October 12, 2023 Review by Jimmy Alvarez & Jason Roberts
There are shows, and then there are SHOWS. This was the show for anyone who likes their music loud! It’s been many years in the making, but the return of a few bands were the front and center topic for metalheads from all parts of the planet at the inaugural Power Trip at Empire Polo Club.
The crowd was enormous by any form of measurement. It was a sea of humanity that rolled into Indo for the three-day festival. Concertgoers of all ages, races – and definitely different types of fashion sense – from everywhere on the planet congregated to this pilgrimage of sorts that is Power Trip.
Photo by Festival Organizer
On day one, everyone was amped to see Iron Maiden and Guns N’ Roses. The temps for all three days were insane – over 100 degrees – with wall-to-wall humans as far as the eye could see. The local media was everywhere and the radio who’s who were there too: KLOS, KROQ, and 91X were all represented.
Up first to kick off the festival was Iron Maiden. It’s unfathomable to believe they are celebrating their 48th year as a band. They have been on their Future Past world tour, which made its final stop at Power Trip. Fans were ready, and as the PA popped, Maiden took the stage to what sounded like the sound of a 747 landing, that’s how crazy the crowd was.
Photo by Festival Organizer
Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, and Janick Gers took no prisoners. With a great mix of deep cuts and newer tunes, bassist Steve Harris and drummer Nicko McBrain provided an electrifying musical backdrop for front-man Bruce Dickinson to captivate the audience.
Photo by Festival Organizer
The diehards loved the choice of songs from “Senjutsu,” they took it up a notch with “The Prisoner.” As part of their shtick, Dickinson really connected with the crowd throughout their set.
As always, providing inspirational messages in addition to their kick-ass music, Dickinson said, “I don’t think anyone who is a Maiden fan cares about color or whatever. We are a family and we all get along” as they went into “Death of the Celts.”
Photo by Festival Organizer
They closed their set with a cool version of “Iron Maiden,” their monster Eddie appeared to battle with bandmates. As we all expected, the crowd lost its mind and cheered the band back on stage for their encore. Maiden was more than happy to oblige with “The Trooper,” which took the decibel level to the next octave.
Photo by Festival Organizer
They segued into “Wasted Years,” then Dickinson signed off, “Every night is the best night of our lives. We will see each of you again — I promise.” With that, band number one was in the books and their performance was jaw dropping.
As the crowd was swelling to an unreal size, so was the merch line. OMG, I have never seen such a line of humans trying to touch their sonic heroes this way. Not only did you see t-shirts of each band, but flashing devil horns were everywhere, and that Ferris wheel looked majestic!
As the sun dipped, the PA system engulfed the crowd with the sound of GNR “It’s So Easy.”
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Immediately everyone was awestruck as Axl Rose looked and sounded better than ever! Truthfully, at 61, Rose sounded like he was in his 20s again. Slash was Slash – he killed it as always – and guitarist Richard Fortus had a powerful stage presence.
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Keyboardist Dizzy Reed was mesmerizing to their McCartney cover of “Live and Let Die.” Bassist Duff McKagan was slappin’ like Flea and picked up the mic to The Stooges’ “T.V. Eye.”
Rose appreciated the respite, then their hit parade continued. Slash shredded from Jump Street to “You Could Be Mine” and “Rocket Queen.”
Photo by Festival Organizer
The surreal moment of the day was when GNR covered Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” and “Patience.”
It was an amazing, nearly three-hour set, Rose drew laughter when he said “the pain train is coming” as Frank Ferrer led us to “Nightrain.”
Photo by Festival Organizer
Sadly, all good things must come to an end. Rose told the crowd, “We’ve just been informed that there is a curfew.” They closed with their iconic uber-hit, “Paradise City,” followed by a very cool fireworks burst from the stage. And thus, day one was in the books.
Day two – Day two was also destined to be in the history books of rock. The weather was again, hot, hot, hot, and the crowd was huge, huge, huge. I don’t know if that was the same merch line from the night before, but when I arrived, the line was already insanely long. Again, a statement to the devotion of the concertgoers and the bands’ larger-than-life impact on all our lives.
Day two gave us Judas Priest and the return to the stage of AC/DC. The lead story being this was to be AC/DC’s first live show with Brian Johnson behind the mic in seven years.
Photo by Event Organizer
Of course, Judas Priest wasn’t originally on the bill, but due to Ozzy Osbourne having to pull out, we got a great band to fill in. As “War Pigs” played over the PA in a tribute to Osbourne, Judas Priest took the stage to the screams and adulation of the entire polo club grounds.
Rob Halford emphatically declared, “The Priest are back!” Even in the near-stifling heat, Halford was dressed to the nines in all black leather.
Photo by Festival Organizer
With their cool and collective riffs, coupled with their radio-friendly signature sound, it was as if you were in an old school MTV video when they dove into “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’.”
Photo by Festival Organizer
Priest did not hold back. Halford rode a Harley onstage for “Hell Bent For Metal,” and received an enormous response to “Breaking the Law” and “Living After Midnight.” The crowd was delirious; it was crazy-insane how everyone sang along to every word as Priest closed out their set.
Photo by Festival Organizer
By now, the crowd had settled in, and it was an unreal scene. The sheer amount of humanity that was there to see this spectacle. As the enormous video monitors came into focus, the crowd was appropriately warned what was about to happen!
Then, the fireworks and video elements took shape, and like a bomb exploding on cue, the crowd erupted as Angus Young took the stage, followed by Brian Johnson to “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It).”
It is hard to put into words; it just seems like words cannot do the moment justice. When AC/DC went into “Back In Black,” Cliff Williams was on bass, Stevie Young on rhythm guitar, Matt Lau filled in for Phil Rudd on drums, with Young on lead guitar and Johnson belted out the vocals, the band sounded as tight as ever – they were electricity personified!
