The infamous Tattoo the Earth Festival returns after a 20 plus year hiatus. Scott Alderman, the promotor of the original tour in 2020 brought it back to the Worcester Palladium outdoors August 27, 2022 . He released a book this spring about the trials and tribulations of the original tour called Caravan of Pain: The True Story of the Tattoo the Earth Tour.
This years’, one day version of the festival featured 13 bands, with Anthrax, Black Label Society, and Hatebreed as the headlining bands. There were bands from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Los Angeles, and as far away as Sweden. It was held in the parking lot of The Worcester Palladium. Outside there were many food vendors, including Gouda Boys, Off the Rails BBQ, Anzio’s Brick Oven Pizza, and many more. Tin Bridge Brewing Company had a special Tattoo the Earth Pale Ale made for the festival. There were also merch booths set up selling all the bands t-shirts and music. The lines were long at the merch booths and many items were sold out. Inside the air-conditioned lower level of The Palladium were a host of local tattoo artists helping ink more beautiful artwork to the festival goers and give them a break from the heat.
I arrived slightly late, due to a car fire on the highway, but was able to park directly across the street from the venue. Enforced was already on stage and playing when I walked in, so I wasn’t able to get any photos of them. The festival was packed with thousands of raging fans ready to get out some aggression in the mosh pits and hear some of the best metal core, old-school heavy metal, and thrash bands in existence today. Stand outs from the support bands, for me had to be, Spirit Adrift, because they were more old school heavy metal, which is my favorite genre since the 80’s. Overcast was great to watch with the singer swinging his floor length dreadlocks around, jumping around like a madman, and singing from on the rail of the pit. And Terror, with their short 30-minute set, gets the award for getting the fans most worked up and most crowd-surfers into the pit.
Things ran smoothly and the bands were all on schedule within a few minutes. It was amazing to see how on point things went at this festival. There were mosh pits for just about every band and tons of crowd surfing. I only saw a couple fans get ejected from the event. It seemed, though many people were aggressively moshing, everyone abided by the unwritten rule of picking each other up. I did see a few people with cuts from falling on the asphalt parking lot, but I didn’t witness or hear of any fights. I even saw a man piggy-backing his young boy on his back around a circle pit during Within the Ruin’ set. The stages were only about 200 feet apart, and the fans managed to shuffle between them quickly, as there was no time scheduled between the bands.
The headlining bands each got to play for 45 minutes to just over an hour. Connecticut’s Hatebreed started their set with “Proven”, off of the band’s second album, Perseverance. They wailed through a 14-song set, playing fan favorites such as “Looking Down the Barrel of Today”, “Live for This”, and “Destroy Everything”, then ending the set with “I Will Be Heard”. Black Label Society’s Zakk Wylde always amazes the fans with his searing guitar riffs and gritty vocals. He did a heart-felt tribute to Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul by playing “In This River” on piano with their photos on the background. Last up for the evening were thrash legends Anthrax, who are celebrating their 40th anniversary. Projected on the curtain before they hit the stage was a video of many celebrities talking about their experiences with Anthrax over the years. As the curtain dropped, they went right into “Among the Living” and then probably the biggest and my favorite song “Caught in a Mosh”. Scott Ian does his signature kick during this song in case you are looking to capture it. These guys bring it just as hard now as they did 40 years ago. They also played their iconic “I Am the Law”, “Keep it in the Family”, and Trust’s “Antisocial”. Ending the night with their version of Public Enemy’s “Bring the Noise” and finally “Indians”.
Tattoo The Earth Festival 2022 was a huge success with great weather and tons of tattooed fans moshing about and enjoying some of the best metal-core, heavy metal, and thrash bands in the world. The food vendors served up plenty of mouth-watering food, merch vendors were great, and the tattoo artists helped make festivals’ namesake a reality. I really hope this becomes a yearly tradition. A big thank you to all the staff that were so friendly and helpful in making this an awesome event for all.
