Mayhem Festival
Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, California
July 1, 2012
Kerry King told me he owns 2 copies of Murder In The Front Row. Umlaut's old friend Gary Holt of Exodus is once again filling in for Jeff Hanneman on tour. During their set Slayer launched into a one-time only cover of the Exodus song 'Strike Of The Beast'!! How fucking cool was it for them to do that at Gary's hometown show (1) as a tribute to Exodus and (2) as a tribute to Bay Area Metal. Tom Araya singing Paul Baloff! A full circle moment, man. The best part was they simply played the song with zero fanfare and then went straight into a blistering 'Angel Of Death' right after it. SLAAAYEER!Flashback: Umlaut witnessed Kerry King joining Exodus onstage for 'Strike' last year in Seattle.
Volbeat
The Regency, San Francisco, California
July 8, 2012
One of my Old Metal heroes: Hank Shermann of Mercyful Fate (currently with Volbeat). We talked about the old Bay Area Metal Days and he remembered all of the shows Fate played in Northern California. I told him I was at all of them, including the band's first California show in Sacramento in 1984 (where Exodus opened!). I also geeked out and told him how the first Fate we ever heard back in The Day was the 1982 bootleg tape from when Fate supported Gillan in Copenhagen. I even quoted one of King Diamond's in-between song raps from that tape: "Do you know what it was?! It was a ghost.. pretending it was The Devil's daughter!" Hank laughed; I think with me and not at me. A full circle moment, man.On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag at both shows... etc. etc.
