This was an excellent show on many levels; there're only two 'buts' in this review. The warm-up band Heaven Below may be talented, and seemed to get a bit better during their set, but, the sound was awful (definitely too loud, yet mixed with so much midrange that you didn't feel any bass impact at all). Please note that I wasn't the only one in our immediate vicinity (middle of venue where sound should be optimum) that commented on how bad their sound was. I suspect they will sound much better if their sound man is unable to show and any random audience member sits in on the sound board...
Thankfully, Slaughter and Great White didn't disappoint at all sound-wise...they both sounded much better than Heaven Below...plenty loud without the too-bright sound (okay, shrillness) Heaven Below presented.
Slaughter...what can I say...I was prepared for a band I'd enjoy while waiting for Great White; it turned out that watching Slaughter's current drummer, Zoltan Chaney, was the highlight of the evening! I'd never seen him before, and I can only say that he's the most entertaining musician I've seen in quite a while. I'm not saying he's technically the best drummer I've heard recently, only that watching him perform was incredible!
Great White, with their current lead singer Terry Ilous, performed admirably (here's that second 'but'), however, I personally have always equated Great White with Jack Russell's vocals more than any other single ingredient, and I was disappointed that he wasn't performing with them. I do hope to catch his version of Great White (also on tour now) for a cross-reference. Now that I'm past the 'but' I can say that Terry Ilous is convincing on their old material, and even the new song they performed that Terry Ilous wrote was good, so I'm going to stick with the overall excellent rating.
Overall, given the very reasonable price, an excellent date night!