Kreator with Exodus - Nokia Theater, NYC, 04/08/09

Got to the Nokia Theater in Times Square and was greeted by a long line of metalheads (sausagefest levels only reached around 7) waiting outside the venue.  Right over their heads hung huge Kreator and Exodus logos on the billboard.  As me and the roomie filtered inside we learned that 3 of the openers had already played.  Fuck.  Yes, we were late, but not thaaaat late. It seemed like each band must have only played around 15 minutes.  

Exodus opened up with 'Bonded by Blood' which I am pretty sure is what they open every show with...ever.  Interesting to see this new vocalist, Ken Dukes, hit the stage.  He's only been with the band the last few years and is very much the new kid in town.  Good energy, stumbled a bit in between songs for banter (although he repeatedly called us all MOTHERFUCKERS & asked us to MAKE A FUCKIN' CIRCLE PIT!!).  The response to his request was rather lackluster to say the least.  A pit existed, but from my view it was just a few big guys stomping  around and flapping their wings.  Some of the better songs from the set were 'A Lesson In Violence' and 'Toxic Waltz' which got the crowd pretty stirred up.  

After Exodus' throwback to the late 1980s, Kreator hit the stage with their latest single 'Hordes Of Chaos'.  We were only brought back into modern times temporarily... right before reverting back to cassette tape days again with tunes like 'Extreme Aggression', 'Riot' Of Violence' and 'Pleasure to Kill'.  Crazy lights going on throughout the show, but again the pit was the same few guys from Exodus and didn't pick up too much.  Still it was a good show, and Miland sang the crap out of the songs.  The sound at Nokia is always pretty good but sometimes his vocals were almost toooo piercing.  The concluded their set with a 4 song encore and closed out the night with the classic 'Tormentor'.