(05.01.2012) Meshuggah + Baroness @ Emo's, Austin

To say I've been waiting a long time to see Meshuggah would be a major understatement.  10 years ago, right after moving to Austin, one of my newly made friends here asked if I wanted to come check out a show, a band from Sweden who had just put out an album called Nothing.  When I asked about their sound, he paused and just said "Man, its their own thing.  But heavy.  Really f***ing heavy."  So, I checked it out, and there, in the confines of the Stubb's basement, I had my ears and mind completely blown.  Call it "djent", call it "math metal", whatever floats your boat.  The syncopated guitar riffs, odd time signatures, furious but deliberate rhythm...I had never heard anything like it.  From that moment on, they've held a permanent position as one of my all-time favorite 4 or 5 bands.

Since then, I've had nothing but bad luck trying to catch them again.  After releasing Catch Thirty-Three, they came through Austin, but I was out of town.  A few years later, on the heels of the monstrous obZen release, they came through again, this time opening for Ministry on their C U LaTour.  Finally, I had tickets in my hand and was ready to go.  Except, the day of the show, this happened:

(The only thing in the world worth missing Meshuggah for.)

So, this year I left nothing to chance.  After hearing that they'd be coming through again, this time in support of their latest album, Koloss, I snagged a ticket as quickly as I could and began counting the days.  And since all desired rugrat-production in my household has now been concluded, there was nothing to stop me from re-uniting with my long lost Swedish friends, and having my mind blown all over again.

And that is EXACTLY what happened.  Last night's show was nothing short of EPIC.  Meshuggah put on a sonic and visual performance that defies comprehension.  But, we'll get to that.  First things first.

Another added bonus of this particular show is that Baroness was slated to provide support as an opener.  I randomly caught them as an opener for someone (Isis or The Sword, I think) sometime back around 2005'ish, and I've always dug their sound.  Their 2010 release Blue Record has really grown on me the past couple years, and the recent news is that they've got a new double-album called Yellow & Green coming out this summer, so I was pretty pumped to see them live again.  (Decapitated was also on the bill, playing before Baroness.  A couple friends recommended that I get there in time to catch them, and I tried.  Alas, I had a hockey game before that I squeezed in, and I tried to make it, but they just wrapped up as I was getting to the Will Call window.  Doh.  On the bright side, at least I skated my ass off and picked up a goal and an assist.)

Here is Baroness' set:

(Ogeechee Hymnal Intro)
01. A Horse Called Golgotha
02. March To The Sea*
03. Steel That Sleeps The Eye
04. Swollen And Halo
05. The Gnashing
06. Take My Bones Away*
07. The Sweetest Curse
08. Isak
* New tracks from Yellow & Green (titles confirmed through MetalSucks.net)

They got a great reaction from the crowd when they took the stage, so you could tell a lot of people were familiar with Baroness and excited to see them play.  Overall, they did an admirable job, especially considering they clocked in at just 45 minutes.  "A Horse Called Golgotha" and "Swollen And Halo" are my two favorite tracks from Blue Record, so I was stoked about hearing those, and they absolutely slayed "The Gnashing".  The version of "Steel That Sleeps The Eye" was pretty interesting.  It was much longer than on the album, very mellow and chill, with frontman John Baizley showing a softer, more earnest side.  While I liked it, it did drag a little, almost a full 5 minutes, and they were beginning to lose the crowd a bit before it thankfully segued into the romping "Swollen And Halo".  The new material was a little hit or miss.  "March To The Sea" really didn't grab me, I thought it lacked a bit of punch.  "Take My Bones Away" was much better; while some of the vocal melody stuff was just OK, the song had more than enough shredding to make up for it.  Finishing with "The Sweetest Curse" and "Isak" was a little bit of a disappointment, since I could really take or leave both of those songs.  I would easily have traded one or both of them for a couple Red Album classics like "Rays On Pinion", "Wailing Wintry Wind", or "Aleph".  So, as it was, the set ended on a little bit of a lame note for me personally, but overall I was still plenty satisfied with it.  I'll be very interested to see them again if they come back through as a headliner after Yellow & Green comes out.

But really, we're here to talk about Meshuggah.  The anticipation before they came out was palpable.  There were these 3 large backdrops: 1 humongous drop from floor to ceiling in the back, and 2 smaller ones one either side of the stage, and closer to the front, all of them gorgeous replications of the Koloss artwork.  After the techs came out for about 20 minutes to make sure everything was set up right, they lit up the drops with this soft red and blue glow.  After a couple minutes of taking in such a gorgeous setup, "Obsidian" slowly faded in, its eerie tones slowly building until the crowd was about to explode.  Finally, the boys from Sweden took the stage, looking like an army of Vikings ready to pillage and plunder.  They calmly crunched out the heavy, dissonant chords that conclude the track, their demeanor totally deadpan.  Then they launched into "Demiurge", and a night of devastating glory ensued.

(Kicking into "Demiurge".  Ready...set...SCOWL!!)

Setlist:

(Obsidian Intro)
01. Demiurge
02. Pravus
03. Combustion
04. Glints Collide
05. Lethargica
06. Do Not Look Down
07. The Hurt That Finds You First
08. Mind's Mirrors
09. In Death-Is Life/In Death-Is Death
10. Bleed
11. New Millenium Cyanide Christ
12. I Am Colossus
13. Rational Gaze
(break)
14. Future Breed Machine
15. Dancers To A Discordant System
(The Last Vigil Outtro)

I'm finding it hard to process how incredibly good every aspect of this show was.  Aside from the absurd wish that the band could play every single awesome song they've ever written, there isn't a single detail I would change.  The sound was impeccable!  I will go out on a limb and say that, considering Meshuggah's enormity of sound yet subtlety of texture, this was the best live audio setup I've experienced to date (only other show that compares is the one time I saw Neurosis, and that is a hell of a compliment).  Even in the thick of the fury, with Jens screaming, Tomas Haake maintaining not one but two simultaneous super-human rhythms, and Thordendal and Hagstrom bludgeoning heavy crunch out of those 8-string Ibanez beasts, every nuance was discernible.  And when Thordendal would drop the low-end out in favor of some meticulous off-key solo'ing, the sudden clarity was almost overwhelming.  The fact that they were able to capture such a dynamic range and still keep it all clean was astounding, almost as impressive as the performance itself, and equally to credit for the immeasurable impact of the show overall.

(Jens:  "Are those glints colliding?  Yes. Yes, I do believe they are in fact colliding.")

Just as impressive was the visual display they put forth.  They only implemented lighting, no lasers or videos or anything like that, but the effects they were able to achieve were incredible.  The several assemblies allowed them to illuminate or darken different portions of the stage or backdrops independently.  Every song had its own unique lighting sequence, timed perfectly to the music to add emphasis.  Quite often this worked to give the band members a fairly menacing silhouette, which felt pretty appropriate.  The only downside of all of this is that it was damn near impossible to see with any detail the abuse Haake was subjecting his kit to in the back.

(Occasionally we could catch a glimpse of Haake.  Hey, there he is!)

(But most of the time, he was lost in the background.  Where'd he go?)

Haake was tough to read, since we couldn't see him much.  My feeling is that he was all business back there.  But the demeanor of the rest of the band was overall a kind of menacing, grooving, stoicism.  Thordendal and Hagstrom were firmly entrenched in their positions at stage-right and stage-left, respectively.  Lovgren was more or less in the middle, and he tended to meander a little bit, depending on where Jens was at the time.  There was no wild and crazy thrashing or hair-swirling from these three, no superfluous showmanship.  There was just the constant groove, the careful and deliberate channeling of a power and intensity above such antics.  These guys were deep in the zone, occasionally giving in to the riff just enough for single, slow motion lean-back and/or headbang.  Jens was pretty mobile, lording over the proceedings in dominating fashion.  But, in keeping with nature of the band, his activity was always very calculated, deliberate, and controlled.  He was not unlike The Terminator, stalking slowly along the front of the stage, surveying the crowd with his quirky, bird-like, quantum head movements.  Also, there was plenty of his patented arms-out-away-from-his-body stance.  Sometimes elbows out and palms in, arms pumping down, as if to say "we have the power to crush you!"  Other times elbows down and palms up, arms pumping up, as if to say "we have the power to lift you!"  Either way, I'm not arguing.

