Words by Bill Foster, Jerry Hilsinger and Mack Rains. All pics by Bill Foster
Accompanied by seasoned metal heads Jerry Hilsinger and Mack Rains, I set off Friday for my first metal festival ever. I’ve enjoyed some legendary late night metal sets at Bonnaroo over the years, but that’s a small dose and I admitted to some trepidation about three days of headbanging. I needn’t have worried as the first day was a stellar combination of technical skill and bombast with the only non-metal act providing the least enjoyable set of the day.
Exit 111 is the first attempt at having a festival other than Bonnaroo at the famed Farm in Manchester TN. It’s a smaller footprint, using the What, Which and Other stages as the Heaven, Hell, and Rise Above stages (I guess no one wanted to play on the Purgatory Stage). The crowd is about a quarter of Bonnaroo size, allowing one to get close to every act (at least by festival standards). Camping procedures are the same as Bonnaroo, although the food selection has less variety and the beer selection is limited to Budweiser and a single IPA. There is a car show, a motocross track, a huge paranormal circus and a large sports bar. All in all, it’s a lovely set up although for Bonnaroo veterans, the effect is somewhat disconcerting, as if someone came in your house while you were on vacation and rearranged all the furniture.
After having a pleasant of experience of no traffic, a check in that took five minutes, and a quick ingress to the site, we headed to the Heaven stage to catch Nashville based (and Preservation Pub alumni) Cadillac Three. Jerry Hilsinger enjoyed it. “Kicking off my first festival The Cadillac Three baptized me with crisp vocals and sharp guitar play. This East Tennessee band was engaging and smoothly transitioned through their set. They set the tone for what should be a great festival here in Manchester, TN.” After Cadillac Three, we headed over to catch Black Stone Cherry of whom Mack Rains writes: “The performance from Black Stone Cherry combined a mix of rock and blues. The drummer John Fred Young may have been the best drummer of the day. Personal highlights were the performance of their song ‘In My Blood’ and a Jimi Hendrix classic ‘Purple Haze.’” For myself, I thought the songs blended together, but they are a whirlwind of energy on stage, high kicks, thrown guitars, jumps and leaps that makes up for the lack of sonic variety.
Back to the Heaven stage and the first loud crowd of the day,we caught Anthrax. The legendary (going on 40 years) thrashers were in fine form. Mack writes that “Anthrax transports me back to 1987 as a child thrashing to the favorites which introduced me to metal. It’s an experience we can all relate to and it’s wonderful to experience an era of time when a song is played and a band brings back the feeling of youth and indestructible joy.” Scott Ian stomped and glowered all over, shredding on a flying V as returned vocalist Joey Belladonna pranced and swung a half mike like a trailer park Freddie Mercury. It was glorious. Over on the Which, I mean Hell, stage, the Black Label Society began. Jerry writes, “I was highly anticipating Black Label Society and they did not disappoint! Zach Wylde‘s mind scorching guitar play coming out of the loudest set of the day shook me to the core. These guys perform at a high level and just pull you into their set. Blown away!” Look, when Jerry says “loud,” maybe you just think metal loud. No. This was the loudest thing I have ever heard. This was Swans at the Bijou loud. I wore double hearing protection and my ears are still ringing. It was also awesome. I’m a huge fan of Wylde’s blues-metal hybrid playing. He wore a kilt and a BLS vest and spent most of the show crouched on a platform, long hair flying as he ripped on a variety of bullseye painted guitars. The dude has calves like a baseball catcher from stepping on and off that platform 100 times a show.
Next up, another of the Big Four who founded thrash in the 1980s, Huntington Beach based Slayer in what is billed as their last show in Tennessee. I caught Slayer at a 1 AM Bonnaroo show a couple years back and it was legendary. This was better. Beautiful backdrops, great sound, directional pyro (seriously, coolest thing I’ve ever seen), and 75 minutes of non-stop fury. Back on the Hell stage, Jerry caught Killswitch Engage, “Playing songs from their latest album Atonement for the first time live Killswitch Engage, yes, killed it! Vocalists Jesse Leach alternates from death growl to melodic singing as well as anyone in the business. These guys flat out rock! The largest mosh pit of the day was churning throughout their set and I could feel the draw. Killswitch Engage’s energy is addicting!” I concur. I was completely unfamiliar with them and it was my favorite set of the day. We also caught the last five songs of Seether and they were fantastic. Mack writes, “Seether closed the night on the Rise Above stage. Fighting through a few technical issues and a 20 degree drop in temperature still put on an amazing set. The interaction between the band and the crowd singing every word to every song, myself included, was impressive.”
After a eight-band thrash extravaganza like that, tuning down for Lynyrd Skynyrd was always going to be hard. And, I will admit that I saw Skynyrd on 1973 and I have some deep-seated prejudices against the one original member cover band that goes by the name today. Still, I expected to feel as I have with other nostalgia acts and sing along to some songs I love and to have had a good time.
That didn’t happen. Maybe it was the smallish crowd after the insane 30 min 25 degree temperature drop and the light rain. Maybe it was the drummer who turned swinging songs into straight ahead plodding rock. Maybe it was the most banal stage banter I have ever heard in my life. Maybe it was the fact that the first words out of vocalist Donnie Van Zandt’s mouth were something like “Yeah, this is called the Farewell Tour but we’ll be back soon.” Maybe it was the note for note recreations of classic solos with no inspiration. Maybe it was the utterly predictable setlist. Guess what the last song was? You get one guess. Yep, nailed it. I really wish I could find something nice to say about the show but it just wasn’t for me.
Nonetheless, one dud in a day as stellar as this is nothing to complain about. I enjoyed the first day of this new festival as much as I’ve enjoyed any day, which really surprised me considering how unfamiliar I am with most of this music. It’s a great time and today brings Gojira, Blackberry Smoke, Cheap Trick, Mastadon, Ghost, ZZ Top and Def Leppard. Bring it on.
