John Bush is taking his ANTHRAX years across the Atlantic. The vocalist will perform his first European concert dedicated to the material he recorded with the band at the 2027 edition of Wacken Open Air, running July 28-31, 2027 in Wacken, Germany.
"Totally pumped to bring the celebrating the songs of ANTHRAX '93-'03 show to the continent of Europe," Bush said. "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 dates will be announced soon.
The concept was tested in the U.S. first: three shows in December 2025, followed by an appearance at Milwaukee Metalfest in June 2026. All four sets drew on the entirety of Bush's ANTHRAX discography — Sound Of White Noise, Stomp 442, Volume 8: The Threat Is Real and We've Come For You All.
Backing him were his CATEGORY 7 bandmates Phil Demmel and Mike Orlando on guitars and Jason Bittner on drums, with Joey Vera — his ARMORED SAINT partner and closest friend — on bass, standing in for CATEGORY 7 bassist Jack Gibson, who had a scheduling conflict. CATEGORY 7 also opened the December 2025 shows before returning as the backing band for the ANTHRAX set.
Speaking on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" in June, Bush described how quickly the songs came back. "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. 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."
ANTHRAX have cycled through a number of singers across 42 years — Bush, Joey Belladonna, Neil Turbin and Dan Nelson — with guitarist Scott Ian and drummer Charlie Benante the only members to appear on every studio album. Bush fronted the band from 1992 to 2005, was sidelined when Belladonna returned for a 20th-anniversary tour, came back briefly after the Nelson era collapsed, and stepped aside for good when Belladonna reclaimed the job in 2010.