The set they put together for this show was utterly magnificent.  Of course, the last 2 albums got the most coverage, with 4 tracks from the new album and a blistering 5 from obZen, but the older stuff was represented incredibly well.  Opening with the "Obsidian" intro was very fitting, and their rendition of "Glints Collide" was stout.  Older classics "Future Breed Machine" and "Rational Gaze" were devastating, and "New Millenium Cyanide Christ" got the crowd into a total frenzy.  But the real shocker was the unbelievable, and completely unexpected, performance of Catch Thirty-Three's centerpiece, "Mind's Mirrors/In Death-Is Life/In Death-Is Death".  As the opening punched chords of "Mind's Mirrors" rang through the venue, everyone had a look of disbelief on their faces, myself included.  Then the isolated computerized vocals kicked in, and it finally sunk in that something incredible was about to occur. As they reached the eerie individual notes that round out the song, I still found myself doubting where they were going to go from there.  But then, to everyone's glee, they launched full force into "In Death-Is Life".  After such a perfectly placed mellow interlude, such an abrupt explosion just about tore the place apart.  The next 10 minutes were a euphoric blend of calculated shifting rhythm and jazz-infused bass noodling.  Alas, they did skip the lighter, somewhat creepy guitar work that constitutes final 5-6 minutes of the song's album rendition, but no complaints here.  While it might have been really cool to hear, putting in another extended calm interlude at this point probably would have been detrimental to the pace of the show.  As it was, the song was executed to perfection, I still can't believe they pulled that one out.

("Bleed".  Hence all the red.)

The new Koloss material sounded fantastic, I think I'll like it even more now that I will associate this live performance with it.  "Demiurge" got the show started off on exactly the right foot with its steady, slickly sliding riff, showcasing the perfect combination of power and control.  "The Hurt That Finds You First" was damn impressive, from its full speed break-neck pace to its hauntingly deliberate broken down outtro (which led immaculately into the "Mind's Mirror's" interlude).  "Do Not Look Down" and "I Am Colossus" fit in nicely, as well, offering up some satisfyingly meaty crunch.  The obZen selections were nothing short of perfection.  "Combustion", "Bleed", "Pravus", and "Dancers To A Discordant System" are some of my favorite all-time Meshuggah songs, and each one was executed flawlessly.  "Combustion" and "Pravus" were just sick, shining examples of how tight this band remains even at such a frantic pace, and Haake put on a total double bass drum clinic with "Bleed".  But most of all, closing with "Dancers To A Discordant System" totally blew me away.  This is possibly my all-time favorite Meshuggah song, and they just owned the place with it.  I hadn't really considered it before, but the structure of this song makes it a natural closer.  Immediately identified by its off-kilter isolated guitar intro, it had the effect of getting the crowd primed with anticipatory energy before it even kicked in.  The fast but not insane groove that defines the first few minutes lent perfectly to the song's gradually building ferocity, until about halfway through when the song exploded into its crushing breakdown.  The nicely placed soaring yet somewhat mellow guitar work that followed this destructive release was perfect, you could sense the crowd collecting themselves again for one final push.  And of course, this led right back into a reprisal of the legendary rhythm breakdown, blowing the roof off the place.  Finally, the song nicely coasted to its end riding its outbound groove.  It all felt right and complete, a fitting and satisfying 10-minute conclusion to an amazing set.

Speaking to the aura surrounding the band as a whole, they are nothing short of awe-inspiring.  The level of technical skill involved, the originality of the sound and writing, the depth of the texture, and the perfection of the execution...its daunting to digest it all at once.  Meshuggah is quite a unique package:  the progressive vision of Tool, the fury of The Dillinger Escape Plan, the command and control of Neurosis.  Few bands have such gravitas, such undeniable and uncompromising will.  They are dead serious about owning their artform, and this show was a jaw-dropping display of their mastery.

My friends, the Vikings truly have returned to America, and they call themselves.....MESHUGGAH.

(We are Meshuggah.  You've just been pillaged and plundered.)

(04.21.2012) The Sword @ Emo's, Austin

After having seen these home town boys about 10 times during the first few years of their existence (2004-2008'ish), I hit a major drought in my opportunities to catch The Sword.  Such is the price of having kids (me) and experiencing a meteoric rise to stardom (them, not me).  But I was stoked to finally catch them again this past Saturday at the new Emo's here in Austin.

There were a couple openers, American Sharks and Dixie Witch, apparently both local Austin bands.  Neither was particularly noteworthy, although the lead singer of American Sharks provided some pretty good comedic relief with his obvious enthusiasm about opening for The Sword.  Let's just move on to the main attraction.

Setlist:

01. Night City
02. Tres Brujas
03. Freya
04. Hammer Of Heaven*
05. How Heavy This Axe
06. Barael's Blade
07. Cloak Of Feathers*
08. Lawless Lands
09. Maiden, Mother, & Crone
10. To Take The Black
11. Mountain**
12. Tears Of Fire
13. Seven Sisters*
14. Arrows In The Dark
(break)
15. Iron Swan
16. Winter's Wolves
* New song (confirmed title via Bryan Ritchie, the bassist)
** New song (unconfirmed title via the Googles)

That's a decent set, although for me personally it definitely could have been better.  First of all, while I think Warp Riders might be their best album so far, they opened with my 2 least favorite songs from that album (which are also 2 of my 3 least favorite Sword songs overall, with the 3rd being "Ebethron", from Age Of Winters).  In general, I thought their Warp Riders selections could have been much stronger.  And second, I'm really not a huge fan of getting tons of new material live before having heard it recorded.  So, I would have swapped out a few songs, especially if we could have gotten a couple of their longer epics like "The Black River/The White Sea", "Lament Of The Aurochs", or one of the "Chronomancer" tracks.  Something to give the show a little more length would have been nice.  As it was, they blasted through that set in an hour and 20 minutes.

That being said, they covered their whole catalog pretty well, and there was plenty of solid riffage going around.  They absolutely crushed old favorites "Freya", "Barael's Blade", and "Winter's Wolves"; those really got the crowd going.  "To Take The Black" was the best of the Gods Of The Earth offerings, although I thought they cranked out "Maiden, Mother, & Crone" pretty well, too.  The new material didn't blow me away, but its tough (for me, anyway) to gauge new material in a setting like this.  It was pretty meaty, so I look forward to checking it out on their upcoming release.  The highlight of the night for me, though, was "Arrows In The Dark".  That was the first song I really latched onto when first checking out Warp Riders, and I thought they just owned the place with it.

On the technical side, the sound was overall pretty good.  The drums and bass were nicely set up, deep and thunderous.  And when working on a single monolithic riff, the guitars were always crunchy and clear.  There were a couple times when everything got going fast and heavy where the guitars washed out a bit into a wall of noise, but in general they were able to come through reasonably well.  As usual, however, JD's vocals were a bit of a semi-disaster.  For the first few songs, there was clearly something wrong with the mic setup; the vocals were saturating and occasionally cutting in and out, it was actually somewhat distracting.  But eventually they got that sorted out.  The rest of the time, you could tell the plan was to keep his vocals at just the right level where they were audible, but not too audible.  Let's face it, vocals are not the guy's strong suit.  But, aside from the technical issues, it was a typical more-or-less satisfactory JD performance, usually a bit off-pitch but not detrimental to the overall show.

As far as the energy goes, everyone in the building was pretty pumped.  The guys in the band seemed excited to be back in Austin, and they executed with a ton of enthusiasm.  The new drummer and the guitarist Kyle were particularly demonstrative.  In turn, the crowd was thoroughly appreciative of every riff they laid down.  I don't seem to remember this from previous Sword shows, but a pit started up right in front of where we were standing, about 20 feet from the stage.  Normally I find this a bit annoying, but in this case it was more-or-less entertaining.  Mainly a bunch of banging into each other with no real malicious carnage.  It was more of a pretty happy, rocking-out-with-a-tallboy kind of vibe.

So, overall, not one of the best shows I've ever seen, but still plenty enjoyable.  Hopefully it won't be another 3.5 years until the next time I see them!

[Special kudos to my buddy Dennis, who provided a prime example of good parenting by bringing his 13-year-old to the show.  The kid even made a brief foray into the pit before the night was done.  Well done, all around.]

(11.19.2011) Between The Buried And Me @ Emo's, Austin

It is absolutely ludicrous how late I am with this review. Pathetic even. I have no excuse. Well, that's not true. Of course I have an excuse, its just a piss poor one.

Its tough to express how obsessed I've been with Between The Buried And Me the past few years. They've knocked off some major heavyweights (Tool, Opeth, Neurosis, etc) to take the throne as Tedo's Favorite Band. 2007's Colors was one of the best albums I had ever heard, completely un-toppable. Then, of course, they topped it in 2009 with The Great Misdirect (reviewed by yours truly here). At that point I delved more thoroughly into their older, rawer material, and was utterly blown away. Round it out with 2011's spectacular EP release The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues, and you've got a Tedo foaming at the mouth to get some live BTBAM action.

For a while though, the boys weren't cooperating. The closest they came to Austin during that stretch was a Dallas show last May. It was a Saturday night, The Ocean was opening (!!), it was the perfect scenario.....except I was in Vegas. Were they taunting me??!! At last, the snubbing came to an end last summer as the crew finally caved and scheduled a November show at the new Emo's East in Austin. I don't remember for certain, but I'm pretty sure that when I found out, I sprang out of my office chair shouting "GUH?!!!" to unsuspecting co-workers who happened to be walking by. I recruited my always open-minded bro-in-law to come share in the night of bludgeonry, and immediately snagged a ticket. I'd be surprised if anyone had theirs booked before I did. There may have been some post-purchase crying too. Again, I'm not certain.

