Over 1,000 metalheads poured into Times Square’s Best Buy Theater on Friday night to scream, yell and mosh with Machine Head as the band played their first headlining tour in over five years.
“New York City, let me f*cking hear you!” shouted Robb Flynn, the voice and fury of Machine Head’s distinct brand of thrash and groove metal fusion. The long-haired, bearded singer is a voracious frontman and the crowd, ranging from fans pressed up against the barricades to those running around in the pit all the way to quieter fans in the seats in the back, all fed off Flynn’s infectious energy.
New album Unto The Locust came out just a few months ago (read my recent interview with drummer Dave McClain by clicking here), and the band would play a staggering 6 out of 7 new songs during the course of the 2 hour performance. Opening with the album starter I Am Hell, eerie red lights bathed the stage in bloody colors as Flynn and his bandmates crunched through the demonic track and fans quickly began moshing and crowdsurfing in earnest.
By no means was the night limited to new material though - early on in the night The Blackening favorite Beautiful Mourning was followed by mosh pit stalwart The Blood, The Sweat, The Tears, assuring the crowd that they’d get to hear all their favorite songs from Machine Head’s increasingly impressive discography.
Few metal bands pull off guitar harmonies as well as Flynn and lead guitarist Phil Demmel, and while the sound occasionally washed out in the thick overdriven mix, shrieking lead guitars ruled the night, especially on newer material such as Beautiful Mourning and the acoustic-opened This Is The End. Aesthetics of Hate proved to be a turning point in the night, as a long introduction by Flynn and dedication to the martyred Dimebag Darrell finally gave way to the furious riffs, vocals, and dual guitar harmonies that form the bulk of the 10 minute song.
The epicness of Aesthetics was followed by ‘back in the day’ favorites Old and Ten Ton Hammer, sheer mosh pit fuel that saw the circle pit expand to envelop almost the entire lower floor of the theater. Flynn loves to engage the crowd, and between songs he tossed cups of beer for the audience to catch, though it took four tries until a mosher successfully brought down a cup still upright. Chants of “Let’s go Giants!” also filled the time between tunes, and while Flynn claimed to not care about sports, the San Francisco-based band good-naturedly gave props to the Giants team who defeated the 49ers two weeks ago on their way to Sunday’s Super Bowl victory.
With well over 90 minutes under their belts, Machine Head finished up the night with a two song encore that packed the biggest punch yet. The furious, religion-bashing Halo had Flynn screaming “Headbang, motherf*ckers!” and the crowd violently obliged to the crushing riffs and squealing leads and fills. While Halo served as the final song during the band’s summer slot on Mayhem Festival ‘11 (read about it here), now that Machine Head is rightfully back to headlining their own shows, classic single Davidian returned to close the show, with fans screaming the anthemic “let freedom ring with the shotgun blast!” far louder than the band or its amplification. Not a body stood still as the song entered its outro, breakdown stage, crunching ever-slower to wind down the wild night of pure metal exhuberance.
It’s hard for Machine Head fans to complain about the band’s lack of headlining tours over the past years, considering that New Yorkers got to see them opening for Metallica and other A-listers as well as the summer Mayhem dates. That said, Friday night’s concert was an overdue treat that more than met expectations, with two full hours and 15 songs, some of which surpassed the 10 minute mark. That kind of value by itself is hard to find in the world of heavy metal club shows, let alone the spectacular showmanship and musicianship that Flynn and his bandmates bring to their high intensity shows. With Unto The Locust continuing to generate buzz and fans hopefully Machine Head will swing by this way again at some point this year, but even if they don’t, there’s no question that the Best Buy show gave New York just the fix of Machine Head we needed.
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