Holy shit. Those are the only words that I had to say last night after Mastodon left the stage. I was rendered speechless after what I had witnessed. That was a common theme throughout the show at the House Of Blues last night as I went to one of the best shows not only of the year, but of my entire life.
Red Fang opened the night with a bang. They are a perfect opener for Mastodon. Their style is very similar with Red Fang essentially being the more straight-up rock version of Mastodon. Their performance was definitely better than when I saw them at Mayhem Fest earlier this year (though both times I've seen them the crowd reception hasn't been very good, which is a shame). Hell, Red Fang even lured me into going into the pits for the first time in a year and a half. The only letdown of their set was the lack of "Dirt Wizard". I really wish they would play that song live, I have felling it translate really well. That minuscule complaint aside, Red Fang kicked ass.
The Dillinger Escape Plan were up next and as always, they were insane. Seeing them live is a complete spectacle that needs to be seen to believe. Their unmatched energy makes for utter fucking chaos on stage. Even with this being my third time seeing Dillinger, it was a very eventful set from them. Some of the highlights were Greg Puicato tossing the microphone to someone in the crowd at the end of "Milk Lizard" and that person breaking the mic, Greg stagediving during "Sunshine The Werewolf" and not missing a beat vocally despite the fact that's he's getting thrown around the crowd, and last, but not certainly least, Greg picking up the cymbal stand during "43% Burnt" and swinging it around like it was a towel. All that was on top of the typical Dillinger madness including climbing on the top of the amps, jumping off the drum set, stack amps, monitors, anything in sight, and running around spinning their instruments around their bodies. Seeing Dillinger live is always an intense experience. I really need to see them headline at some point on their next album's (which is apparently coming out sometime next year) touring cycle.
The moment had come for Mastodon to hit the stage. This marked my fifth time seeing them and it was by far the best. In the past, despite Mastodon being my favorite band, their live shows had been extremely scattered in terms of quality. The first two times I saw them, they weren't very impressive. They got better when I saw them on the Crack The Skye tour in 2009 and they were amazing opening for Alice In Chains last year. After last night I can now say that they FINALLY got their shit together live. I honestly could not be happier to say that. It's so fucking awesome that they are finally playing up to the level of their studio work. Their entire set was mesmerizing. It only took me about 2-3 songs to realize that this was one of the best performances I've ever seen, It was completely flawless. Troy, Brent, and Brann all sounded amazing vocally. Brent can still scream like a fucking madman (thankfully he's not doing many clean vocals on this tour, but when he did, he did sound good) and Brann might be tied with Troy for the honor of being the best vocalist in the band. The setlist was spectacular. It blended a lot of new material (which sounds fantastic live, the standouts being "Blasteroid" and "Spectrelight") and most of the best stuff of their older records. "Megalodon", "Iron Tusk", and "March Of The Fire Ants" are pretty much the heaviest songs ever live. Of course, "Blood and Thunder" was epic and I was stoked they kept in the set after leaving it out for a couple of years. Even the worst song in their discography "Creature Lives" was cool live. What made "Creature Lives" a lot better live was the fact that Mastodon was joined on stage by Dillinger Escape Plan and Red Fang. Having the guys from the other bands out there was equal parts cool and hilarious (Jeff Tuttle from Dillinger Escape Plan was eating a banana and offering it to members of Red Fang). It was an interesting way to close out to say the least.
To put it lightly, the show was fantastic. It's very rare that you have every band on the bill blow you away. Like I stated earlier, this is one of the best concerts I've ever been to. Every band was amazing (seeing my favorite band finally blow me away live was such a special experience) and getting to hang out with a lot of my friends, some of whom who just got back from college for Thanksgiving break, was just so much fun. This show was one for the ages and I will never forget this fucking mind-blowingly awesome concert.
Scores
Red Fang 8.5/10
The Dillinger Escape Plan 9.5/10
Mastodon 10/10
Red Fang:
Hank Is Dead
Throw Up
Malverde
Wires
Good To Die
Reverse Thunder
Prehistoric Dog
Dillinger Escape Plan:
Farewell, Mona Lisa
Room Full of Eyes
Milk Lizard
Panasonic Youth
Gold Teeth On A Bum
Good Neighbor
Chinese Whispers
Sunshine the Werewolf
43% Burnt
Mastodon:
Dry Bone Valley
Black Tongue
Crystal Skull
I Am Ahab
Capillarian Crest
Colony of Birchmen
Megalodon
Blasteroid
Sleeping Giant
Ghost of Karelia
All the Heavy Lifting
Curl of the Burl
Spectrelight
Bedazzled Fingernails
Circle of Cysquatch
Aqua Dementia
Crack the Skye
Where Strides the Behemoth
Iron Tusk
March of the Fire Ants
Blood and Thunder
Encore:
Creature Lives (with Red Fang and Dillinger)
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