The night of the show rolled around, and I was practically vibrating in anticipation. I don't think I had ever been more excited for a show. But, before the main event, there were a couple openers.

The first opener was new to me, a British band called Tesseract (awesome band name), and I really enjoyed them. They had a Meshuggah'ish djent style rhythm, but with a bit more melody and cleaner vocals. The singer would occasionally go rough, but mostly the vocals were a bit of a drawn out croon. A good analogy would be to say they were akin to a more atmospheric Meshuggah with Thom Yorke vocals. They sounded great, and did an admirable job getting the crowd warmed up. [Note: I have since picked up Tesseract's only LP to date, One, and it is quite good.]

Next up was Animals As Leaders, who I was already somewhat familiar with. They're an instrumental band big on mad virtuoso guitar work. I was very impressed with their set, both sonically and visually. The band was incredibly tight and maintained a frantic pace. Two large screens displayed quickly changing geometrical sequences and patterns, it all had a very mathematical feel that complemented the rhythmic precision of the music perfectly. The crowd was fully appreciative of the set, and really seemed to get into it. Whereas Tesseract had gotten a good groove going with the crowd, Animals As Leaders took the energy to a new level. Exactly what we needed for the impending BTBAM onslaught. [Note: I have also since bought Animals As Leaders' two albums. Their first self-titled album is outstanding. Their second album, Weightless, is decent, but in my opinion not as strong as the first.]

At this point, my head was about to cave in from excitement. My anticipation for the headliner combined with how much I surprisingly liked the openers was beginning to drive away my ability to think clearly. Then Between The Buried And Me took the stage, and my brain truly snapped.

Here's the set:

01. Mirrors
02. Obfuscation
03. Foam Born (b) The Decade Of Statues
04. Disease, Injury, Madness
05. Specular Reflection
06. Medley (Alaska/All Bodies/Arsonist/Shevanel Cut A Flip/Aspirations/Fire For A Dry Mouth/Lost Perfection (b) Anablephobia)
07. Viridian
08. White Walls
09. Mordecai

I've been grappling with how in the hell to approach this particular show review, because quite honestly I don't really have clear memories of very many specific moments (see "piss poor excuse" mentioned above). I do remember looking up at the start and seeing the gong hanging behind Blake's kit and thinking to myself, "yep, this is going to be a good show." After that, the show just melted into one big wall of awesome. But, let's just take the setlist first. Oh my god, what an incredible set that is. I wouldn't change a single thing, I love every track they played. They even nailed me with my three favorite BTBAM songs: "White Walls", "Specular Reflection", and "Disease, Injury, Madness". And I was completely caught off guard by the medley. They had caused rampant speculation before the tour by announcing that fans better dust off the first three albums and study up. I thought maybe we'd get "Alaska", "Lost Perfection", or some "Shevanel", but I never dreamed they would fuse together a 10+ minute monstrosity showcasing the best of all of them. Not many bands could pull that off!

This was actually my first foray into the new Emo's East venue, so I didn't really know what to expect as far as the sound goes. BTBAM has released one live album before, Colors Live, which features superb audio quality. So, my hope was that this would also be the case here, and I was not disappointed in the least. As it was, the sound was incredible. Tommy Rogers' vocals were clear for both the rough sections and the clean, both guitars were right up in the mix, and Blake's drums were absolutely devastating. The bass was the only thing that kind of blended in, but really this isn't much different than how their studio recordings are mixed. In any event, any worry of the sound quality getting in the way of the experience were quickly put to rest.

As I mentioned, I have no previous BTBAM show experience for comparison, so I can't really say how this show stacks up to their others. But I can definitely say this was numero uno in my long, illustrious show-going career. Tommy Rogers was a fist-pumping, red-faced whirling dervish, I have no idea how such a skinny guy rips out vocals like that. Waggoner's fingers were a blur as he blew through insane arpeggio-laden solos, while Dusty kept things nice and zen on the other side of the stage, cranking out the nasty crunchy rhythm. Briggs was the funkiest of the bunch, with that goofy way that he holds his bass mid-chest. By the end of the show he was lifting that thing so high he seemed to be gnawing on it. And what do you say about the drumming? It was the Blake Richardson show, jaw-dropping and inspiring. With how long and frantically chaotic BTBAM's songs typically are, I have no idea how he even remembers how they go, let alone be physically able to execute. Guys like Danny Carey and Brann Dailor get a lot more press, but they've got nothing on this guy.

The energy of the crowd was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. While I'm not much of a mosh pit guy, I can appreciate an enthusiastically aggressive gathering, and this crowd was certainly that. I must admit that as "Mirrors" exploded into "Obfuscation", I was actually caught off guard and almost knocked down as the crowd surged forward to accommodate the pit that had just manifested behind me. After regaining my footing and fighting off a couple goons, I found a nice spot at the back wall of the pit, perfectly positioned about 40 feet from the stage, dead center. From here I was able to take it all in, how the churning mass of humanity before me ebbed and flowed with every change in BTBAM's dynamic pace, alternating between peaceful moments of still, rapt attention, and others of ferocious pummeling bludgeonry. Through it all, though, I never got a feeling of anger, or angst. It was pure high-octane euphoria, a devastating release of happy, positive energy. By the end of the show, I was sweaty, sore, utterly exhausted, and grinning from one deaf ear to the other.

I wish I could remember more specific moments, but there is one that I can recount, and that is the amazing performance of "White Walls". This is my favorite song by my favorite band, and while in a lot of scenarios that math does not necessarily add up to one's favorite overall song, for me it absolutely does. As I heard the mellow intro of "Viridian" kick in, I think every drop of adrenaline and serotonin in my body was simultaneously released, and when it then slid seamlessly into the slick intro of "White Walls", I had no choice but to rush the pit. Standing in one spot nodding my head would not suffice, this called for action! For 15 glorious minutes my head swam as BTBAM took my favorite song, shredded it, shoved in my face, and made it even better. When they landed on the legendary break down and Tommy Rogers began repeatedly ripping "WHIIIIITE WAAAAAALL!!" from his throat, I seriously thought my heart might tear through my chest right then and there. It was greatest live music moment I have yet to experience.

After that, I didn't know what else they could do. I thought for sure they'd end the show on it. But no, they whipped out "Mordecai" and provided a few more minutes of complete and utter domination. I have no idea how I survived.

Best show ever. Best band ever. They can't make it back to Austin soon enough.

(10.25.2011) Mastodon @ La Zona Rosa, Austin

Last week, Mastodon came to Austin. When I had originally heard that they'd be coming to town, I debated whether or not to go. The last couple albums definitely have their bright spots, but in my opinion are not nearly as formidable as the previous 3 monsters. Plus, I had seen Mastodon once in person before, and had seen and heard recorded footage of them, and the nicest thing I can say about it is that at least they play with a lot of energy. If I had to coin a phrase, I guess I would say that they're the "best terrible live band" I've ever seen. Bad vocals and sloppy execution, but lots of fist pumping action. But, the timing of this trip to Austin was nicely placed directly between what turned out to be a horrid Opeth show and what I fully expect to be a mind-blowing Between The Buried And Me show. So, I figured what the hell, and headed out for it.

There were two openers, the first of which was a local Austin band called Ancient Wisdom. They were.....interesting, I guess. They had two guitarists, one electric and one acoustic, a bass, and a drummer who played (badly) standing up and handled all the vocals. It was kind of a doom+stoner rock combination. They had some pretty nifty acoustic riffs, but the rest was pretty bad, borderline laughable. The drummer/singer guy was way too serious about lyrics that were way too cheesy. After their set, I actually talked with a couple of the guys for a few minutes. The acoustic guitarist "Ribs" works at Mohawk and the bassist "Trans Am" ("as in the car", he felt he needed to clarify) apparently works at Jackalope, and claims to be the guy behind all their burger recipes. They seemed like a couple of really nice guys, but man they gotta get away from that morose stand-up singing drummer guy. Hey, but kudos to Trans Am on the burgers, they are pretty damn tasty.

Next up was Black Tusk. I had never heard their material before, although I recognized their name and knew that one of my friends absolutely loves them. Talk about energy, oh my god, they destroyed the place for the better part of an hour. Immensely satisfying heavy guitar sludge, crazy metal vocals coming from 3 different directions (each member of the trio chipped in), and a frantically chaotic pace. It was a great time, and had probably the most unexpectedly meaty riffage I'd seen since the first time I ever caught The Sword (2004?).