Photo by Festival Organizer
Despite some setbacks over the years, Johnson sounded fantastic, and was engaging. His joy to be back on stage was extremely apparent. With a setlist that covered their entire catalog, the balance was perfect for their fans. Songs like “Demon,” then “Fire Shot Down in Flames” set up epic moments with Young leading the riffs into “Thunderstruck.”
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The band was energetic, and despite not being onstage for some time, you could not tell. There was no rust and the stage was pulsating from right to left with the hit parade going off. Fans sang along, with beers up in the air, to “Have a Drink on Me,” then banged their heads in unison to “Hells Bells,” “Shot in the Dark,” “Stiff Upper Lip,” before going cartoon crazy to “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap!”
With a quick break for the band to catch their breath – and the fans too – the next set of kick-ass tunes started with “Shoot to Thrill,” “Givin the Dog a Bone,” “Rock ’n’ Roll Train,” followed by crowd favorite, “Shook Me All Night Long.”
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Truth-be-told, it didn’t matter what age you were; everyone in attendance recognized great music. You know that good old saying: game recognizes game.
That sums it up; the crowd and the band fed off each other.
Photo by Festival Organizer
Other show highlights include “Dog Eat Dog,” “High Voltage,” “Highway to Hell,” “Whole Lotta Rosie,” “Let There Be Rock,” “T.N.T.,” before closing out an epic day of music to “For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)!” It was one of the most surreal nights of music for all in attendance.
Day three was another beautiful evening at the polo grounds. The anchor day featured Tool and Metallica. Even on day three, there were people from all over the world in attendance.
Photo by Festival Organizer
First up was Tool, which still features founding members, Adam Jones on guitar, Danny Carey on drums, Justin Chancellor on bass, and Maynard James Keenan on vocals. Tool kicked off their set with “Jambi” as a huge, colorful backdrop appeared on the massive Power Trip screens. As Tool is known for doing, Keenan was elevated on the stage and in the shadows so the audience focuses on both the psychedelic visual and intense audio progression of their songs.
Next was Tool’s hit song, “The Pot,” and Keenan mentioned to the crowd that they “looked great and smelled delicious,” in a Keenan sort of spooky fashion. It was great seeing the loyal Tool fans singing along to the lyrics, and they continued to respond to the next song, “Fear Inoculum.”
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“Rosetta Stoned” was followed by more mega hits, “Forty Six & 2,” “The Grudge,” and “Stinkfist,” but Tool saved the best for last with “AEnema.” After a chaotic array of laser lights shot from the center of the stage and aliens appeared on the screens, Tool waved to the audience without saying anything, and walked off the stage.
It was definitely a different type of performance than the other Power Trip artists, but it was an amazing display of Tool’s excellence and brought happiness to their loyal fans.
It was very clear who the majority of the audience was there to see when Metallica hit the stage with hard hitting song, “Whiplash,” from the legendary “Kill ‘Em All,” album.
Photo by Festival Organizer
Metallica chose a simple backdrop with flashing LED walls and band members rotating across the massive screens to begin their set with “Whiplash.” As they began their hard-hitting song “Creeping Death,” James Hetfield said, “Indio, welcome to the last band. We are so grateful to be here. Let’s have some fun.”
“Creeping Death” had the audience singing along and Hetfield encouraged them to continue and clap to the rhythm of the beat.
In the middle of their set, Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett, and bass player Robert Trujillo joined each other onstage for a bass and guitar duel that they called “funk in the desert.” They led into their mega-hit classic, “Fade to Black,” and the previously departed Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich rejoined their bandmates onstage.
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“Burn Indio, burn,” screamed Hetfield at the end of the song. Next up was “Orion” as Hetfield paid tribute to former Metallica bass player Cliff Burton, who tragically passed away in a bus crash in 1986.
Hetfield pointed to the heavens and said, “This is ‘Orion’ for our brother, Cliff. We miss you.”
Photo by Festival Organizer
The heaviness was broken on the next song as guitarist Hammett messed up the intro to “Nothing Else Matters,” saying, “I screwed it up again. You know it’s really hot in this fucking desert.” Metallica wrapped up their official set with the classic hit, “Seek & Destroy,” and then came out for the encore with bombs, explosions, and fireworks blasting everywhere to the legendary classic, “One.” Concluding the encore, Metallica couldn’t leave out another iconic song, “Master of Puppets,” as the album cover of tombstones appeared on the massive screens.
Hetfield concluded the song with, “Oh my friends in the desert, did you have a great weekend or what?” As the audience cheered in agreement, he said, “Well we did too; what a beautiful weekend. Thank you for coming here to celebrate life and live music.” He continued, “Thank you Indio and thank you Power Trip for letting us be a part of it. Metallica loves you.” The final fireworks erupted behind the stage to conclude the event, and it was an incredible moment as the members of Metallica paid tribute to the fans and to the event before they walked off stage.
Concluding the encore, Metallica couldn’t leave out another iconic song, “Master of Puppets,” as the album cover of tombstones appeared on the massive screens.
Photo by Festival Organizer
Hetfield concluded the song with, “Oh my friends in the desert, did you have a great weekend or what?” As the audience cheered in agreement, he said, “Well we did too; what a beautiful weekend. Thank you for coming here to celebrate life and live music.” He continued, “Thank you Indio and thank you Power Trip for letting us be a part of it. Metallica loves you.”
The final fireworks erupted behind the stage to conclude the event, and it was an incredible moment as the members of Metallica paid tribute to the fans and to the event before they walked off stage.
Photo by A. Bonebcutter and Festival Organizer
With a monumental success on their hands, it is very likely that the second annual Power Trip is already in the initial planning stages.
