that later.

After walking through the side door and heading for the floor (gotta love those All Access Passes), we hung with some friends until the lights went out. Mass Hysteria. Devil Horns all around. SLAYER was on the stage. Hot damn! On stage, SLAYER is more vicious than you can imagine, when they hit the stage pure evil pours forth from the PA. The power of Kerry King’s searing guitar riffs kick you in the side,  Tom Araya  puts you in a stranglehold with his menacing vocals and within minutes you become drenched in sweat, your throat gets sore from screaming and you’re in bad need of chiropractor from all the head banging!  Slayer doesn’t screw around with pretty staging, they go with a stripped down stage set. Drums, Amps, Guitars, Mics; No bells or whistles are needed just the essentials of rock and roll. When you are as loud as they are you let the music speak for itself. On this fine night we were treated to a varied selection of both classic and new, even a couple of kickass songs from their new album, “Got Hates Us All”.  For the most part, I just stood off to the side soaking it all in. For me (and a few thousand fellow fans) it was truly an awe-inspiring performance.  Of course, I didn't stand around the entire night. Fittingly enough, SLAYER closed their set with my personal favorite: "Angel Of Death." This evoked a response of circle pitting and floor punches from me. The rednecks were flipping out because they'd never seen anything quite like my little display, so they converged on me with intent to commit bodily harm..no matter. I'd already had my ass kicked that night by SLAYER. I wasn't going to feel pain anyway.

Pantera closed out the night with their typical show (although the exploding/flaming 'Reinventing The Steel' sign was cool). It’s still fun nonetheless. After all this, it was on to the backstage area for the after party. After a chance encounter with a couple associates of ours and taking time to snap a photo with Kerry King, it was party time. Pretty innocent stuff for the first 10-15 minutes we were there, that ended the second Panteras' Vinnie Paul burst into the room, leading 3/4 of the members of Pantera (Phil was noticeably absent) into the sea of humanity and beer..the rest of the night is pretty much a blur..but, here are some of the highlights:
 

• Meeting everyone but Phil from Pantera
• Meeting Tom and Kerry from SLAYER
• Meeting Waye Static from Static X
• Finding out the secret to Waynes hair (i'll never tell..hahaha)
• Watching Vinnie Paul sign a girls butt
• Drinking liquor with Dimebag Darrell (I'm almost positive it was the infamous 'Blacktooth Grin'...but I might be wrong)

MORE!

Visit Slayer's Official Website to get the lowdown on their new album GOD HATES US ALL plus tons of other cool Slayer stuff.

Get your copy of Slayer's GOD HATES US ALL and Pantera's Reinventing the Steel today at the iconoSTORE! 
 

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