History was made on April 23, 2011 as Anthrax, Slayer, Megadeth and Metallica performed Indio, California on the now famous ‘Big 4 Tour’. This is the first time all four bands have played together in the U.S.A.!!!

The show started with Anthrax ripping through a great one hour set that featured music from the early years to the new song ‘Fight ‘Em Till You Can’t’.

Megadeth was next on the bill. The band sounded great, but it was very difficult to hear Dave Mustaine’s vocals… really don’t know what happened there.

As the sun began to set, Slayer was on deck to kick ass all over the Polo Fairgrounds. Opening with the title track of their latest release ‘World Painted Blood’ and with fill-in guitarist Gary Holt (Exodus), they blistered through a set that included ‘South of Heaven’. As Slayer came out for an encore, Jeff Hennamen made a surprise appearance to play the last 2 songs. I did see his arm on the big monitors as he was playing and noticed a very large scar on his inner arm… almost like it was cut open by a dull knife. It really looked bad but it didn’t bother him as he shredded through the closing numbers.

Metallica closed the night with two hours of classics like ‘Creeping Death’, ‘Master of Puppets’ and ‘Orion’ that included a James Hetfield salute to Cliff Burton.

In all, a very long day but well worth it. Here are some photos of the show… I Hope you enjoy them. I want to send a special thank you to MSOPR Staff for making this happen for METAL SHOP!!!!! -Ralph.