Testament/ Overkill/ Flotsam & Jetsam @ The Fillmore, Silver Spring

Went last night to see Testament, Overkill, and Flotsam  & Jetsam  (missed 4Arm) at the Fillmore, Silver Spring. A night full of THRASH

Saw Dorothy, Matt Rice, Zach O, Heavy Metal Chris, Ruby, that lady from the Vienna Record Exchange, SHABBA, and even Bill from work.

Got there after 4Arm was done (tho I was in the area), so I can't say anything about their live set.

 The balcony was open to like VIP people or something, as there were about 30 people up there, max. The floor was pretty crowded, but not uncomfortably so. A decent turn out, but not great (esp with the living social deal that was offering half price tickets... man I need to not buy tickets so early sometimes). The capacity is 2,000 people- I think I'd estimate about 400-500 people there. Woulda been a sell out at Jaxx/Empire probably.

Flotsam & Jetsam came on not so long after, and the grizzled veterans IMO sounded very good. I was pretty unfamiliar with their material, but they sounded probably the crispest of the 3 bands that night. Overkill and Testament each had their volume levels raised. They had a few weak (IMO, esp for a thrash show) pits during their set.

Overkill was on next, and I was pretty pumped for them as they are SOLID albumwise and I've heard good live reviews. They def pumped up the volume for Overkill, and that made them a bit fuzzy sounding. Overall I thought they were good, but not as great as I had wanted them to be. Pits broke out and there was headbanging, but something was missing. I thought it was kind of weird that Bobby left the stage a lot during the solos. They also seemed like they had way too short of a set, or maybe it was just that I was only familiar with half the songs.

Testament finally came on, and we could see Chuck Billy's green lightsaber mic stand that he air guitared on constantly. They sounded even LOUDER than Overkill, but either their sound guy was better or my ears had gotten used to it, because they sounded a bit better than Overkill.

Chuck Billy was sounding strong and looking a bit ridiculous w/ his lightsabre mic, but I of course was a bit jelly too. It woulda been great if Bobby Blitz came out with a red one and they dueled at the top of the stage. Regardless, Chuck was pretty active and I believe he was on stage the whole time- pretty great frontman. They sounded maybe a bit better than their last performance here, and I did enjoy the headline set that they had. Heard a bunch of songs that I've not heard before live, so that was cool. Of course I would want more songs (Electric Crown, Apocalyptic City, etc.), but hey some variety is nice!

ALSO, Chuck Billy, Bobby, and the guy from F+J all called Silver Spring - Silver SpringS. Chuck was alternating and it was completely ridiculous


Fillmore still has ridiculous prices- $9 for a draft beer? I got one for 1/3 the price during happy hour at McGinty's. Well I hope I remember to offer a parking lot drink instead. jeez.

Photos:

Flotsam @ Jetsam
Overkill
Overkill II
Testament
Testament II
Testament III

Setlists

Flotsam and Jetsam (7:29- 8:00)
(I dunno)

Overkill (8:20- 9:04)

• Come and Get It
• Rotten to the Core
• Wrecking Crew
• Bring Me the Night
• Electric Rattlesnake
• Ironbound
• Elimination
• Fuck You

Testament (9:30-11)

• Rise Up
• More Than Meets the Eye
• Burnt Offerings
• Native Blood
• True American Hate
• Dark Roots of Earth
• Into the Pit
• Practice What You Preach
• Riding the Snake
• Eyes of Wrath
• Trial By Fire
• The Haunting
• The New Order
• D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate)
• 3 Days of Darkness
• The Formation of Damnation