Beatallica / Rust In Peace
26 April 2006
Camden Underworld


Fittingly, tonight`s opening act is Megadeth tribute band Rust In Peace. The tribute is purely musical with the band looking nothing like any of the Megadeth line-ups. Forming a Megadeth tribute band is a brave move, especially when including the like of Hangar 18 and Holy Wars in your set, but Rust In Peace pulled it off.

The band`s frontman not only had the Mustaine whiny-sneer down to a T, but also replicated his guitar sound. Both he and the lead guitarist covered the solos admirably and the fact that they included Devil`s Island, which no longer features on the real Megadeth`s set list, ensured they won me over.

Rust In Peace set list:
Skin O` My Teeth / In My Darkest Hour / Hangar 18 / Devil`s Island / A Tout Le Monde / Sweating Bullets / Peace Sells / Holy Wars… The Punishment Due


Three songs into their set, frontman Jaymz Lennfield explained the theory behind Beatallica. Basically they loved the Beatles but wanted to pair them with another act. A snippet of Beat It given the Beatles treatment, confirmed Michael Jackson was not the match! Wanting something with more balls the band tried out Lynyrd Skynyrd, as demonstrated with a snippet of Sweet Home Alabama crashing into Sgt. Pepper. However, eventually the band settled on Metallica and that`s what we got tonight.

Blackened The USSR kicked things of in a frenzied fashion, with Beatallica headbanging away. Jaymz tells us the band had been up for 36 hours, but the only sandman was the one on stage tonight. Beatallica`s Sandman is amusingly the beast under Don Dokken`s bed! Already at this early stage Jaymz was able to get the crowd at the front punching the air.

On announcing For Horsemen, a small portion of the crowd seemed puzzled that what the band played was not the version from Kill ‘Em All. It was following this that Jaymz described the Betallica concept and it was obvious a few were expecting a straight Metallica cover band.

Apart from Krk Hammettson`s bushy hair, Beatallica don`t look much like either band they have amalgamated, but they certainly sound like Metallica covering the Beatles. Jaymz`s Hetfield vocal was spot on and Krk Hammettson wah-wah solos aped Hammett perfectly. With a few Metallica bass players to pick from, Cliff Burton was surely the only choice and Beatallica`s Frankenstein experiment mixes him with Paul McCartney to form Kliff McBurtney. A Beatlified version of Anethesia sees Kliff take centre stage. The best name of all, however, is surely saved for drummer Ringo Larz.

Reading the song titles below gives ample clues to what the band actually sound like. Highlight`s included Sgt. Hetfield`s Motorbreath Pub Band, Leper Madonna and new song Ktulu He`s So Heavy.

I have to admit that not being a huge fan of the Beatles, after about an hour the joke did begin to wear a bit thin for me, however the band never let up their energy, nor enthusiasm. For a project that started as a joke, you have to admire how far Beatallica have managed to take it. This was certainly incomparable to any other gig I have seen and was well worth attending.

Beatallica set list included:
Blackened The USSR / Sandman / For Horsemen / Sgt. Hetfield`s Motorbreath Pub Band / And I`m Evil / Run For You Life / The Thing That Should Not Let It Be / Anesthesia (I`m Only Sleeping) / Leper Madonna / Ktulu He`s So Heavy / A Garage Dayz Nite / Helvestr Skelter / Hey Dude / Saw Her Thrashing There / I Want To Choke Your Band



LINKS:
Beatallica