Milwaukee Metal Fest Day One- Down

Down headlined day one. First time seeing them and they kicked arse. I've seen Superjoint at the same venue and also Pantera on the Cowboys tour in 1990 opening for Exodus snd Suicidal Tendencies when Phil stage dived on me.

On the main stage I also saw Chimaira, Rotting Christ and the SOD tribute Stormbreeders of Death with Jamey Jasta, Dan Lilker, Scott Ian, and Scott's 13 year old kid Rev on the drums. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. But it seems Ian's really trying to push his kid's music career as he played with his own hardcore band X-Comm at the pre party show on Thursday night. Then the whole X-Comm band came out and jammed with Down at the end of "Bury Me in Smoke" to close out the night which I thought was kind of stupid.

Side stage highlights were Fugitive with Blake Ibanez from Power Trip and Seth Gilmore the current PT vocalist. DC grind band No/Mas put on a fairly chaotic set on the smaller bar stage. They're tight as a drum. I also caught most of Norwegian black metal band Endslaved's set which was excellent.

All together I saw 11 bands. There was some overlap but I saw most everyone's full set. Day two's headliner is Black Label Society. Devin Townsend and Between the Buried and Me are also on the main stage. I'll be downstairs for Exodus, Death Angel, and 3 Inches of blood. Kicking off the day with NOLA "bimbocore" band Brat.