The Show of the year?
Dillinger and Mastodon. 9:30 club. I was on pins and needles with anticipation for this show. First off, Dillinger Escape Plan is one of my favorite bands. They're badass and always bring it. At the last show of theirs that I went to, Greg Puciato (their lead singer) almost tore down their HVAC from the fucking ceiling. SICK. And I will always love Mastodon. Quick story:
I finished out my senior year of Highschool in Raleigh. It was a strange time. Naturally, I wasn't anywhere near being of age to drink, but my fake I.D. fixed that rub. Anyway, I got really into Mastodon and when the chance to go to their show at the Cat's Cradle came up, I took it. So I piled Kayla Esguijian and some dude whose name I can't remember into my Honda Accord and drove to Chapel Hill. At this point, Mastodon was still pretty under the radar and their show wasn't even close to being sold out. They were sooo under the radar that when I went up to their merch table to score a shirt, Bill (Billy) Kelliher was there. I inquired about a shirt that had a black dude on it with a huge fro and a MASSIVE dick with the word "MASTODONG" written underneath it. Unfortunately, they didn't have it in my size. I'm not sure how this came up, but Billy said, in reference to their merch guy, "we like to play football", and I responded with, "I bet it was touch football, wasn't it..". And that was that. We hung out outside of CC and we talked about random stuff. I said how sad I was that the "MASTODONG" shirt was sold out in my size and that they should make a shirt that says "Black chicks love Mastodon". "Do they?", he asked. "Uhh DUH! I DO! And that's all that matters". Then they played their show and this guy started shit with me at the front of the stage and Billy told him off, which was awesome. At some point, I was standing near the backstage area and Billy comes out. I wasn't standing there for any particular reason, actually, I think that it was just the only free spot to stand. I guess I looked confused or something, because he asks me "What's up?! What do you want? Do you want to come in here?". He was talking really fast and I was really confused and didn't know what to say. My aim wasn't to go backstage, but I didn't want to turn the offer down, so I stood there saying, "uhh, uhh, uhhh..". And then he grabs me and pulls me backstage, leaving my friends to only pray that nothing sordid happens to me. The backstage "area" was a tiny room with a mini-fridge, a couch and a few chairs. There were two people back there with us. One crazy blonde lady and some random dude. I can't remember what they were talking about, but it was tripping Billy and I out and we repeatedly gave eachother the side-eye equivalent to "what the fuck?!". We were having fun just shooting the shit. I was being wild and decided that it would be a great idea, with no objection from Billy, for me to write "ASHLEY FUCKED MASTODON" on the wall in black Sharpie. Billy told me that he and the band were about to go on tour to Europe for awhile, but that we should keep in touch, so we exchanged emails. At one point he asked me how old I was, and I told him. He nearly had a heart attack. Anyway, we did keep in touch that summer and I, being the dirty teenage groupie that I was, sent him pictures (not nude..but whatever..I won't go into how deep my wild times went in those days). I talked to him last year after their show in Richmond. He's still as awesome as ever.
So the show on Sunday was sold-the fuck-out, and like an asshole, I waited until the last minute to score tickets. I have amazing luck with concerts. I always get good spots, tickets or hook ups. Always. I refused for this time to be different. So when it looked as though Craigslist was going to be a bust, I got the bright idea to go on Dillinger Escape Plan's website to see if anyone was either selling tickets or giving them away. Sure enough, a girl (Julie) had a ticket that she was looking to GIVE to someone. I emailed her immediately. It took a few days, but she responded to me on Saturday. I arrived at the show a bit earlier than I had expected and thought that the back bar at 9:30 would be open, but it wasn't. I looked across the street and saw Brent hinds of Mastodon riding a black bike. What caught my eye was the bar that he rode by. I needed a drink. I walk into the bar and the record skips. All Ethiopian. Everyone looked at me as though I were some crazy foreigner, which is weird because everyone usually thinks that I'm Ethiopian, what with my huge eyes et al. Anyway, I had my septum ring in that night, so I'm sure that's what confused them. It also seemed like a cheers type of place. I order Absolut on the rocks and waited for Julie to text me. As soon as she did, I finished my drink and walked over towards 9:30. Julie was a sweet girl with long brown hair, bangs and glasses. We walked inside and I bought her a drink as a token of appreciation. We shared some DEP gossip and talked about Mastodon's new album. Thank god for Julie.