Then Mastodon took the stage, and any question as to whether or not I should have hit this show were quickly swept away. Check out this set:

01. Dry Bone Valley

02. Black Tongue

03. Crystal Skull

04. I Am Ahab

05. Capillarian Crest

06. Colony Of Birchmen

07. Megalodon

08. Blasteroid

09. Sleeping Giant

10. Ghost Of Karelia

11. All The Heavy Lifting

12. Curl Of The Burl

13. Spectrelight

14. Bedazzled Fingernails

15. Circle Of Cysquatch

16. Aqua Dementia

17. Crack The Skye

18. Where Strides The Behemoth

19. Iron Tusk

20. March Of The Fire Ants

21. Blood And Thunder

Look at that set!!! Talk about fully representing your whole catalog! We've got 7 from The Hunter, 2 from Crack The Skye, 5 from Blood Mountain, 5 from Leviathan, and 2 from Remission. OK, so nothing from Call Of The Mastodon, but hey I'll live, there are only I think 2 songs from that album that I absolutely love anyway. If I had to be really picky, I suppose I would have gotten rid of a couple of the songs from the new album (probably "Blasteroid", "Curl Of The Burl", and "All The Heavy Lifting") and replaced them with a couple more of the stout classics ("Seabeast", "The Wolf Is Loose", "Workhorse", or if I'm really lucky, "Hearts Alive"). But in the end, I have zero complaints, the set was so much more than I had dared to hope for.

The big surprise for me was how improved the execution was, both in terms of the band's performance and the quality of the sound. For the first half of the show, I was about 20 feet from the stage in the center, trying hold my ground against the moshing idiots. From here, the sound was still a bit washed out when it got really heavy, you'd lose a little of the ability to distinguish the guitars, to hear the vocals, etc. But the execution seemed pretty spot on. Brann was going crazy, hitting every fill flawlessly, and the rest of the guys all nailed their timing perfectly. It actually seemed pretty tight, which was fairly impressive given that they do play with such energy and their material does have some challenging timing here and there.

For the latter half of the show, I actually moved back a bit, so that I was even with the soundboard. And back here, the sound was tremendous, far better balanced. And once I was back here with the better sound, I could definitely hear a huge difference in their execution. Each nuance was hit perfectly in stride, the performance was really excellent.

As far as the feel of the show, the guys seemed to be on a mission. I mean, they packed 21 heavy, hard-hitting songs in about an hour and a half. From the first show I saw, I remember them goofballing it up in between songs, making jokes or talking with the crowd. While they did stop a couple times to say a few words, for the most part during this show they just cranked right into the next number, barely taking a moment to breathe. The pace of the show was furious, I barely had time to soak in one song before practically pissing myself with glee as the next started.

This was an outstanding show. After the bummer of an Opeth show a couple weeks before, I REALLY needed a no frills, ass-kicking show to come set me straight. While Mastodon's newer material may not light quite the same fire in me as their older stuff, they've shown me they still know who they are, and they still know how to destroy. Next time they come to town, it'll be a much quicker decision.

(10.04.2011) Opeth @ Stubb's

I've been dreading posting about this, because quite frankly this was the most frustrating show I've been to in a long time. But, I feel I need to at least get the setlist posted, along with a couple comments. The show really doesn't deserve much more than that.

Katatonia opened. I had heard of them before, but never really heard much of their stuff. I was looking forward to them, since they have a pretty strong following and have overall been pretty well received critically. First song was pretty good, second was OK, and after that I realized that pretty much every song sounded the same. Not bad, but not remarkable. I have no idea how representative that set was of their catalog.

OK, Opeth's set:

01. The Devil's Orchard
02. I Feel The Dark
03. Face Of Melinda
04. Porcelain Heart
05. Pyre
06. The Throat Of Winter
07. Patterns In The Ivy II
08. Closure (preceded by Harvest teaser)
09. Slither
10. A Fair Judgement
11. Hex Omega
(break)
12. Folklore

OK, let's get the obvious out of the way: NOTHING HEAVY. ZERO. What??? Where the hell is the Opeth I know and love? I understand that they've gone a different direction with their most recent album, and I can respect that. I've actually grown to like the album quite a bit. But to completely abandon the heavy stuff boggles my mind, especially when they've previously always been very good about representing their work as a whole when they perform live. This time, power cords were few and far between, active drum work was sparse, and don't even bother looking for the death metal growl. It felt like a damn Indigo Girls show.

The shame is that, on a song by song basis, I really like most of the songs they chose to play. It was just the way they strung them together, the show never built any kind of momentum. I guess maybe if I had known ahead of time how their song selection was going to be, my expectation would have changed and it might have felt less infuriating. However, nothing could have prepared me for how much Akerfeldt was going to ramble on and on between the songs. Usually he's fairly chatty and funny, but this time it was way too much. Any time they might have started to pick up a little bit of steam, for example with the upbeat romping "Slither", the energy was quickly killed by his irritating blabbing. The pace of the show was just horrendous, enough that it unfortunately put a negative spin on the whole performance.

So, let's try to dig for some positives here. Like I said, I did like pretty much every song on an individual basis. There was a pretty heavy emphasis on the latest album, Heritage, accounting for 5 of the 12 songs, including my favorites in "I Feel The Dark", "The Devil's Orchard", and "Folklore". I loved hearing "Hex Omega", and "A Fair Judgment" is always a great choice. I was particularly surprised to hear them play "Patterns In The Ivy II", from the bonus disc of the special edition of Blackwater Park. "Face Of Melinda" and "Porcelain Heart" were OK, I think those songs are decent, but I could have done without them. In my mind, they signified the beginning of the disappointment in the show.

As far as the production, the sound was actually pristine, the best I've heard yet at an Opeth show. Granted, its tough to compare since the requirements for this show were scaled back. Its probably a lot easier when you don't have to worry about bass drum rolls, heavy distorted guitar, and heavy metal growls all washing into a wall of sound. But, to give them credit, everything was balanced very nicely, and Akerfeldt's vocals sounded incredible.

On the whole, while on paper it seems like a different, refreshing Opeth set, in reality it turned out to be mainly an exercise in frustration. And on a deeper level, this show bothered me far more than their major stylistic change on the latest album. Feeling the need to move on and progress creatively, I can totally understand, and respect. No true artist wants to get mired in creating the same thing over and over again, they want to master a broader skill set, produce a body of work that is diverse and varied. But this show seemed to make a more disturbing statement, that they not only wish to move on with their new creations, but want to distance themselves from their previous core aesthetic and material altogether. Perhaps that take on it is more doom-and-gloom than is warranted by one show, but its the one that that keeps stabbing at me in the wake of this disappointment.

The next time Opeth comes to town, I'll still be there, hoping to be rocked. But I'll be much more cautious in my expectations, and in my optimism.

(2010.08.28) Ween @ Stubb's, Austin

OK, its been 5-6 weeks since this show. I've been busy as hell, and really I don't know what more I could write about Ween that I haven't already written. The Boys of Boognish once again plowed through Stubb's, and as always left the place in gloriously euphoric shambles. I know I'm totally phoning this one in, but I have to at least note the setlist, for posterity.

01. HIV Song

02. The Golden Eel

03. Baby Bitch

04. Bananas And Blow

05. Piss Up A Rope

06. Learnin' To Love

07. My Own Bare Hands

08. Take Me Away

09. Transdermal Celebration

10. Gabrielle

11. Stroker Ace

12. Voodoo Lady (Prince's Kiss in the middle)

13. Mutilated Lips

14. Buckingham Green

15. Booze Me Up And Get Me High

16. Touch My Tooter

17. Mr. Richard Smoker

18. I'll Be Your Johnny On The Spot

19. Even If You Don't

20. Freedom Of '76 (w/ Sarah Jones)

21. Let's Dance (David Bowie cover)

22. Your Party

23. Woman And Man

24. The Mollusk

25. Spinal Meningitis

(break)

26. Fiesta

27. Sorry Charlie

28. Ohio (Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young cover)

29. Roses Are Free

Damn good set. I mean DAMN good set. I found the David Bowie cover to be pretty lame, but aside from that the main set was just about as perfect as it could be. I was a little down on the encore though, it didn't really blow me away. "Roses Are Free" is a fantastic song, but I would have preferred a more epic closer, like what they usually deliver.

Great show though. Can't wait until my next Ween encounter.

Again, apologies for the total lack of effort on this one, I just don't have it in me right now.

(2010.08.18) Rodrigo Y Gabriela @ The Greek Theatre, L.A.

OK, the relevance of this post is thinning out with each passing day, particularly because I'm seeing these guys again tomorrow night at Stubb's in Austin. There's been so much going on this summer that reviews have firmly taken a back seat. So, let's crank this thing out.

The wife and kids and I took a trip to Los Angeles for my birthday a couple weeks ago. As luck would have it, the maniacal acoustic duo of Rodrigo Y Gabriela happened to be playing the Greek Theatre our first night there. We had become fairly big fans with their 2006 self-titled debut album, and since the release of 2009's magnificent follow-up 11:11, I had been practically foaming at the mouth to see them live. We enlisted my wife's brother and his friend to hit the show with us. After a healthy helping of Maker's Mark and Coke to shake off the long day of flight-hopping and child-wrangling, we headed out into the perfect, cool Southern California evening and made our way to the venue.

