JOHN BUSH To Celebrate His Era Of ANTHRAX In Europe In Summer 2027: 'Now It's Time To Bring That Material Over The Pond'

Last December, legendary vocalist John Bush played three live concerts in the U.S. showcasing the music he helped create during his decade-long tenure singing with ANTHRAX, and followed it up with a June 2026 appearance at the Milwaukee Metalfest. At all four gigs, Bush performed songs spanning all four albums he recorded with the band: "Sound Of White Noise", "Stomp 442", "Volume 8: The Threat Is Real" and "We've Come For You All". Joining Bush on stage were his CATEGORY 7 bandmates Phil Demmel (guitar),Mike Orlando (guitar) and Jason Bittner (drums),along with his longtime ARMORED SAINT partner and best friend Joey Vera on bass (CATEGORY 7 bassist Jack Gibson had a schedule conflict and was unable to make the gigs). CATEGORY 7 also opened the December 2025 shows before returning as John's backing band for the ANTHRAX material.

Earlier this week, it was announced that Bush will play his first European concert showcasing the music he helped create during his ANTHRAX era at the 2027 edition of the Wacken Open Air festival, set to take place July 28-31, 2027 in Wacken, Germany.

John comments: "Totally pumped to bring the celebrating the songs of ANTHRAX '93-'03 show to the continent of Europe.

"The four shows we did in the States were awesome. Now it's time to bring that material over the pond and have some stellar shows at some killer festivals, the first of which is Wacken!

"The fans were always great during my time in the band and I have some special memories, so let's belt out some tunes in 2027 and relive it!"

More European shows will be announced soon.

During a June 3 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", host Eddie Trunk noted that it was probably "emotional" for John to revisit some of that ANTHRAX material after so long. Bush concurred: "Yeah, it was kind of two sets, 'cause we did the C7 [CATEGORY 7] as the opening band, 'cause they were my backing band, if you will. So then we kind of piggybacked it, and then we did one set of C7. It was a condensed set. And then we took a small break, and then we came back out, and then we did the ANTHRAX stuff. And so they worked very hard, and they learned a lot of material. So, it was a lot of work, but it was fun work. And it was fun to play those songs… It was weird how much they just kind of came back to me, even songs that we didn't play live many times, which we incorporated some of those in it, which was cool. We played the song 'Strap It On' in New York for one particular fan specifically, 'cause he was relentless in requesting it. And ANTHRAX never played that song, ever. So, it was fun to do that. And I was stoked about my memory banks 'cause a lot of lyrics just came back to me, which was funny. So lot of lyrics in my brain."

ANTHRAX has had a number of vocalists — including Bush, Joey Belladonna, Neil Turbin and Dan Nelson — over the last 42 years, with guitarist Scott Ian and drummer Charlie Benante remaining the sole bandmembers who have appeared on every one of the group's studio albums.

Turbin sang on ANTHRAX's debut LP, 1984's "Fistful Of Metal", before getting booted and being replaced by Belladonna. Belladonna performed on four ANTHRAX albums, including the fan favorite "Among The Living" (1987) before he himself was fired over creative and stylistic differences. Bush fronted ANTHRAX between 1992 and 2005 but was sidelined when the band reunited with Belladonna for a 20th-anniversary tour. When that collapsed, and relationships disintegrated with next frontman Nelson, Bush returned for a time before Belladonna took the job back in 2010.