Description

Aardschokdag was a music festival initiated by hard rock and heavy metal magazine Aardschok. The first festival was held in 1982 and the last one in 1999. The most successful of the festivals were the one that were held in 1988 with 6000 visitors. The festival that year was held on Sunday the 29th of May and the line-up was Megadeth, Testament, Flotsam And Jetsam, Nuclear Assault, Vicious Rumors and Sanctuary, the band that was discovered by Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine. This album features 7-tracks from that night at Issehallen in Zwolle, Holland when Mustaine and Ellefson had Chuck Behler on drums and Jeff Young on guitar. The remaining 6-tracks was recorded at Hammersmith Odeon in London on the 6th of March 1987 with Gar Samuelson on drums and Chris Poland on guitar. This was the first time Megadeth ever played in Europe and the two tracks Black Friday and Devils Island from this show ended up as the B-side on the Wake Up Dead single. As I said Chris Poland and Gar Samuelson was still in the band, as they were sacked from the group later this year. However with these two in the band then Megadeth had the purest speed metal line-up they ever had. Marty Friedman and Nick Menza might have been better musicians but when it came to thrash metal then this was the line-up to beat. This European debut could have started better as the bands gear was held up in customs resulting in the undesirable situation of having to borrow hired gear, causing the group technical difficulties due to using unfamiliar guitars. The resulting sound may not be up to today’s standards, but it captured Megadeth and especially Dave Mustaine at his young , hungry and snarling best. The band were out touring for their Peace Sells album and the tour was named Wake Up Dead Tour, suitable tour name as the band weren’t particular clean when it came to both booze and drugs at this time. But if youre an old fan of the band then im sure you wont bother as they were a top notch band and im sure you will think that some of their best tracks is on this disc.

Track list:
1. The Conjuring-Aardschokdag 1988
2. Mary Jane-Aardschokdag 1988
3. In My Darkest Hour-Aardschokdag 1988
4. Devils Island-Aardschokdag 1988
5. Liar- Aardschokdag 1988
6. The Mechanix-Aardschokdag 1988
7. Anarchy In The U.K.-Aardschokdag 1988
8. Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying?-Hammersmith 1987
9. These Boots-Hammersmith 1987
10. Devils Island-Hammersmith 1987
11. The Mechanix-Hammersmith 1987
12. Last Rites/Loved To Death-Hammersmith 1987
13. Black Friday-Hammersmith 1987