After snagging a couple drinks and a bottle of wine (seriously, ladies?) from the concession, we sought out our seats and took stock of the venue. I had heard of the Greek Theatre before, but had never been there. It was very nice, nestled within the trees on a bit of a hill. Comparing it to other legendary outdoor venues, it had a serene coziness about it, rather than the awesome majesty of Red Rocks or the sweaty, dripping funk of character of Stubb's. The trees surrounding all sides of the theater gave it a sense of peaceful isolation, which complemented the cool night air very nicely.

Anyway, after an opener that I didn't really pay much attention to, Rodrigo and Gabriela slipped in from the sides, strapped up, and went to work. Here's the set:

01. Intro (Very similar to the "OK Tokyo" intro from the Live In Japan Album)

02. Hanuman

03. Triveni (Impromptu jamming by Gab while Rod replaced a broken string)

04. Diablo Rojo

05. Satori

06. Logos/Santo Domingo

07. Chac Mool/Hora Zero

08. Gabriela Solo

09. Juan Loco

10. Orion (with Shankar and Trujillo)

11. Volcano Jam (with Shankar and Trujillo)

12. Rodrigo Solo (Pulling Teeth!!!)

13. Savitri

14. Mediterranean Sundance (Al di Meola Solo/Jamming)

15. Tamacun

(break)

16. Buster Voodoo

As hoped, this show completely blew me away! Listening to their albums, you obviously get a good sense of RyG's technical proficiency, but seeing them live is a total shock to the system. The awe I experience listening to their material is now trumped only by my eyes' complete disbelief while actually seeing it happen in front of me. Rodrigo's fingers fly across the frets of his guitar like some deranged, frantic crab on crystal meth. One moment he's delicately plucking out a slow, isolated, moody melody, and the next he's shredding through some 100mph arpeggio-laden riffage that I can hardly keep up with. And Gabriela, I don't even know how to describe what she's doing, it makes absolutely no sense. When I first heard RyG, and particularly after hearing their second album, I figured there HAD to be some third person in there, lending a hand with the percussive elements. Nope. Nyet. Nuh-uh. All while ripping through those head-spinning rhythms, in those fractions of fractions of seconds between striking one string and striking another, she's absolutely beating the hell out of the body of her guitar with her thumb, pinky, and whatever other part of her hand that happens to be free. Who needs a drummer when you can just shatter the laws of physics? It was utterly jaw-dropping, my brain still hurts to think about it.

In total, they played for right around two hours, maybe a little more. The set was very comprehensive, covering probably about 75% of their studio work. Their original material was more often than not performed pretty true to the original recording, though they did manage to work some mid-number jamming in here and there (particularly when Rodrigo broke a string during "Triveni" not long into the show; apparently he was just as excited about this show as I was!). They did throw me for a big loop by sliding from "Chac Mool" into "Hora Zero" instead of "Atman". While I do love "Hora Zero" and the intro worked very well, it did put an exclamation point on what I thought was the only downer of the show: they did NOT play "Atman"!! This bummed me out because its pretty easily my favorite RyG song, and quite frankly I was a bit shocked at the omission of what I consider to be the best song they've written yet. But no matter, in general the show kicked way too much ass to dwell on this one detail.

In addition to their own original studio material, the show was loaded with all kinds of other surprises. Shankar and Robert Trujillo joined the duo to perform "Orion" (in its entirety!), which led into a fairly lengthy jam session, which ultimately ended with Shankar wailing incomprehensibly into the microphone. It was a bit tedious toward the end once Shankar started up with the vocals (Note: a RyG show should NEVER include vocals), but overall it was interesting enough. And toward the end of the show, guitar legend Al Di Meola made a special appearance. RyG gave up the spotlight and watched like kids in a toy store as Di Meola picked his way through a winding 10-minute-or-so rendition of Mediterranean Sundance, after which the duo joined in for some 3-guitar jamming madness. While I myself am not that familiar with Di Meola, the obvious excitement radiating from Rodrigo and Gabriela at this chance to play with one of their idols was infectious, and really made for a special moment. And as always, both Rodrigo and Gabriela got an opportunity for some solo jamming. Gabriela dazzled the crowd with some Les-Claypool-on-speed rhythm funkiness. Rodrigo on the other hand, played around with a beautiful slower melody, carefully plucking out and slightly varying the same repeated tune for a couple minutes, before launching into my highlight of the night: a full-on performance of Metallica's "Pulling Teeth"!!! I absolutely lost it at this point, leaping to my feet and screaming "Pulling Teeth?! Are you f%$&ing kidding me??!!!" Which was a bit awkward seeing as the whole theater was in a seated, restful state at the moment. (I saw about 4 other people in attendance who shared my incredulous excitement). Anyway, Rodrigo absolutely slayed it, and I loved every second of it.

Not to be lost in the glory of the setlist and the enthusiasm of the performance, the presentation of the show was exceptionally well done. Sonically, it was flawless. The deeper tones of the rhythm and the higher lead notes were all pristine, and bounced warmly around the venue. Gabriela's unconventional percussive elements were also nicely captured, lending support to the rhythm without overtaking it. Visually, I was pleasantly surprised how much the show had to offer. On either side of the stage was a large video monitor, which would alternate between close-ups of the performers. (It still didn't help me figure out how the hell Gab does what she does, if anything it just pushed my brain further over the edge). At the back of the stage was a translucent back-drop, used for projection. For the most part, the images they projected up were static, and would be up for a few songs at a time. But, at a couple points in the show they would project up there the same video image that was on the video monitors, except that it would be more fuzzy and grayed out. The effect was incredible, nothing cooler than normal life-size Rodrigo laying into a solo in front of gigantic 25-foot-tall Rodrigo.

Anyway, the show was every bit as enjoyable as I hoped it would be, and then some. I'll definitely try to see these guys whenever they come to town. Wait a minute, that's tomorrow. Oh yeah, here we go!!

Ween @ Red Rocks (09.06.2009)

1050 miles. Each way. Too far to travel, just to see a band?

When the band in question is the unparalleled force that is WEEN, the answer is obvious:

HELL NO!!

The past couple years have brought very little goings on in the world of Ween, aside from a so-so release in 2007's La Cucaracha and vague rumblings of Gener spending time in rehab. So, quite surprised was I in June when I just happened to peruse over to Ween's site to find that they had actually scheduled a host of new tour dates. My initial reaction was disappointment not to find any Austin shows (no Stubbs!). However, as I glanced through the dates, one jumped out at me, Red Rocks on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, and a brilliant plan began to piece itself together in the back of my brain.

That night I just so happened to be having beers with Ian, who also harbors a particular affinity for the Boys of Boognish. The prospect of driving up to catch Ween at Red Rocks was appealing, but initially not so much a realistic consideration. As we continued to discuss it, the potential of a Denver road trip seemed to get more and more attractive: neither of us had been to Denver before; the Denver area is loaded with good breweries worth checking out; the Rockies are in the thick of the Wildcard chase, and playing a series at home that weekend; and finally, my fellow Toolarmy compadre Bobage, who I know to be a huge Ween fan, happens to be a Denver resident and was also planning to hit the show. By the end of the night, this was no longer an interesting idea in the back of my head, it was a full-blown plan. We would make this trek to the mountains. We would enjoy the views and the brews. We would seek out and join forces with Bobage. And before it was all over, high above the city, upon the side of a mountain, we would ROCK.

The weekend of note arrived, to much anticipation. The drive up from Austin seemed easier than expected, and we spent the first day cruising around to various breweries and checking out their tap rooms. Major props in particular to Odell and Great Divide, not to mention the insane Silo Burger at Oskar Blues (A 1/2 lb. burger topped with lean pork, hot sauce, bacon and pepper Jack cheese. Burger brilliance.). The second day we hit the Rockies game in the early afternoon, which they won 13-5 in exactly the kind of slugfest you'd expect from that thin air up there at Coors Field. But the spectacle to go down that night was what we were really waiting for.

We headed out to the venue a couple hours before the show, to check the place out and meet up with Bobage for a pre-show beer or two. We parked, and after getting turned around and traversing a bit more rough terrain than ended up really being necessary, we found Bobage on the south side of the venue, hanging with a crew of what seemed like 50 people and rocking some Tecate's out of the tailgate of a mini-van. The anticipation of the show was really starting to kick in at this point, the beers were crisp, the mountain air was cool and fresh, and the Ween love vibe was coalescing around the masses.

Right about 7pm, we all made our way to the show. As we climbed the steps to the entrance, Bobage reminded me to take a second, to really let the moment sink in as I crossed the threshold into the amphitheater for the first time. Boy, was he right. As I walked in, I was struck by the absolute beauty of the venue. The towering striated rocks, the carved out stage, the majestic view of the city, the feeling of leaving the very Earth itself as we climbed higher, row-by-row....every detail of the environment felt enormous, yet simultaneously warm and intimate. As strongly as I ever had, at this moment, I felt like this was a place that is truly special. We snagged a couple rows just slightly behind the soundboard, and settled in for a night of good music.

