ANTHRAX + ALIEN WEAPONRY - Live In Brisbane
We’ve Been Busy, But We’ve Still Got The Time!
Monday 23rd March 2026
Written by: Tom Wilson Photos by: Tracy McLaughlan
If the gig isn’t on a school night, is it really a Brisbane gig? After BABYMETAL and BLOODYWOOD tore up Riverstage on Sunday night, Sense knocked back an espresso or six to do it all again as thrash legends ANTHRAX took over the Fortitude Music Hall on a Monday night with rising NZ metallers ALIEN WEAPONRY.
Pictured: ALIEN WEAPONRY
The cost-of-living crisis has meant that a lot of friends have missed out on tonight’s show. Two years ago, fans were baulking at paying $165 for MR BUNGLE and MELVINS. Tonight’s ticket price is $180 to see ANTHRAX with one support, and puzzlingly, the mezzanine has been completely curtained off. Those who took the financial hit do get a great show, and as the lights go down, the impressive figure of ALIEN WEAPONRY drummer Henry de Jong appears standing behind the drum kit, chin up, chest out, glaring at us with the eyes of a warrior. He starts performing the haka, and as Lewis and Tūranga come out to join him, eyes wild, tongues out, muscles clenched, I imagine that Sense photographer Tracy is getting emotional seeing this display of her cultural heritage on the stage of the Fortitude Music Hall. The yelling gets louder, more intense, before the first guitar riff hits, and we’re off to the races. “What the fuck is up Brisbane?” they roar, and the pit kicks off as they pound through Rū Ana Te Whenua. Their collab with LAMB OF GOD’s Randy Blythe gets a huge response, and by the time they close out with Kai Tangata, the crowd isn’t just warmed up, they’re hot under the collar. Nice one boys!
Pictured: ALIEN WEAPONRY
IRON MAIDEN’s The Number of the Beast comes over the PA, and the whole Fortitude roars in approval. An animated movie appears projected across the kabuki screen, depicting someone going back in time to kill baby Hitler (not even Deadpool 2 went that far!). Then, the screen drops, revealing ANTHRAX ripping into Spreading the Disease classic A.I.R., and the centre of the crowd turns into something resembling a washing machine. “Ya’ll got the fuckin’ time?” Joey screams, and the pit erupts with the high-speed bassline of Got The Time and the circle pit goes into overdrive.
Pictured: ANTHRAX
Whatever you do in life, try to have as much fun as Joey Belladonna appears to be having onstage tonight, slinking up and down the stage with his trademark half-mic stand and appearing to bond with each and every person he makes eye contact with. What an absolute legend. Joey’s voice is in fine form tonight, and we shout the lyrics back to him as Scott Ian punishes his guitar. The ANTHRAX favourites are rolled out in due course, with Madhouse and Caught in a Mosh sending the crowd predictably bananas, but it’s an audience request that makes for one of the best moments of the night, when someone asks them to play their 1987 track I’m The Man, widely regarded as one of the first rap metal songs ever written. The band is hesitant, but Scott Ian is keen. “We could give them one verse, couldn’t we?” The crowd roars, and Scott and Charlie Benante give it a red-hot crack while bassist Frank Bello does the vocals with a beer in one hand. It falls apart almost instantly, and the crowd roars. There is something to be said for a band that isn’t afraid to have some fun onstage. The next track also starts with “I”, but they’ve rehearsed this one, and I Am The Law sends the pit into hysterics, before ANTHRAX sign off with Antisocial. Scott ducks offstage and comes out with two massive fistfuls of guitar picks and heaves them into the crowd, and they rain down like confetti. During the show, Scott mentioned that they’re finally going to be following up 2016’s For All Kings, so it won’t be long before they’re back on our shores again.
Pictured: ANTHRAX
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