“It’s great to travel the all the way across the world and find that we’re all just the fucking same…”

-David Randall Blythe (Lamb Of god), 15th May 2010

The skies were graying and the clouds were overcast as I walked into Bangalore’s Palace Grounds for Summer Storm Festival 2010. I was typically late; spent a little too much time with the bottles and ended up missing Bhoomi, Boomarang and Scribe (so no review/comments about those bands). As I entered the venue, I was extremely surprised to hear Escher’s Knot’s playing, although it was only after I entered that I found out that the band had their music playing from the PA systems, which I must say went a long way towards promoting their newly released album. Anyway, a few minutes wait was all I had to endure before Extinct Reflections took the stage. This was one band I really wanted to watch, having watched them last at IITM Saarang several years back. Playing a setlist comprising of their originals Recognize.Analyze, Swallowed Into Silence and Machines Of Madness (among others), they did a pretty good job of revving up the crowds, despite the irritating chants of “Lamb Of god, Lamb Of god, Lamb Of god”. It’s pretty sad when you’ve got an awesome band on stage but you’re too impatient to appreciate their music. I think I had a mini-explosion in my head when they played Recognize.Analyze which I must say has one of the best riffs ever composed. I was standing pretty close to the sound console and was disappointed on not being able to hear Narayan’s bass too well. Sandesh’s guitar tone was spot-on and his fingers moved seamlessly over his fretboard, but there seemed a very evident lack of chemistry in the band. Everyone was on their own and despite sounding heavy, tight and playing some awesome music, I still expected more out of the band.

It was about 6.30pm (approx) when ER left the stage and I wondered what time Lamb Of god would begin. I walked around the stalls, got a couple of warm Tuborg beers (very disappointing) and rifled though the original CD collection on sale. Nickelback and Serj Tankian? Thank you very much. I’ll buy my music elsewhere.

Suddenly, people screaming! There’s a white guy on stage with a guitar! The guitar tech, actually but I don’t think anyone knew that until they went rushing to the front of the stage. I found my way to the stage right and camped in front of the huge speaker stacks and after the guitar tech tweaked around with the sound, almost an hour after ER cleared the stage, the intro notes of ‘The Passing’ was heard. What happened next was a blur.

FLASHBACK: The year is 2004 (or was it 2005, I never remember). I’m at JRO, Chennai and a band from Mumbai called Bhayanak Maut is on stage. The vocalist goes, “This next song is by a band called Lamb Of god. This is Black Label.” For me, that was pretty much it, really. The start of a journey that lasted more than 6 years and spanned 6 albums (including Burn The Priest). I listen to Slayer, I listen to Immolation, I even listen to John Coltrane but I always came back to Lamb Of god. To see them live; Randy Blythe, John Campbell, Chris Adler, Mark Morton and Willie Adler, in the flesh, it was unbelievable. It’s easy to see why these guys are so critically acclaimed and why their reputation precedes them. I must say I was terribly disappointed with the scratchy guitar tone but when Lamb Of god played, they slayed.

So when ‘The Passing’ led into ‘In Your Words,’ it was like time had stopped. I could hear people screaming, I felt the pre-mosh shoves, but in my eyes, all I could see, was 5 men from Richmond, Virginia, on stage in Bangalore, Karnataka playing some of the most intense riffs ever. I think for the first 2 songs, I just stood, with my mouth open in awe but when ‘Set To Fail’ ended and ‘Walk With Me In Hell’ started, I could feel the pit call out my name, and that’s where I spent most of the gig. ‘Now You’ve Got Something To Die For’ was next and before I knew it, Randy says, “This is our last song” and goes on to play ‘Black Label’. It’s only after the show ended, at a surprisingly early 8.52pm did I stop and think, “Did I really watch Lamb Of god live? Did I just watch them demolish one more city on their quest for global domination? Did I? Nah, it was all a dream. I think I’ll go to Styx and drink more beer.” It was only on Sunday morning, when I woke up did I think, “If it was a dream, why does my neck and back hurt so much? Why is my voice hoarse and why can’t I hear clearly from my right ear?”

I watched Lamb Of god live and it was an experience. Just like watching Dave Mustaine with Megadeth and Mikael Akerfeldt with Opeth. I don’t care if there were a few issues with the sound. I don’t care if they didn’t play ‘11th Hour’ or ‘Omerta’. They played ‘Vigil’, ‘Blackened The Cursed Sun’, ‘Descending’ and 12 other awesome songs and that’s what mattered. They even dedicated ‘Contractor’ to India’s punk rocker, Mahatma Gandhi. I watched Lamb of God, live in concert, in India and that was enough for me. Thank you Overture India, thank you Bangalore, thank you Lamb Of god.

Complete Setlist:

The Passing (Intro) ,In Your Words, Set To Fail, Walk With Me In Hell, Now You’ve Got Something To Die For, Ruin, Hourglass, Dead Seeds, Blacken The Cursed Sun, Descending, As The Palaces Burn, Laid To Rest, Contractor, Vigil, Redneck, Black Label.

P.S I couldn’t write a better review because, really, that whole evening was like a dream. You know the feeling when you have an awesome dream but you can’t remember a damn thing when you wake up in the morning? This was like that. Actually, this is not a review. It’s just an experience in words.

P.P.S Another thing I must mention. A good friend of mine, Aditi Surendra with whom I shared many pitchers of beer across 2 days actually got a friend of hers to make a batch of home-made chocolate brownies and sent it to the band at Palace Grounds. My claim to fame right now is, I ate chocolate brownies from the same batch as Lamb Of god did! Ha ha!

P.P.P.S This is definitely one of the better weekends I’ve lived through. Had a crazy gig with Blind Image on Thursday and watched Purple Blood, Chronic Phobia, System House 33 and Kryptos live, watched Escher’s Knot, Eccentric Pendulum and Chronic Xorn at the Summer Storm Pre-Party on Friday and Lamb Of god on Saturday. It’s going to be a while before the pain in my spine and the alcohol in my bloodstream lets me forget this weekend!

* Madhav Ravindranath is a Mechanical Engineer, blogger, biker and plays bass for Chennai metal act Blind Image. Apart from this he also manages a successful Metal Label ‘Roadcrew records‘.