Unlike any Ween show I had previously attended, this one actually had an opener, the Meat Puppets. I knew very little about the band beyond mere name recognition, and though I had nothing against the band itself, I was a bit bummed that having an opener at all may shorten Ween's set. As it was, I actually found them to be pretty enjoyable. They came on shortly after 8pm, and ended up playing for a little over an hour. As I am unfamiliar with the band, I'm unable to relate a full setlist, but I know they played the radio hit "Backwater", as well as a couple versions of "Lake Of Fire", which I actually hadn't realized was a Meat Puppets song. I would guess that they played about 8 or 9 songs total. Most of the tunes had a nicely accessible alt-rock/country-ish foundation that would then meander out into the weeds for some hearty guitar noodling and soaring solos. For a three-piece, they certainly sounded much larger, easily filling the space. I was impressed enough that I might actually look into their back catalog a bit. All in all, a nice warm-up.

After about a 20-minute break, Dean, Gene, and the gang came strolling out, to an absolutely thunderous Red Rocks welcome. After a quick hello, they started right in. Here is the set:

01. Pork Roll Egg And Cheese

02. Bananas And Blow

03. Now I'm Freaking Out

04. Learnin' To Love

05. My Own Bare Hands

06. Did You See Me?

07. Transdermal Celebration

08. Take Me Away

09. Don't Get 2 Close 2 My Fantasy

10. Woman And Man

11. Zoloft

12. Your Party

13. The Beacon Light

14. Stroker Ace

15. Voodoo Lady

16. Ice Castles

17. Final Alarm

18. Gabrielle

19. Touch My Tooter

20. Mister Would You Please Help My Pony?

21. Ocean Man

22. I'll Be Your Johnny On The Spot

23. Spinal Meningitis

24. Buckingham Green

25. Doctor Rock

(break)

26. Fiesta

27. The Mollusk

28. Roses Are Free

Being my first foray into the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, I was particularly interested in how good the sound really is. Tales of the sound quality are legendary, and would seem to be supported by the plethora of live albums recorded there. However, before the show I was warned that sometimes, if the wind kicks up, the sound can waver a bit, getting blown around by the intermittent gusts. I was also worried that a lot of the sound may simply dissipate into the open space, which is a common problem for outdoor venues. As it turned out, there was little to worry about on either front. There was the occasional moment where I would catch a higher guitar note or vocal that was slightly affected by the wind, but overall the sound was absolutely pristine. The drums and bass rumbled nicely along the rock foundation, and the guitar and vocals were nicely contained by the towering rocks all around. In addition, the mix was pretty spot on the whole way through. I imagine an audio recording from the soundboard should sound pretty amazing. [And as a related side note, they had several video cameras around the place, filming from various angles. The band also included quite a bit more visual effects than I remember from their previous shows, so I'm crossing my fingers this ends up as Ween's next spectacular DVD release!]

As for the show itself, oh my god, they absolutely destroyed the place with that set! Starting in with oldie "Pork Roll Egg And Cheese" was a good choice to get a nice groove going, and following up with sing-along favorite "Bananas And Blow" was sheer genius, getting the crowd involved in the action early. They goofballed it up a bit with "Now I'm Freakin' Out" and "Learnin' To Love", and plowed through a gritty rendering of "My Own Bare Hands". But it was with the next offering, a scorchingly intense version of "Did You See Me?", that I fully realized what a night we were in for. The slow layered intro, smoothly morphing to Deaner's moody controlled shredding, dropping off to Gener's melancholy isolated vocals....the song was magnificently executed, and carried beautifully through the clear mountain air, reverberating off the rocks and striking with a true sense of purpose. The elated crowd seemed to understand: Ween was on a mission tonight.

From that point on, every song seemed to be a classic. There were a few nicely placed slower numbers, including "Ice Castles", "Zoloft", and a particularly good rendition of "The Mollusk". But, unlike the previous shows I had seen, there was no accoustic segment, or any kind of prolonged slowdown. The band maintained a high level of energy throughout the night, sliding effortlessly between proggy mind-benders and full-throttle rockers, showcasing their astounding breadth of material. As is always the case, this allowed plentiful opportunities for Deaner's classic brand of extended guitar shredding. He went particularly ballistic on "Woman And Man", "Voodoo Lady", "Final Alarm", and "I'll Be Your Johnny On The Spot", taking each of those songs to glorious new heights for minutes at a time.

The crowd was in a constant state of frenzy the entire show, feeding off the energy Ween was delivering. Everywhere I looked, I could see the effect sweeping over the joyous masses: shouting along to the wait-this-is-kinda-creepy "Don't Get 2 Close 2 My Fantasy", bouncing around to the romping "Gabrielle", losing their minds to the frantic pace of "Stroker Ace", pumping their fists with every exclamation of "Doctor Rock!". The band, in turn, seemed to revel in the crowd's enthusiasm, cranking out one monstrous performance after another. At one point, as Deaner was laying down some nasty crunch during "Final Alarm", Bobage turned to me and said simply: "They're killing it tonight, man, they're totally killing it!" I couldn't argue with that.

And amidst all this rocking and shredding and handing of one's own ass, what arose more than anything throughout the venue was a feeling of total bliss, utter happy joyous bliss. No aggression, or anger, or angsty release, just good ol' fashioned honest-to-goodness happiness. Whatever it is about this band, their jocularity, their lack of pretense, not to mention their insane musical chops, a Ween show just makes you feel happy to be part of something good. And as the final soaring notes of "Roses Are Free" capped this particular night, we all knew we had just become part of something legendary.

And THAT is worth a lot more than 1050 miles.

Special thanks to Ian for making the trip, Bobage and his crew for the warm welcome, and of course my better half Sara for giving me the green light and bravely taking on a few days of solo toddler wrangling. It was a trip for the ages....

Tool @ Nokia Theater, Dallas (07.25.2009)

Sara and I headed up to Dallas this past weekend to catch Tool at the Nokia Theater in Grand Prairie. Having seen them three previous times since the release of their most recent album, 2006's 10,000 Days, I was more than a bit disappointed to learn in the week leading up to the show that the setlist was to be practically identical to those from the previous shows. But, as an overall experience, sonically and visually, Tool shows have always been an impressive spectacle, so I was looking forward to it nonetheless.

We got to the Nokia Theater right about 8pm, and spent a little time checking out the venue. The Nokia Theater is pretty new and very highly touted, and this was my first foray into the place. We easily got to our seats, which are the second best I've ever had for a Tool show (the best being pit seats at McFarlin Auditorium in Dallas in 2006, literally about 3 feet from the stage). We were in the first row of the second section back, with seats right on an aisle. Great view, just far enough away that we could take in the whole stage and backdrop and video screens, but close enough to see all the detail of the band members activities. Easy access, in and out, plus some hilarious bonus entertainment of watching security right in front of us handling some colorful characters throughout the show. The opener Tweak Bird was playing when we got there, but I didn't really soak in enough to generate much of an opinion.

At 9:05, Tool came on, and played until 10:50. Despite the fact that they only played 9 songs, the set did not feel overly short. The setlist (as expected):

1. Jambi

2. Stinkfist (extended)

3. Forty-six & 2

4. Schism (extended)

5. Lost Keys/Rosetta Stoned

6. Flood

7. Aenema

8. Lateralus (extended drumming with Tweak Bird drummer)

9. Vicarious

OK, let's beat that dead horse one more time. I do love all of these songs, don't get me wrong, but for crying out loud will they please change it up just a little. Yes, this set does for the most part nicely represent their back-catalog, but they always play the exact same songs from those older albums. It would not take much effort at all to vary it, just change up like 2 songs. Swap out one of the Aenima songs for "Eulogy" or "H", instead of "Schism" play "The Grudge", or something like that. I'm not asking them to bust out an epic track like "Third Eye" (although that would be killer), I'm just saying change up 2 songs and the set would feel completely fresh. Its entirely possible for them to do this, they simply choose not to and its difficult to believe that its attributable to anything but laziness. And as a longtime fan, I do find this choice to not make the effort a little insulting. (And while I'm kvetching, $40 for a damn T-shirt?? Whatever you may think of the setlist, that price is utterly unjustifiable.)

OK, let's get past that.

The sound was fantastic, the best I've heard since the aforementioned McFarlin show. As much as Tool does a pretty good job trying to get the sound right in their usual arena environment, being in a true auditorium makes a world of difference. Maynard's vocals could have probably been a tad higher, they tended to get a little lost in the mix sometimes, but everything else was very nicely balanced. Danny's drums were nice and crisp without overwhelming the sound, as was Justin's bass. But I was most impressed with Adam's guitar, which sounded utterly amazing. The crunchier rhythm stuff rocked without completely taking over, while the solos came through loud and clear.

