You don’t have to watch Adult Swim or be a fan of their TV show Mr. Pickles to know that with Exodus and Municipal Waste sharing a bill, the result is going to be “Thrashtacular.” Well that’s precisely what Sunday’s show at San Francisco’s Regency Ballroom shaped up to be.
The crowd initially seemed slow to gather but by the time openers Hell Fire wrapped their set, the Regency was pushing capacity and people were ready for some action. Enter Municipal Waste who proceeded to absolutely blow the roof off the Regency with their tongue-in-cheek brand of Virginia thrash that had the floor spinning and two hapless security guards fielding the unending flow of crowd surfers. Front man Tony Forresta reveled in the chaos, expressing admiration for the young hasher who managed to dodge security to stage dive at least a half-dozen times.
Let’s face it, the average age of Exodus and their fans exceeds that of Municipal Waste fans by at least a decade and a half (and that’s being generous). Coming out of the haze from Municipal Waste’s set, it was hard to imagine that Exodus and their crowd could deliver similarly. If that’s what you thought, you could not have been more wrong.
Exodus took the stage and launched right into “Bonded By Blood” and the place went sideways … seeing the entire room, young and old, singing along to “murder in the front row” was truly inspiring. The band was flat-out on fire, playing with an energy that the long-time fan likely hasn’t seen in years. Guitarist Gary Holt’s furious head banging would surely be felt by him the next day but in the moment, neither he nor those getting bruised and bloodied in the pit were considering those consequences. This was Exodus laying their home town of San Francisco to waste. Consequences be damned.
Exodus
Exodus
Exodus
Exodus
Exodus
Exodus
Exodus
Exodus
Exodus
Exodus
Exodus
Exodus
Exodus
Exodus
MUNICIPAL WASTE
Municipal Waste
Municipal Waste
Municipal Waste
Municipal Waste
Municipal Waste
Municipal Waste
Municipal Waste
Municipal Waste
Municipal Waste
Municipal Waste
Municipal Waste
Municipal Waste
HELL FIRE
Hellfire
Hellfire
Hellfire
Hellfire
Hellfire
Hellfire
Hellfire
EXODUS SETLIST
Bonded by Blood
Blood In, Blood Out
Iconoclasm
And Then There Were None
Fabulous Disaster
Body Harvest
Metal Command
A Lesson in Violence
Blacklist
War Is My Shepherd
The Toxic Waltz
Strike of the Beast
