Sepultura - 28th October 2007 - Live at Hamsadhwani Theatre, Pragati Maidan, Delhi

"No Max, no Igor.. no Sepultura" was what I had been hearing for days since the days were finalized for this gig. A lot of old sepultura fans preferred to see a Sepultura cover band play live for cheap or free than to spend some bucks on the band they had grew listening to. I wasn't expecting Sepultura to play as thunderous as they were in the late 80s and and the start of 1990's of the atmosphere that was built up and from all what I had been seeing in live videos of the new lineup. I'm not a big fan of their stuff post Chaos A.D., but I was there in Delhi to support one of the bands that got me into thrash metal which still to date is my favorite metal subgenre. Like many others I was introduced to this band with the very cliched 'Roots Bloody Roots' but as I started exporing this band back to their stuff from eighties and early 90s, I got to know about their might! The might which I should say (and now that I have experienced) still stands to date even when two crucial members have left the band. Sepultura in Delhi kicked every single ass there in Hamsadhwani Theatre be it a roots-fanboy or a person craving for old-school, I can be sure about that.

How do you expect your journey to a metal gig if you have 666 riding with you in numbers? 666 was the total amount of a combined ticket of we 2 people who were about to leave for Delhi on Friday. When I reached at my friend's office with my baggage to leave for station I heard a shocking news that he won't be able to make it for the gig or he'd be able to witness it till 8:30 at night and then leave if he manages to get a new reservation ticket for Sunday. We somehow left thinking we'll manage all that once we reach Delhi. And when we reach there and we are about to call a friend with whom we'd be staying, we find the person has his cell switched off. We somehow manage to find the place and contact him on his landline and find that his cell was stolen last night. More to come.. when we order a chicken basket and a crispy-something-chicken at KFC thinking it wud be too small (as it indeed was on the menu they had nicely hanged on their counters) and the bill comes out to be 666. The chicken basket that came was 3 times the size that was portrayed on the conter and eventually we quit eating when the basket still had half-bucket-full of chicken more to offer.

I was already told Hamsadhwani Theatre is just too small to manage a crowd of around 4000 people which everyone was expecting. Pragati Maidan wasn't at all like Palace Grounds in B'lore in terms of the metal-vibe. The show started too late at around 6:30 when everyone was let in and after minutes of soundcheck Metakix (the opening band) were forced to play because the show was already late. With a BAD sound somehow Metakix managed to play an ok-ish set despite of fuck-off-get-off-the-stage chants from the disappointed crowd. I had only heard a single Metakix song 'You're bloody right' that was aired on VH1 for a long time and I could not understand why they name themselves as a thrash metal band when they are more heavy/groove sorts of. Their set was disappointing, they were having a bad day. Had the sound been nice, they would have done justice to the once in a life time opening-act for Sepultura chance they had got. When it was time time for Zomb (Metakix frontman) to throw some free "Connect and Inspire" CDs (new Metakix album), the crowd suddenly got energized and started chanting to which Zomb said - "Now you like it, haan?"


Metakix left the stage. The soundcheck for Sepultura took around 15-20 minutes and what then started with the intro on Dante XXI album was a complete thunder!! The sound was amazing and fucking out-of-this-world. The first song which I was expecting had to be "Dark wood of Error" from the Dante XXI album for it marks the return-to-thrash for these brazillian-beasts! The song kicks off with fast-strummed palm-muted riffs and when Derrick pours in the vocals becomes a complete and a perfect thrash package. I had no doubt in the brand of thrash that Sepultura carries with them - Dolabella, the new drummer was slaying on drums, Andreas and Paulo on guitar and bass, and Derrick - who I never liked watching live on the live videos I have was a machine on stage - so full of energy and with a growl that not for a second made anyone feel "Max would have been better". They played a LONG set, some good number of songs were played from the new Dante XXI album which marks Sepultura's return to thrash. Below is the list of songs they played in random order that I can remember:


Intro
Dark Wood of Error
Buried Words
Ostia
Crown and Mitter
Convicted in Life
Troops of Doom
Inner Self
Escape to the Void
Beneath the Remains
Arise
Dead Embryonic Cells
Desperate Cry
Come Back Alive
Slave New World
Refuse-Resist
Orgasmatron
Bullet the Blue Sky
Territory
Medley (Andreas on guitar and Dolabella on drums)
Spit
Boycott
Kaiowas
Biotech is Godzilla
Roots Bloody Roots

I would call that a good setlist having a great mix of the Max-era and Derrick-era songs. Every Dante XXI song is kickass. Derrick in the middle of the show asked Andreas to play some riffs of the old-school songs to check if crowd could guess that and to check how many of the old sepultura fans were there in the crowd. Sadly, only very few were able to guess the songs and it seemed the old sepultura fans had better opted to be home then to see the band live without original members. I loved every second of those old Sepultura thrash anthems. Sepultura have indeed found Dolabella as a good new drummer who did complete justice to the old stuff. He may not be as good as Igor but he indeed slayed on all the songs. The set ended with Derrick thanking all and quoting "You all have a great country and that hwo he would tell it out to everyone out how good this gig was. All big bands are going to jealous about it and this would open the gates to all those bands that you have been dreaming to see live one day. They would definitely come AND SO WOULD WE, NEXT YEAR!!!". If that's true, I'm on it again.

I had never banged my head for the entire show like I did for this gig, had to be obvious for it's thrash!! Sepultura indeed has slapped in the face of those who think it can't slay live without Max and Igor. They fucking can! I almost screamed with every song they played and banged my head like crazy and I had to take a day off from office on Tuesday for my sore throat and neck paining. Seeing this band live was adream come true for a thrash fan like me and I wish Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, Kreator, Testament, Sodom are on their way to India soon.. very soon!

Long Live Thrash Metal!!!

PS: Great thanks to Seema for helping with tickets and Prabhanshu for the stay!!