Second Stage 1:30-2:00pm
Enforced is:
Knox Colby – Vocals
Ethan Gensurowsky – Bass
Alex Bishop – Drums
Will Wagstaff – Guitar
Zach Monahan – Guitar
Setlist:
1.) Trespasser
2.) Malignance
3.) Skinned Alive
4.) War Remains
5.) Reckoning Force
6.) Beneath Me
7.) Brahman
8.) The Heat
9.) Curtain Fire
Main Stage 2:00-2:30pm
Within the Ruins is:
Joe Cocchi – Guitar
Kevin McGuill – Drums
Paolo Galang – Bass, clean vocals
Steve Tinnon – Vocals
Setlist:
1.) Deliverance
2.) Feeding Frenzy
3.) Calling Card
Second Stage 2:30-3:00pm
Spirit Adrift is:
Nate Garrett – Vocals, guitar
Tom Draper – Guitar
Sonny DeCarlo – Bass
Michael Arellano – Drums
Setlist:
1.) Cosmic Conquest
2.) Harmony of the Spheres
3.) Ride Into the Light
4.) Astral Levitation
5.) Sorcerer’s Fate
Main Stage 3:00-3:30pm
Bleeding Through is:
Brandan Schieppati – Lead Vocals
Brian Leppke – Guitar
Derek Youngsma – Drums, percussion
Marta Peterson – Keyboards, piano, backing vocals
Ryan Wombacher – Bass, backing vocals
Setlist:
1.) Love Lost in a Hail of Gunfire
2.) Orange County Blonde and Blue
3.) On Wings of Lead
4.) Rage
Second Stage 3:30-4:00pm
Overcast is:
Brian Flair – Vocals
Mike D’Antonio – Bass
Scott McCooe – Lead guitar
Pete Cortese – Rhythm guitar
Jay Fitzgerald – Drums
Setlist:
1.) For Indifference
2.) As a Whole/Two Degrees Below
3.) Seven Ft. Grin
4.) Spun
5.) Your (Destructive) Self
6.) Grifter
Main Stage 4:00-4:45pm
At The Gates is:
Tomas Lindberg – Vocals
Adrian Erlandsson – Drums
Jonas Bjorler – Bass
Martin Larsson – Rhythm guitar
Setlist:
1.) Blinded by Fear
2.) Slaughter of the Soul
3.) Cold
4.) Under a Serpent Sun
5.) Into the Dead Sky
6.) Suicide Nation
7.) World of Lies
8.) Unto Others
9.) Nausea
10.) Need
11.) The Flames of the End
Second Stage 4:45-5:15pm
Crowbar is:
Kirk Windstein – Vocals, rhythm guitar
Tommy Buckley – Drums
Matt Brunson – Lead guitar
Shane Wesley – Bass
Setlist:
1.) Conquering
2.) Bleeding From Every Hole
3.) Chemical Godz
4.) All I Had (I Gave)
5.) Planets Collide
6.) Like Broken Glass
Main Stage 5:15-6:00pm
The Red Chord is:
Guy Kozowyk – Vocals
Michael “Gunface” McKenzie – Guitar, backing vocals
Gregory Weeks – Bass
Jon Rice – Drums
Setlist:
1.) Nihilist
2.) Clients
3.) Bone Needle
4.) Demoralizer (First time since 2015)
5.) Hour of Rats
6.) Tread on the Necks of Kings (First time since 2015)
7.) Mouthful of Precious Stones (First known performance)
8.) Send the Death Storm (First time since 2009)
9.) Fixation on Plastics
10.) Black Santa
11.) Antman (Featuring Candace of Walls of… more )
12.) Dreaming in Dog Years
Second Stage 6:00-6:30pm
Terror is:
Scott Vogel – Vocals
Nick Jett – Drums
Martin Stewart – Guitar
Jordan Posner – guitar
Chris Linkovich – Bass
Setlist:
1.) Pain Into Power
2.) Overcome
3.) Stick Tight
4.) This World Never Wanted Me
5.) Spit My Rage
6.) Can’t Help but Hate
7.) One With the Underdogs
8.) Keep Your Mouth Shut
9.) Keepers of the Faith
Main Stage 6:30-7:15pm
Hatebreed is:
Jamey Jasta – Vocals
Frank Novinec – guitar
Chris Beattie – Bass
Wayne Lozinak – Guitar
Matt Byrne – Drums
Setlist:
1.) Proven
2.) Looking Down the Barrel of Today
3.) Empty Promises
4.) Destroy Everything
5.) Driven by Suffering
6.) I Will Be Heard
7.) A Stroke of Red
8.) As Diehard as They Come
9.) Tear It Down
10.) This Is Now
11.) Live for This
12.) Perseverance
13.) Smash Your Enemies
14.) Last Breath
Second Stage 7:15-7:45pm
Municipal Waste is:
Tony Foresta – Lead vocals
Ryan Waste – Rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Philip “LandPhil” Hall – Bass, backing vocals
Dave Witte – Drums
Nick “Nikropolis” Poulos – Lead guitar
Setlist:
1.) Intro
2.) Breathe Grease
3.) You’re Cut Off
4.) Grave Dive
5.) Beer Pressure
6.) Headbanger Face Rip
7.) Wave of Death
8.) Sadistic Magician
9.) Under the Waste Command
10.) The Art of Partying
11.) Born to Party
Main Stage 7:45-8:55pm
Black Label Society is:
Zakk Wylde – Lead Guitar, lead vocals, piano
John DeServio – Bass, backing vocals
Dario Lorina – Rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Jeff Fabb – Drums
Setlist:
1.) Funeral Bell
2.) Destroy & Conquer
3.) Overlord
4.) Heart of Darkness
5.) A Love Unreal
6.) You Made Me Want to Live
7.) In This River
8.) Trampled Down Below
9.) Set You Free
10.) Fire It Up (with Zakk and Dario guitar duel)
11.) Suicide Messiah
12.) Stillborn
Main Stage 9:25-10:35pm
Anthrax is:
Scott Ian – Guitar, backing vocals
Charlie Benante – Drums
Frank Bello – Bass, backing vocals
Joey Belladonna – Lead vocals
Jon Donais – Lead guitar
Setlist:
1.) Anthrax Celebrity Intro
2.) Among the Living
3.) Caught in a Mosh
4.) Madhouse
5.) Metal Thrashing Mad
6.) Keep It in the Family
7.) Antisocial (Trust cover)
8.) I Am the Law
9.) Hymn 1
10.) In the End
11.) Only
12.) Got the Time (Joe Jackson cover)
13.) Bring the Noise (Public Enemy cover)
14.) Indians
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