The visuals were stunningly vibrant, as always, and perfectly synced to the performance. It was the same setup as before, with four screens spanning the back of the glossy white stage, two more screens farther out to the sides and forward, the huge backdrop hung farther back, and the unique three moving circular light assemblies that have been a staple of the shows the last three years. The lasers once again made a dramatic appearance, I believe first presenting themselves either during "Schism" or "Rosetta Stoned". I don't have the encyclopedic memory that others do regarding what video clips have been featured at what shows, so I really can't comment much on whether or not many of the visuals were new, but as always they lent an amazing extra dimension to the performance.

As far as the band's performance, everything for the most part was flawless. Danny, Adam, and Justin were working their asses off, and really seemed to be enjoying themselves. Maynard seemed to take a while to work up to it, I thought he totally phoned it in during the opener. He also seemed to lose a bit of steam at the end, kind of just pacing around like he was bored during "Vicarious". In between though, he was pretty animated and into it, and overall he sounded great. The opening bullhorn shotgun vocals of "Rosetta Stoned" didn't come out so great though, it literally sounded like he was just shouting "robble robble robble" the whole time. Actually, knowing what a smartass he is, I suppose its possible he might have been doing just that, heh.

There was some interaction with the crowd. Maynard stopped a couple times in between songs to say thanks for coming out and to take care of each other and such. He did piss me off a little a couple times. First, at one point near the beginning of the show he said something about "Tonight this place is your home. So, welcome home.", and for just a split second I thought that maybe the cover tune that has been rumored for this tour (which at this point has still not happened) was going to be Metallica's "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", which is one of my favorite songs of all time. Just for that one delusional moment, I was about to die, but then they just launched into either "Stinkfist" or "Forty-six & 2". The other time was more toward the end when he said something about "Yesterday was one thing, but today we're here and its different", and for a moment I was hoping he meant that the set would be different, but nay, they just went into either "Aenema" or "Lateralus". The best Maynard moment of the night though, was toward the end of "Vicarious" when all of a sudden Adam's guitar stopped. Maynard said "Adam broke a guitar string" (I think that's what he said), and he then proceeded to sing the remaining guitar part. It was pretty funny and definitely entertaining, very Ween'ish.

Overall, it was an excellent show. Whatever grumblings I may have, they were definitely tempered by the fact that Sara, who was experiencing Tool for only the second time, really enjoyed the show. She had been to the San Antonio show with me a couple years back and had said that she enjoyed it, but with the much better view and sound, she was much more impressed this time around. Seeing a show like this with someone less familiar with the band definitely puts it into perspective that, although I fear Tool will choose to never achieve as great a live show as I know they could, even at their most generic Tool blows away pretty much any other live performance you're going to find. And I guess that will have to do.

Isis + Pelican @ Emo's, Austin (05.19.2009)

I headed down to Emo's Tuesday night to catch Isis and Pelican as they passed through Austin. I hadn't been out to a heavy show since Opeth in October, so I was a bit overdue. Pelican and Isis are both bands that I've seen several times, both individually and together, so I knew I was in for a rocking good time.

The first opener was a band called Tombs. They came out and played 4 songs or so, about 30 minutes worth. Pretty typical thrashy metal stuff, screaming vocals, a little bit of funky progression. Overall not that impressive, songs weren't that interesting and it was pretty sloppy execution. To give them credit, they were definitely......I suppose enthusiastic is the word. Especially the drummer, he was all over the place. But it was nothing I'd ever follow up on.

Pelican came out next. Here is the set:

01. Bliss In Concrete

02. Ephemeral

03. Embedding The Moss

04. Far From Fields

05. Geometry Of Murder

06. Australasia

The sound was pretty good. Both guitars could be heard clearly, which is most commonly their problem. During the heavier parts, often their guitar work can get lost in the noise, so I was happy to hear that this was not the case for this show. The bass came through pretty cleanly, but I thought it was a bit low. There were parts where you would expect a bass line to be coming through, and you could kind of hear it, but you couldn't feel it much. No problems with the drums, they were setup nicely.

As for the setlist, I thought it was decent, not stellar but not bad. I'm more than a bit surprised that they played NOTHING from The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw. As I've said before, "March To The Sea" is one of the best live songs I've ever seen, and any Pelican show where it is NOT played is a tragedy. Also, "Far From Fields" was tucked in there, and they closed with "Australasia", neither of which I would have chosen from their respective albums. But, that being said, the set was fun enough, and well executed. Opening with "Bliss In Concrete" is a good choice, it is easily my favorite track from City Of Echoes, and it got the crowd in a good rocking mood. The really interesting part was the middle of the set, where they moved into new material from the Ephemeral EP, which was new for me. The songs had a little bit of a heavier feel than the City Of Echoes material, which I was happy to hear. I was particularly impressed with "Ephemeral", which was a somewhat short song for them at about 5 minutes or so, but it had some nice grooves and riffs that flowed together well, and the end of the song really packed a nice punch. "Geometry Of Murder" is another song from the EP, which is apparently an Earth cover. It was a bit more repetitive than the others, but again had a nice heavy grindy feel that went over well.

Overall, it was an interesting enough and well-executed set. I was able to talk to Trevor de Brauw for a few minutes before and after the show, and as the guys from Pelican always seem to be, he was very friendly and appreciative of the support.

Isis came on after that. Here is the set:

01. Hall Of The Dead

02. 20 Minutes/40 Years

03. Dulcinea

04. Threshold Of Transformation

05. Ghost Key

06. In Fiction

07. Hand Of The Host

08. Carry

(break)

09. Celestial (The Tower/Signal Fills The Void)

This was an EXCELLENT set! All but one song from Wavering Radiant was represented, as was one song from each of their four previous LP's. "Ghost Key" and "20 Minutes/40 Years" in my opinion are the weakest tracks from the new album, so I'd have been perfectly happy to trade those out for a couple more older songs. But overall they played my favorite track from each album, so I really can't complain.

As far as the sound goes, it was tip-top. For a band like Isis, with the dynamic elements they put forward, I would imagine that getting everything properly balanced is a bit tricky. I've seen Isis several times, and on many occasions everything kind of bled together into a wall of indiscernible noise. This appears to be turning around. I believe the last Isis show I reviewed, I stated that the sound was the best I'd ever heard from them. Well, I'm happy to report that this seems to have stuck. The heavy guitar riffage was crunchy and powerful, but gave way to the lighter guitar work and rich and vibrant electronic textures when necessary. Aaron Turner's mic was finally exactly where it should be, down a bit in the mix. The rough vocals were clear enough to pack a punch without being a distraction, and the cleaner vocal melodies felt nicely folded into the mix, such that they seemed to eminate from all around. Atmospherically, the vocals for this show were by far the most effective of any Isis show I've seen to date. As always, the bass and drums came through clearly, and really provided the basis holding everything together.

As for highlights, its difficult to say. Outside of the 2 slightly weaker tracks I mentioned above (which still were executed to perfection and very enjoyable), every song for me was a highlight. The new material from Wavering Radiant was superb, I was particularly excited that they played "Threshold Of Transformation", which is my favorite track from the album. And opening the show with the album opener "Hall Of The Dead" was a great choice, the steady plodding beginning of that song was a great intro to draw the crowd in. The classic slow-builders "In Fiction", and "Carry" were nicely sandwiched around the spectacular "Hand Of The Host", and provided a well-needed moment for the crowd to relax and catch our collective breath. And of course, polishing the whole set off with the full extended version of "Celestial" sent the crowd, which had been pretty rough all night, into one final peak of bludgeoning approval. As the latter half of the closer melted away into its soothing electronic textures, everything just felt right, like the whole set had been brought full circle.

Spectacular performance, one of the best Isis shows yet. Whenever they come back, I'll be there.

Opeth @ The Monarch, Austin (10.16.2008)

Having recently broken my show-going drought with a steller The Sword/Clutch performance, I was definitely jonesing for some more live music. As fate would have it, just twelve days later Opeth was coming to town along with High On Fire and Baroness. Opeth is one of my favorite bands of all time, I had seen them four times before, and they have always put on a killer show.

Just as importantly, I was definitely looking forward to catching Baroness. They popped up on my radar a few years ago when I randomly caught them opening for either The Sword or Isis. They showed a lot of promise, so I picked up their two EP's. Really good progressive metal type stuff, longer songs with lots of shifts, I was impressed. Then they seemed to disappear, I heard nothing whatsoever about them for years. I figured they must have broken up, which bummed me out. Then, last year, they popped up out of nowhere with another EP and an excellent debut LP. They ended up coming to Emo's in Austin earlier this year, so I was pretty excited and went to catch that show. Unfortunately, while the energy and set were good, the show was held in the small inside area and the sound was absolutely terrible. It was pretty disappointing, so hearing that they were coming to Austin again definitely had me pumped. This current show was to be held at The Monarch, a brand new venue in Austin, so I had my fingers crossed that the sound would be much better. Add that anticipation to the knowledge that Opeth would also be sharing the stage, and I was primed for a kick-ass night of progressive metal!

Last night came, and I was stoked! But then, tragedy struck.

