1986

Voivod Show In New York

(The Ritz)

It was the first weekend of April, 1986 that we decided to make the trek up I-95 to New York to see the mighty Voivod finally play their first ever show in the United States. They were opening for Venom at the Ritz, but we really didn't care much about them at the time. Possessed was an album we all tried hard to forget about. It was weak Venom and nothing like Black Metal. Voivod "Rrroooaaarrr" was all the rage here in Arlington. It was without question as to whether we were going to go or not. We HAD to make the trip to our own Mecca to see Voivod.

(As soon as we pulled into the city, we started seeing posters all over the place for the show. After this picture was taken, we pulled these signs down and kept them. I still have one of them on my wall.)

(The porn in New York City was just too irresistible for this group of 18 year old horny headbangers to ignore)

Of course everybody wanted to go. Everyone in the band went, as did our pals Larry Ruscio, Alex Wright, AC Campbell and Matt Sharp. The show was part of a two night barrage. The first night, Venom played with Carnivore and Overkill. The next night, it was Venom, Voivod and The Cro-Mags.

(Here we are in front of the Ritz before the show hanging out with Voivod who were SUPER cool. L-R: Matt Sharp, King, AC, Snake, Me, Away)

(King with Voivod)

(Blacky in a Thrashing Rage)

(Snake leading the Warriors Of Ice into battle)

(Piggy playing on one of his many homemade guitars. This night, they introduced a brand new song called "Order Of The Blackguards" from their new album, Killing Technology)

(The guy to the left of Blacky is Johnny Hart. Their old manager and president of the Iron Gang fan club)

(The blood flows like a river, on metal road...)

One of the coolest things about this trip was seeing all the people from New York area bands that we worshipped just hanging out in the crowd watching the show. Bands like Blessed Death, Whiplash, Lethal Aggression (who offered us angel dust before the show. cool!), Savage Death, were all there. Of course there were people there who's bands we weren't into like Billy Milano who signed our shit anyway. Ha ha!

After Voivod played, we wound up hanging out with them in the dressing room and smoking hashish cigarettes all night long. Venom was pretty weak that night so we didn't watch too much of them.

Information submitted by Mark Adams