Megadeth: That One Night – Live in Buenos Aires (Double Live Album)
CD Title: Megadeth: That One Night – Live in Buenos Aires (Double Live Album) Studio/Distributor: Image Entertainment |
Now wait a minute, I know what you are thinking: “CD reviews? On HTF? When did THAT happen???” Truth is, this isn’t really my specialty and it’s not something that's likely to be big on HTF, but it came about as a courtesy from the fine folks at Image Entertainment who have been getting the word out about the CD and DVD of the same concert, Megadeth Live in Buenos Aires. Although I missed the opportunity to review the DVD, I was offered a crack at the double live album and thought it would be an interesting side journey from my usual film reviews.
The concert itself, which was recorded at the Obras Sanitarias stadium in Buenos Aires on October 9th, 2006, comes off like a love note from Dave Mustaine, lead singer of Megadeth, to his fans in Argentina. While it had been a long while since I’ve heard any Megadeth outside of their signature song “Peace Sells”, I was a huge fan back in the 80s and even saw them live at least twice in the NY/NJ area. Despite it being nearly 20 years since I saw them, it was spooky how driven, focused, and downright melodic Mustaine and crew remained. That’s a lot of mileage to put on to your pipes, especially given the growls and screams that punctuate their songs.
Disk 1 opens with a song I was not familiar with, Blackmail the Universe, although it reads like an episode of ‘Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter’, and it’s probably the weakest tune on either disk although for sheer energy and fan satisfaction it starts off with a machine gun bang and only accelerates from there. Other notable standouts on disk 1 are relationship dystopia anthem ‘Wake up dead’, ‘My Darkest Hour’ which gets the fans chanting right along, and ‘Set the world on fire’ although I noted that the clip from The Ink Spots song of similar name is gone… The highlight of Disk 1 has to be ‘A Tout Le Monde’, a multi-linguistic ‘Thank You’ from the band to their fans around the globe, and it is this song where the connection between Megadeth and Argentina can probably best be felt.
Disk 2 similarly starts off with a few songs that while classic Megadeth aren’t top on my radar, beginning pun-nilly with ‘Hangar 18’ and ‘Return to Hangar’. Halfway through tho and it’s all top choices. Kick the Chair is vintage angst and sarcasm, Symphony of Destruction is precisely as its name implies and is pure focused energy, and this rolls directly into the hallmark ‘Peace Sells’.
It used to be that you couldn’t watch MTV for 20 minutes without hearing the classic Peace Sells Bass riff as part of their news briefs, today that clip is as dead as videos themselves are on MTV. While no less gruff or biting, this version of Peace Sells has the weight of having been the light that guides the band over the last twenty years, and there is a certain maturity and wisdom as well as weariness in Mustaine’s voice as he belts this one out one more time among countless nights. It is a strange situation that this one song, one which older fans like me might consider the whole reason there still being a Megadeth today, is almost an afterthought for the rabid fans of Argentina who have embraced ALL of what the band has to offer musically, rhythmically and as a bitter observers of all they survey and find wanting.
Overall, I did enjoy these two disks, tho to be fair some songs much more than others, but one thing I found particularly interesting was that HOW I listened to them was vitally important. Reviewing movies I find that I like to watch on the big screen and often with a few others to share the experience with. Listening to these disks in the main theater certainly gave a nice amphitheater like effect but it didn’t ring true to me. Only when I put them on a portable system and slapped on a pair of head phones did I truly appreciate them the most. I’ve had them on repeat play for the past few days and even went out to Best Buy and got the recent 17 track ‘Greatest Hits’ collection to back it up with, bringing me full circle.
One other interesting thing is that the most exposure I've had to Megadeth in the past few years is watching Mustaine in the Metallica Documentary 'Some Kind of Monster' and having seen that a lot of those personal demons and disappointments that he discusses in that film have a lot more poignancy when viewed through the lens of some of these songs. If you listen to the lyrics a lot of these issues seem to be repetat themes.
If it’s been a while, you might enjoy a return visit with Megadeth as I did. They have kept true to what has been their style for well over 20 years now, yet they continue to mature while keeping that dark and cynically funny outlook on life along with the thunderous drums and bass bottom with the zigzagging intercuts of rhythm and lead guitars. They say that if it’s too loud, you are too old so I guess that Megadeth has kept their youth and I’m still strapped in and ready for the ride.
Overall: 3.5/5
Disk 1
1. Jet Intro
2. Blackmail The Universe
3. Set The World Afire
4. Skin Of My Teeth
5. Wake Up Dead
6. In My Darkest Hour
7. Die Dead Enough
8. She Wolf
9. Reckoning Day
10. A Toute Le Monde
11. Angry Again
Disk 2
1. Hanger 18
2. Return To Hanger
3. I'll Be There
4. Tornado Of Souls
5. Trust
6. Something That I'm Not
7. Kick The Chair
8. Coming Home To Argentina
9. Symphony Of Destruction
10. Peace Sells
11. Holy Wars
