ANVIL Plays First Concert With New Bassist; Photos Available

Canadian metal legends ANVIL made their live debut with their new bassist Sal Italiano last night (Friday, January 27) at the Live Wire concert club in Mentor-On-The-Lake, Ohio.

The band's setlist was as follows:

01. March Of The Crabs
02. 666
03. School Love
04. Juggernaut Of Justice
05. Winged Assassins
06. On Fire
07. This Is Thirteen
08. Mothra
09. Thumb Hang (dedicated to RIOT's Mark Reale)
10. Swing Thing (Robb Reiner drum solo)
11. Fuckin' Eh
12. New Orleans Voodoo
13. Metal On Metal

Encore:

14. Forged In Fire
15. Running

Several photos taken at last night's concert can be seen below (all pictures by Bill Peters).

Sal Italiano is a member of the Long Island, New York IRON MAIDEN tribute band LIVE AFTER DEATH and original progressive metal act THE NIGHTMARE STAGE, as well as a former member of the acclaimed '80s heavy metal group CITIES.

ANVIL's longtime bassist Glenn Gyorffy (a.k.a. Glenn Five or G5) announced his departure from the band on January 16, citing creative differences.

Glenn Five joined ANVIL in 1996 and has appeared on seven of the band's albums, including "This Is Thirteen" and the group's latest release, "Juggernaut Of Justice", on which he wrote and sang the song "This Ride".

Commented Glenn: "Playing in ANVIL has given me some of the best years of my life. However, after nearly 16 years with the band, the time has come to move on and try new musical endeavors. Although ANVIL has been a great band to play in, I have been limited creatively. I have a wide taste in music and I feel that it's time to broaden my horizons."

Speaking to Metal Shock Finland about Glenn's exit and Italiano's addition to ANVIL, guitarist/vocalist Steve "Lips" Kudlow said, "We hired an old friend to do the tour and are currently working with a new, improved bassist. There was no major issue in fixing this at all, and in fact, everything was sorted out within a few hours of Glenn departing. Glenn tried to make it difficult by leaving without proper notice, but we've been preparing for this for quite some time. This did end up for the better, as it is a huge improvement with our new guy, both musically as well as personally."

ANVIL's latest album, "Juggernaut Of Justice", was released in Europe on June 20, 2011 (three days earlier in Germany) via SPV/Steamhammer. The effort was made available as a limited-edition digipak (including two bonus tracks),double gatefold LP in blue vinyl, standard version and a digital download.

The End Records celebrated ANVIL's career with "Monument Of Metal: The Very Best Of Anvil", a 19-track career retrospective that will earn "must-own" and "must-hear" status for fans both fans new and old.

All photos below by Bill Peters