By HUGH WELSH
Concussed.
I don't know how else to describe how I felt after Anvil's performance on Saturday night at Westport's Riot Room.
My head was already reeling from opener Troglodyte, an Independence-based big-foot death metal band whose best-known ditty is called "Skunk Ape Rape." Once Anvil had ripped through their set list, my brain was scrambled cheese eggs.
In the 2007 documentary Anvil: The Story of Anvil, it was clear that the group's lead singer Steve "Lips" Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner (a purely coincidental homage to Rob Reiner, director of This is Spinal Tap) didn't give a sewer rat's ass about the producers, the critics, or the fortune tellers. These 50-something Jewish Canadians with Cro-Magnon manners were about the music: metal so heavy it leaves listeners woozier than a Prom Queen at a kegger. If Anvil was once on the cusp of greatness (they were admired by the likes of Slash and Lars Ulrich and shared a stage three decades ago with Whitesnake, the Scorpions and Bon Jovi), Saturday night was a return to form.
Playing before an assemblage of fans ranging in age and look (there were the Mohawked, the gray, the bald and the biker-jacketed), Anvil seemed perfectly suited for the Riot Room - a primitively lit venue with a floor that quaked throughout their set. Anvil initiated the show with "Future Wars," a song from their 1983 album Forged in Fire. With its meandering instrumentals and kill 'em all airs, it was quickly apparent that Anvil's influence on '80s metal is undeniable. Lips' vocals and guitar soar and swooped like birds of prey. When finished, the group was buried beneath an avalanche of "An-vil" chants.
Lips - who sports an Abe Lincoln goatee and a mug like the smirking hunk of cosmological cheese in the Melies brothers' silent film A Trip to the Moon - was full of thanks on this evening. After promising to shake every attendee's hand (he made good on the promise following the show), Lips said, "Holy fuck, Kansas City, you know how good it feels to be here tonight? I see lots of scalps shinier than mine out there. Ready to bang those fucking heads together? This is from our turd, uh, I mean third album."
Lips launched into "School Love," the debut track from their 1981 album Hard 'n' Heavy. But it was the next song, "Winged Assassins," that sent hands skyward - some hoisting cameras and 24-ounce Pabst Blue Ribbons, and some emblemizing devil horns.
"Hey, hey, hey," Lips began the song, "A one, a two, fuck you!"
One of the concertgoers - a leather-clad Dom DeLuise look-a-like - summed up Anvil's sound the best during a rip-roaring rendition from the title track of their latest album, This is Thirteen.
"Dude, they're the bridge between Iron Maiden and Metallica," he yelled. "And it's so loud in here I just ripped ass and no one heard it."
Anvil's concert Saturday night was everything a metal show should be: people wedged tighter than a tin of sardines, chiropractic tunes and the occasional waft of fart.
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I dunno, I really dug the review. So what if the reviewer didn't get the opening ballad right? He captured the spirit of the show. And Ancient Creation sounds too much like the next metal band to warrant recognition.
I agree with Andrew above, pretty crappy review, I guess you didnt notice that there was 3 bands on this bill, Troglodyte was a outstanding band and they put on a great show, but the second band was Ancient Creation and they blew me away, never heard of the band before and I actually thought they were on tour with Anvil till they said they were from Kansas City, they got a great crowd response and was more of the style for the show, Troglodyte seemed out of place, BUT GOOD.. And as far as Anvil, what can be said about them is they sounded better then was expected, they put on a great show and played pretty much all their hits except one. "Free as the Wind" thats the song I liked back in the day, but they played well and it was a great show, much respect for all the bands that played the show, they all did a kick ass job and that means all the bands that played the show...
A GREAT TIME WAS HAD WATCHING ANVIL SHARE THEIR PASSION FOR MUSIC, EMBRACE THE AUDIENCE LIKE OLD FRIENDS IN THE BACK YARD. AWESOME VENUE AND FANTASTIC SHOW!!!
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