Megadeth, Motörhead, Volbeat and Lacuna Coil @ Eagles Ballroom

Milwaukee remains supportive of the heavy-metal arts, as evidenced by a packed Eagles Ballroom on Sunday night. A sea of metalheads of all stripes threw up the horns and cheered loudly throughout the evening for a Gigantour tour stop featuring genre stalwarts Megadeth and Motörhead.<br /><br />Kicking off the night were Lacuna Coil, an Italian goth-metal band, and the Danish group Volbeat. The crowd gave them an enthusiastic-enough reception as they waited for metal legends Lemmy Kilmister and Dave Mustaine to take over the stage.<span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><br /><br />Motörhead</span> played a set that was short, about 45 minutes, and straight to the point. With a wall of Marshall half stacks behind him, Kilmister looked ageless, his face shadowed by his signature black cowboy hat as he chugged along on bass and belted out raspy vocals.<br /><br />After the band played "I Know How to Die," a solid track off their latest album, <em><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;">The Wörld Is Yours</span></em><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;">,</span> guitarist Phil Campbell encouraged the crowd to make some noise. Kilmister surveyed the scene and said, "No, no, you're Milwaukee: You can do better than that." The crowd cheered again as the band ripped into "Over the Top." A highlight was a rampaging solo from drummer Mikkey Dee on "The One to Sing the Blues."<br /><br />The crowd needed no further encouragement to get hyped when the band played the signature songs "Killed by Death" and "Ace of Spades." And after a demanding chant of "Lemmy! Lemmy!" the band returned to the stage and played "Overkill," its breakneck beat accentuated by blinding strobe lights.<br /><br />Dave Mustaine led Megadeth onstage with his murky growling, sometimes sporting a double flying V guitar as he paced the stage and showed off his shredding ability. The band's current lineup also includes longtime bassist and founding member Dave Ellefson. Newer members Chris Broderick on guitar and drummer Shawn Drover did a good job of capturing Megadeth's thrash power on songs like "Hangar 18" and "Sweating Bullets." Mustaine brought out vocalist Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil to join him onstage for "A Tout le Monde."<br /><br />The band also played a block of songs from their new album,<em> Thirteen</em>, including "Public Enemy No. 1" and "Guns, Drugs, and Money." The newer material was well received by the audience, although there were also a lot of enthusiastic shouts for some of the classics.<br /><br />Megadeth delivered them, and closed strong with "Symphony of Destruction" and "Peace Sells," which the crowd shouted along with as band mascot Vic Rattlehead made an appearance onstage. There was a quick encore&mdash;"Holy Wars... The Punishment Due"&mdash;before it was time for the pumped metalheads to hit the streets.<br /><br /><em>Photo by <span class="smallw">Adam Miszewski</span></em>