*NOW FOR MY REVIEW*:
RED FANG: I had heard of this band before, but I had never really heard their music. I have that relationship with alot of things in my life. If it doesn't directly concern or affect me, my knowledge of it is extremely shallow. Now that Mastodon has turned into a prog-rocky saviour for the hipster-metal masses, I expected this band to pretty much be a lighter version of that. I was half right, half-wrong. Honestly, they reminded me of Mastodon, alot, but all of the good aspects that I had come to love. They were what Mastodon would have been if they had followed the route that Remission and Leviathan had cleared. Great time signatures, sludgy and complex when needed. I grooved and headbanged throughout their whole set. They're the type of band that you can see for the first time and not feel guilty about not knowing any of their material. I could have listened to them all night, but knew that their were much bigger things laying ahead...
THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN: The sole reason that I was at that show was to see DEP. Yes, I love Mastodon, always will, but they've abandoned my demographic for the most part and that makes me resentful. But I found solace in the bosom of DEP. The first time that I saw them live was when they opened for Deftones. SIIIICCCKKKK show. So sick, in fact, that I went back to see them the next night and again later that night when they played Talking Head. The show was sold out, but I lied and said that my "boyfriend" had left a ticket for me at the front, and they let me in. Remember what I said about Red Fang being a band that you can feel comfortable headbanging to even if you've never heard their shit before? Well DEP is NOT one of those bands. They're too complex to be a novice fan, you gotta really get into them THEN see them live, unless you just want to have a circle pit and stage dive. But that's why I love DEP. Unless they make a SERIOUS departure, they will never click with hipsters. You wanna talk time signatures? Listen to Ire Works and try to headbang for the first time. Dislocation will ensue. So DEP took the stage, and fucking OWNED. I mean, it wasn't their best show, but they still killed. I could tell that they weren't that into the crowd. Alot of people kinda stood their confused, which is something that I've noticed in DC. People are really perplexed by true-blue metal. There are virtually no metal bars and very rarely any good metal shows. Suffice to say, I was the only person that knew every song and was tripping the fuck out. I almost fell over the balcony a few times, but whatever. My friend Andrea's friend goes out with their singer. Andrea texted her to tell her that I was there and that I could see her on the side of the stage. I waved to her, but she didn't see me. They played a great mix of all of their albums and they sounded tight musically. I had read that their drummer broke his foot the night before and was very worried that it would affect the show. It didn't in any way. Greg did some stage diving and Ben Weinman (guitarist) climbed up this tall lighting thing, but there was no blood.
MASTODON: Now, putting aside my displeasure for the direction that they've taken musically, I will say that they sounded amazing. I liked the songs off of their new album better when they're played live. Although they sounded killer, I spent 80% of their show with my arms folded and in a perpetual state of dozing off. Their new shit bores me. I miss the Remission and Leviathan days of yore...I hate to be THAT person. The one that always thinks that their favorite band has "sold out", because I don't think that Mastodon have. I think that they're just really into the prog rock thing right now, but I do think that they'll go back to their roots. You can only do prog rock as a metal band for so long, so I'm not counting them out yet. I got extra-hyped when they played Blood and Thunder, Where Strides the Behemoth and, of course, March of the Fire Ants. Then they did this really weird thing for their last song where they brought Red Fang, DEP and some other randoms onstage. It was superfluous and everyone was pretty much confused/mildly annoyed. At least I and everyone else's faces were.
So that is The Red Fang, The Dillinger Escape Plan and Mastodon show in a nutshell. I have video that I will upload directly to Facebook. It was a pretty awesome concert. Red Fang, you've made a new fan out of me. DEP, keep being amazing. And Mastodon, I know that the day will come where I will cry tears of joy elicited by the sonic orgasm that you will give me again. Billy K., you've got my email.