The Mega Years Tour of the Kings Of Thrash raised Indy’s blood pressure at The Vogue Theatre in Broad Ripple.
Kings of Thrash is a band formed by bassist David Ellefson and guitarist Jeff Young to celebrate the early, classic creations of thrash juggernaut Megadeth. Specifically, on this tour they are playing Killing is My Business…and Business is Good and So Far, So Good…So What in their entirety. Don’t ask any questions about Peace Sells … Actually, the reason they are playing the first and third Megadeth albums is because the second one is so well known that it sometimes overshadows the great music on the other two. It is a clever idea, and a boon for fans to be able to hear this rarely-played music.
The opening act was Hatriot, pronounce to rhyme with “patriot” – an important point, especially since I was pronouncing it more like Hat Riot until I heard better. Imagine my surprise when no one in the band was wearing headgear of any sort. Created in 2011 by Exodus vocalist Steve “Zetro” Souza and guitar maestro Kosta Varvatakis, the band is now peopled by Cody Souza, Kosta Varvatakis, Nick Souza and Kevin Paterson. They have a solid discography behind them, including last year’s record The Veil Of Shadows, and they carry the Bay Area banner with pride. Hatriot played several songs from the new album, naturally, and spread music from their other albums liberally across the rest of the set. They were great, and my only complaint is I wished they had played longer because I was ready to hear more.
Kings Of Thrash did what they said they were going to do. They played those early Megadeth albums in their entirety, with a slightly altered song order, if I heard it right. Principals Ellefson and Young performed exceptionally well, and they deserve enormous credit for bringing this music back to the forefront. After all, many of these songs haven’t been performed live regularly for decades. The performed a few shows last October, finishing off at the Whisky A Go Go. Things went so well they decided to mount a bigger tour in 2023.
Lead guitar and singing duties were handled by Chaz Leon, and the drummer for the tour is Fred Aching. The band played flawlessly, whipping up the modest Broad Ripple crowd and keeping the thrash rolling song after song. The encore held a few surprises, with “Peace Sells” showing up and other bands getting the cover spotlight as well. It was a great show, and even better than I expected it would be.
Kings of Thrash and Hatriot are on tour for the next several weeks. Check out the tour poster to see where they will be playing near you. Catch them if you can.
Photos by Wayne Edwards.
Links.
Kings of Thrash website, https://www.kingsofthrash.com/
Hatriot website, https://hatriot.bigcartel.com/
The Vogue Theatre, https://thevogue.com/
Photo Galleries.
Kings of Thrash, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2023/02/25/photo-gallery-kings-of-thrash-at-the-vogue-theatre-indianapolis-2023/
© Wayne Edwards
Flying Fiddlesticks Music Blog 