ANTHRAX's concert in Gothenburg, Sweden Wednesday night (April 19) lasted only a few minutes, according to a BLABBERMOUTH.NET source that was present at the gig. Halfway through the opening song, "Among the Living", the band's amplifiers, vocalist Joey Belladonna's microphone and the monitors all went dead and the band was forced to leave the stage. The crowd was told that there was a power problem, but was asked to stay put while it was being fixed. The house PA and speakers worked as per usual, seeing as music was played while an attempt was made to fix what appeared to be "a poweramp to the backline or something like that," according to another attendee.
More than an hour later, an announcement was made that the show had to be cancelled due to "severe electrical problems." The crowd remained very civil (possibly due to the bar being open) and was surprisingly patient, despite the almost 90-minute delay before the show got called off. No one threw beers or anything at the stage, but when the announcement was finally made by one of the hosts, it was done from behind curtains (obviously to avoid being pelted with beer bottles and other similar items). Several electricians were reportedly called to the venue Trädgårn, but were unable to locate the source of the problem. The opening band, BEYOND FEAR (featuring ex-JUDAS PRIEST and current ICED EARTH frontman Tim "Ripper" Owens), performed their set without a glitch.
ANTHRAX played Sweden at last summer's Sweden Rock festival. Tonight's concert was the only stop in Sweden on the band’s current European tour and lots of people had travelled far to see the legendary thrash metal act. The audience was told to keep their tickets to get a refund. [Note: One ANTHRAX fan reportedly demonstrated his disappointment by undressing and exposing his penis.]
UPDATE: The following message has been posted at ANTHRAX's official web site:
"We regret to inform that tonight's gig at Trädgårn in Gothenburg, Sweden has been cancelled due to insufficient power at the venue. [Guitarist] Scott [ian] adds, 'We are gutted. This has never happened to us ever. We tried everything to make it work but the power problem was impossible to fix. We haven't played here since 1990 and we were so looking forward to raging with our Goteborg friends. I promise we will be back!!!'"
