Heavy Montreal Day 2 recap (Body Count, Twisted Sister, Slayer and more)

Toronto’s Fucked Up drew a small but appreciative crowd to the “Apocalypse” side-stage, located in a secluded wooded area of the grounds. While the band is known to get pretty high-concept on record, live they might as well be back playing basements, with frontman Damian Abraham shirtless and running through the crowd, paying no heed to minor inconveniences like barricades and security.

Abraham’s wireless mic gave him the freedom to literally run through the woods while the rest of the band remained locked in-step onstage, providing the lighting guy a hell of a challenge as he snuck through the dark crowd. Abraham spent most of the set a good 30-feet from the stage, hugging fans, sneaking up and singing behind someone texting in the crowd, and even spinning one of the local masked wrestling guys over his shoulders. The band closed their set with with “Police,” still the best (and simplest) song they’ve ever written, after which a shirtless Abraham couldn’t seem to help but roll completely in the muddy grounds, proving that punk is still a dirty business.

Truthfully, Slayer have been a bit hit-or-miss in a live setting over the last decade, with much riding on the strength of frontman Tom Araya’s voice. Fortunately, he was in fine form this night, and the band ripped through an amazing set of mostly early material before a massive crowd. With Exodus guitarist Gary Holt filling in for the late Jeff Hanneman, the band essentially performed their classic 1992 Decade of Aggression live album, with a few minor substitutions. Flanked by four huge upside-down crosses, they tore through tracks like “War Ensemble,” and early 80’s thrash cuts like “Captor of Sin” with a level of intensity pretty remarkable for a band that’s been performing consistently for 30 years.

After landing two of the biggest metal bands in the world, it will be interesting to see where Heavy Montreal can go from here. The organizers took a number of chances this year, ditching the previous Heavy MTL designation, and with it the inherent understanding that this would be a strictly metal festival. With record attendance, and a more diverse line-up, those gambles obviously paid off in spades. Hopefully the festival continues to push the boundaries of just what constitutes “Heavy,” which would ensure at least a few more welcome curveballs in the future.