I missed Baroness.

Ahem, let me state that again.

I FRIGGIN' MISSED BARONESS!!!! NO!!!!

The worst part is that, when it comes down to it, its my own fault, albeit there were two things working against me. First of all, the show was advertised as "doors at 7pm, show at 8pm", pretty standard. Typically, this means the show will actually start in the 8:15-8:30 range. Now, normally I still aim to get to shows by the advertised start time, just in case. But this night I happened to be running a little behind, and I ended up rolling in at 8:20. As I approached the venue, I could hear muffled bass and drums, the show had already started! When I actually got up to the place, I ran into my second problem: the slowest will call line I have ever experienced. My guess is that this venue holds about 1500 people, not exactly an arena. The line was long, I guess, maybe 50-75 people or so in front of me, but still that's nothing in the grand scheme of things, this should have taken 10 minutes max. As I was standing there, time slipping away, my only hope was that maybe Baroness had just started when I got there, and that I would only miss a couple songs if the line would hurry up. But 8:30 passed, and then 8:40, and just as I finally got to the box at 8:45, the music stopped. I looked at the sheet taped to the box window and sure enough, "Baroness: 8:00pm". DAMMIT!!! Who actually starts a show on time?? Gah, like I said though, ultimately it was my own fault for not getting there in time. I was bummed to say the least. I made my way inside and to the bar to get myself a beer to cry in.

[Interesting note: While I was in line, I briefly met one of the dudes from Made Out Of Babies. He saw my Red Sparowes shirt and mentioned that he played in a band with a guitarist who plays for Red Sparowes, and we talked for a couple minutes. Seemed like a decent guy, didn't catch his name.]

Anyway, I got into the auditorium, and just a couple minutes later High On Fire took the stage. The main guy came out yelling about "Yeah! Alright Austin! We're High On Fire! Woohoo!". He seemed so pumped, I figured I'd check it out for a bit just for the sheer hilarity. I made it through like their first 3 or 4 songs, and that was about all I could take. They were pretty bad, and not even in a funny entertaining way. Although, the bassist did remind me a bit of Nigel Tufnel (these go to eleven), which I did find hilarious. But overall they did nothing for me, so I ended up wandering out to the parking lot to call a friend from Dallas who had left me a message earlier. Catching up with him was a far better use of my time.

OK, after a supremely disappointing night so far, I was damn sure ready when Opeth took the stage. They came out without a word, launched into their set, and two hours of pure ass-kicking redemption ensued.

The setlist:

01. Heir Apparent
02. The Grand Conjuration
03. Serenity Painted Death
04. Hope Leaves
05. The Lotus Eater
06. Bleak
(A Fair Judgment teaser)
07. Face Of Melinda (first half)
08. The Night And The Silent Water
09. Deliverance
10. Demon Of The Fall
11. The Drapery Falls

Talk about turning a frown upside down, that set absolutely destroys! The new material from Watershed was excellent. "The Lotus Eater" was particularly well done, every odd twist and turn of that song was perfectly replicated. And I must say, "Serenity Painted Death"? Are you kidding me? I never thought I'd see that one live, I was really blown away. The old standbys "Bleak", "Deliverance", and "Demon Of The Fall" were all as crushing as ever, and the pace of the show was nicely tempered with "Hope Leaves" thrown in early, and then later the combination of "Face Of Melinda" (mellow first half only, no rocking ending) and the heavy'ish but slow "The Night And The Silent Water". They also managed to throw a teaser of "A Fair Judgment" in there, playing only the part that starts with "Leave it be..." and ends with "A fair judgment deserved". Although I thought it was pretty cruel of the band to give us that lead-in and NOT bless us with the soaring guitar solo that would normally follow.

Overall, the sound was pretty darn good. It was not perfect, the first couple songs in particular were a little muddled. It sounded as if the guitars were just a little too quiet and the bass was not quite as clean as it should be, so it all got slightly drowned out in a wash of lower frequency stuff. They seemed to get this sorted out fairly quickly though. "Serenity Painted Death" sounded pretty good, the mellow accoustics of "Hope Leaves" were perfect, and when they returned to heavy form on "The Lotus Eater", everything sounded fantastic.

Akerfeldt's mic was perfect from the start, and his vocals were really on. I'm always impressed with how effortlessly he can switch from the rumbling death metal growl to his excellent clean singing voice. He literally makes this shift from one lyric to the next, always staying in tune, never missing a note or stuttering to make it all work. His vocal power and smooth transition are utterly astonishing, as many times as I've seen Opeth, this never ceases to amaze me.

Performance wise, all the guys seemed pretty into it. Strangely enough, I think Per Wiberg was the most insane of all the guys, he was in back thrashing his head around the entire time. Not to diminish his role in the band, the textures he lends to the songs have a profound impact, but I guess when you're only playing about half the time it lends more opportunity to headbang. Mendez seemed like he was in the zone for most of the show, getting into the grooves and keeping time perfectly with Axe. Axe was great, he was an absolute flurry of arms and hair, and never missed a beat. Akesson, even though he felt a bit more like a role player than a core figure in the band, was still pretty active and ripping things up, and even lent some vocals on "The Lotus Eater".

And Akerfeldt, what do you say about this guy. He truly IS Opeth. He gets into every song as if its fresh and new, even the older tunes he still plays with such passion and seems to really enjoy himself. His commentary between songs was hilarious, as always. There was a funny little accoustic ditty about "Welcome to the concert....with Opeth....from Sweden" that he played really quick after "The Grand Conjuration". He spent a couple minutes explaining this t-shirt that the band were all wearing. It was a face apparently created by combining the facial attributes of the five band members. "This is not an ugly dude, this is five ugly dudes". His lead-in to "The Lotus Eater": "we really like this song, because its f****d up". Heh, his dry sense of humor was at its usual best. In his typical Akerfeldt fashion, he always seemed very confident in himself, almost borderline full of himself, but somehow avoided ever falling completely into that pit. He always seems truly gracious and sincere when thanking the crowd, and he clearly loves coming out and busting his butt to put on a good show for the fans. He's just one of those guys that walks the line between cocky and confident, and by putting his energy into showing everyone how great the music can be as opposed to simply how great HE can be, he always seems to fall just on the right side of that line.

However, I must admit, even in the midst of such a gloriously executed show, a twinge of sadness would still periodically hit me. This was not the same Opeth I was used to seeing, faces had changed, it felt a little different. The last two times I had seen them, Lopez had been out for health reasons, the first time replaced by Gene Hoglan and the second time by the now-permanent Axenrot. It didn't bother me at the time, it was "temporary". Seeing him on the drums this time, knowing that Lopez was gone, it just felt weird at first. It took some getting used to. Throughout the course of the show, though, it all kind of sunk in and settled. And when it did, it felt just fine. Lopez may have been a madman, but no one should underestimate Axenrot. This guy is good, really good.

Fredrik Akesson, on the other hand, still feels a bit strange to me, in some undefinable way. Technically he is good, he can play, and he seems to enjoy it, I guess. There is just something a little weird about it, he doesn't seem connected to the music like Peter Lindgren did. Maybe its just because most of the material is Lindgren's, or at least from a time when Akerfeldt's writing was influenced by Lindgren, and not by him. I will say, I was really bummed when I heard that Lindgren was leaving the band, much more so than when they lost Lopez. I felt that Lindgren was a bit of a counter balance to Akerfeldt, that his influence on the sound was always more than what it was made to be. I always thought he was more than just some stooge who would play what Akerfeldt told him to play, that he had ideas and influences of his own, and that Akerfeldt respected him enough to work with him and listen to him. I sort of get the impression that Akesson is simply a talented guitarist who does what he is told. I hope I'm wrong, its just the feeling I have. Only time will tell, I guess.

Despite that occasional odd feeling that would creep in here and there, it was an absolutely stellar show through and through. The last thing I'll talk about is my personal highlight of the show, which to me perfectly illustrates why Opeth is so great, and it involves the manner in which they closed the show. It never would have occurred to me on my own, but "The Drapery Falls" is an absolutely amazing song to close on. When the song culminates in the very restrained mellow verse "spiralling to the ground below...", where the intensely built up potential energy is held and held and held, and then furiously unleashed in an explosion of guitar and drum roll, only to be just as quickly reeled back in to repeat the restraint/furious release dynamic, that is exactly what the pinnacle of a live show should be. It makes you hold your breath with the anticipation of the climax you known is about to come, and you somehow seem to linger there in total awareness and clarity for an immeasurable moment, and then it knocks the breath from you with full force. The soaring sustained note and the flowing lead-out that follows perfectly rides the residual adrenaline rush, gradually transitioning the song from the power of the climax to its final logical conclusion. Its long enough to bring you down gracefully, but not so long as to drag. When the song finishes, and you know the show is over, its not a letdown. It feels good, it feels like everything has been taken care of. Its satisfying.

Ah, another amazing Opeth show in the books. They haven't failed me yet.