It takes two and a half years and twenty six shows before the first one makes the list, odd.
This was Anthrax on the sound of white noise tour, arguably (by me mostly) their best record. If memory serves me correctly this was the last show on this part of the tour, and this was the last leg of the SoWN tour. Before the record came out in may of 1993, Anthrax did a run of extremely small shows. They played at the Grand in NYC, it was the record release show the day before it came out. I remember walking into the local video store (tyler video in Woodhaven, Queens) with my friend to get a pair of tickets. There was literally only one left. I bought the ticket under the agreement that we would go down and scalp another ticket and split the cost. Then i had to have knee surgery the week of the show...and had to skip it. Damn. (I remember making my mom drive me to the record store on crutches to buy Sound of White Noise the day it came out.)
The first leg of the tour later in 93 i somehow missed...i can only imagine it was on the same day as a show i was already attending. Being that it was Anthrax/white zombie/quicksand...well...clearly i must have had something MUCH BETTER TO DO.
To say my anticipation for this show was high is a complete understatement. I had eleven months to digest that record, at that point they had a number of videos on headbanger's ball from that album. Just ridiculously amped for this show.
Then you have to take into account that FIGHT was announced as the opening act.
War of Words was a record that hit me like a ton of bricks. I mean, i was familiar with Rob Halford, i liked Judas Priest as much as required by the metal head community, but FIGHT was a whole new ballgame. That record was far ahead of its time.
The show itself was amazing. Fight hit the stage like a wrecking ball. Im pretty sure they played the entirety of War of words, the crowd knew every word...moved to every song...in all honesty, when they were done, that would have been enough to get this show on the list. Then came Anthrax. The hometown conquering heroes. They had spent the previous year supporting their biggest commercially successful record ever. Had proved that replacing their singer would not only not be the death of the band, but instead infused new life and energy into their act. This was Anthrax at the absolute top of their game. If you needed to pinpoint the absolute PEAK of their career, I would be convinced it was this show. They played a shortish set 12-15 songs...but it was all go! If i recall, there was also a cover of "lookin down the barrel of a gun". John Bush absolutely killed the older material, and just shined on HyProGlo and the other "new" material. When it came down to the end of the set/encore part, they were just like "screw it, we arent going to pretend to walk off and come back...lets just do this." and continued through the end. For such a large show it seemed so intimate and small. Like everyone knew each other and everyone had a good time. The only downside was that the three friends i went with and i all bought the same shirt...we had to coordinate attending school for awhile. (it was the fight war of words tour shirt with all of the words maxi-printed on the front. I actually wore that shirt up until a few years ago, i remember wearing it to the gym when a guy struck up a conversation with me about how he knew rob halford when he lived in San Francisco. I had no idea i was being chatted up. i am a little clueless all the time)
Anthrax/Fight was the first show i went to where i had no complaints, had a good time throughout, and obviously to this day, still talk about.
