Nuclear Assault in Newport

80s Thrash kings

Nuclear Assault in Newport on September 29th, 1989 was another early great gig I was part of. Cant remember who supported them but I do recall it was a very lively and loud concert. Nuclear Assault were touring their brilliant 'Survive' album and at the ass end of eighties were one of the top thrash metallers on the scene, easily on par with Testament and Over Kill. Of course this was the birth of the awesome Thrash era, and I consider myself ONE LUCKY MOTHERF**KER to have been alive and witness it as it happened.
Damn I wish we'd had Smartphones and Youtube back then because I would have captured all my gigs in all their moshy, sweaty glory! I remember one guy climbing the stack of Marshall amps to the right of the stage as Nuclear Assault were halfway their blistering set, and when the crowd encouraged him to slam into the waiting denim clad arms from 20ft up, he did and the audience split in two. It would have been a perfect Youtube moment because it looked as if he'd landed on the deck (but really he'd been caught by a few of us because Metalheads are not dicks).

Pantera in Newport

My ticket

The Pantera concert I saw at the Newport Center way back in September 1994 was one of the best moshing events ive been to. And ive been to quite a few! The metal world had recently been stunned by Kurt Cobain's suicide a few months earlier and this gig provided for much needed relief after the sad news.
The band had just released their Far Beyond Driven album, which was getting a LOT of play on my sound system at the time. Hey theres no faulting it, its a great f**king heavy record! And I was stoked to see them touring it. I would'nt spend a night in Newport for any old band. Laughs.
A cool thing I remember about this gig is while we were having a few drinks outside the venue, Pantera's head roadie Jeff 'Mayhem' Thompson came out and joined us Welsh headbangers for a bit. It added to what was a fantasic bloody night of good tunes and shredding guitar licks from Dimebag Darrell. I can't f**king believe these two awesome dudes are no longer with us. Such a b@stard shame.
And know this; to this very day I count myself not just lucky but BLESSED to have gotten to hear Dime play live. One of the best guitarists EVER!
Everyone had a blast in this gig, and I must have sweated the alcohol clean out of my system in the pits. (Don't worry, I put it all back in at the bar later). Ive seen some heavy bands in the Newport Center, including a brutal gig from Suicidal Tendancies, but I can safely say the Pantera guys DELIVERED the goods to Wales. F**king epic concert!

Pantera were supported by Downset.