Anthrax Among The Living

Anthrax 'Among the Living' (Island/Megaforce 1987)

Thursday 5 November 1987, 7.30 p.m., Edinburgh Playhouse. Phil McIntyre presents Anthrax and Testament. The details are etched in my memory like an old sailor's tattoos.

Four of us, including my dad, arrived from Dundee and walked towards Greenside Place. When faced with the throng of denim and leather clad long hairs, who were obviously at least 19, my stomach lurched and I remember saying 'I don't want to go'. 'Don't be stupid', said my dad and in we walked through the Madison's' entrance to the balcony. People were drunk, people were drinking, shouting, swearing; I was sh*tting myself.

We made our way to the balcony and our front row seats were taken by four lairy moshers, this was quickly accepted by my dad and we took the seats four or five rows back. Probably safer anyway, as we didn't want to fall off, yeah, we were better off in these seats anyway. It was really hot, I was really nervous, I didn't really want to there.

Then a green light engulfed the stage and Chuck Billy and Testament took to the stage in a whirlwind of frenzied thrash. YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES! This was it. 'The Legacy' was one of maybe ten thrash albums I owned, all on cassette at this time, and they played all my favourites; 'The Haunting', 'Do or Die', 'Apocalyptic City' and the one Chuck teased us with by telling us it was too fast to play, 'Over the Wall'. They even played a new one, 'Disciples of the Watch', which was amazing. A new one, before the album came out? Amazing. I had never experienced such joy!

There was a respite for maybe 45 minutes and we had all found our feet by then, we obviously knew Testament as well as anybody else, maybe even more. I stomped around buying merch and saying hello to older guys I recognised from school. After a while we were ushered upstairs by my dad and we awaited the arrival of Anthrax.

The introductory music of the Blues Brothers' theme blared out over the p.a. and it seamlessly blended into a tape of the opening riff from 'Among the Living'. And then it happened. 3000 people became one and every single word of the opening track was sung, completely drowning out the sterling efforts of Joey 'Injun' Belladonna. The track ended and Belladonna asked us 'What is it?', 'MOSH!' we screamed back, primed by live sets already broadcast by Tommy Vance on the Friday Night Rock Show, the band were visibly amazed by the response and launched into 'Caught in a Mosh'. And so it continued. Track after track met by an utterly rapturous response, every single word sung by every single person for an hour and a half. Not even a power cut during stone cold classic 'I am the Law' could dampen the fervour of crowd or band.

My dad stood behind us wearing slip on shoes, maroon jumbo cords and a size medium Slayer 'Reign in Pain' T shirt. Every so often he would tap us on the shoulder and tell us to calm down, or to stop headbanging. That's pretty cool.

We had to leave early so we missed 'Gung Ho', we knew that would be the encore due to 'The Music Vendor's', as Tommy Vance would call himself, live transmissions, but we got to sing along to Loch Lomond, chant 'Here we go!' and hear the band say they wished they had recorded their live video in Edinburgh ('Oidivnikufesin (N.F.V.)' - you work it out!) - that was because WE were there!

So we returned to Dundee, hoarse, tired, but probably as happy as I had ever been. This was the start of something special. Something that would be the driving force for the rest of my life. This was my destiny.

If you think I'm over egging this night, there is a bootleg of the gig, which I have on vinyl and I'm sure can be found on the net. It is a perfect document of one of the most amazing nights and you can hear how blown away the band are by the reaction of the crowd. The singing is incredible.

There are three albums that stand as giants in the milieu of thrash metal, each with their own unique take on one of the most important genres within metal. 'Reign in Blood', 'Master of Puppets' and 'Among the Living'. This LP is that important and it stands the test of time. An absolute classic.

Peace