This is a cool story, one night in either 1991 or ‘92, when I was living in Spokane Wa., this chick I knew called me up and said she had a spare Skid Row ticket because some dumb ass flaked on her, so she invited me to go. This was during their Slave To The Grind tour, which also unbeknownst to me, was also Pantera’s Vulgar Display of Power tour, since they were the opening act. I was a Skid Row fan at the time, and Slave To The Grind was a pretty good album, which I had, plus she was hot, so I said “Sure!”, and my music life was changed forever. I had never heard of Pantera, and they weren’t getting much airplay then, so I had no idea what I was in for. So Pantera came on, and actually the girl who took me hadn’t heard of them or heard them either, and we were so blown away!!! Dime’s guitar playing, live in prrson with plenty of crazy improv, Jesus Henry Christ!!! Also, Phil’s singing was exactly like the records I heard later, every C.F.H. Note, including Cemetary Gates which they played in it’s entirety which included of course him singing along with Dime’s divebombs at the end, was absolutely flawless, loud, and crystal clear! Also, there was lots of fog, and green lasers! Furthermore Phil kept saying in his low, menacing speaking voice, “Smoke Weed!” At one point after the first song or so, her and I looked at each other gaping, and I said “Can you fucking believe this opening band?!” She said “I know right?!” “They’re so much better than Skid Row! It’s fucking unbelievable!” She said “Yeah for real!” Then I asked her “Why would Skid Row have a band that’s so much better than them as an opener?!” And she said “I don’t fucking know!” Then I said “I’m not making fun of Skid Row at all, their still a great band, but these guys are blowing them away! It’s unreal!” By the way, I was wearing a long wool coat at the time because for cold weather wear they’re kind of cool, and it was around December or so, and I’d never been in a mosh pit before and I told her “I have to try this pit out! There’s no way I can miss this!” She said “But you’re wearing a long coat! what if you fall?!” “Fuck it!” I said, “Meet me by the back door at the end of the show.” She said ok, and off I went. It was so much fun! I made it all the way to the fourth row on the floor, but could not get past that since everyone after that had their arms locked snd they wouldn’t move an inch, but when I gave up and moved to the side, they all patted me on the back and said “Dude! You got pretty far for wearing a long coat! Goid job!” After that Skid Row played, and they were good, but it was so anti-climactic it was almost pathetic, and on the way home her and I both agreed, we felt sorry for Skid Row, because they got their asses handed to them by the best metal band ever! We both agreed on that also, that we had just seen the best speed metal band of all time. I have no idea who she was now, or where she is, because she was kind of playing the field at the time, and ended up with someone else, but I will never forget what had to be, the greatest show, I ever saw. The End
|