Hey all. Saw a variety of off-kilter threads (and the latest being inaccessible) about Mastodon, so I thought I would start an "official" thread here.
Saw the show they did last night with Gojira in Concord, Calif. My second time seeing them, and first since 2012 on The Hunter tour. Man, have these guys progressed from the clubs. They played a heavy set (I'm guessing due to the pairing with Gojira) and they really put on a great show. They played a handful from Leviathan, just one from Crack the Skye (bummed about that) and a couple from the latest record, Hushed & Grim, which was a bit of a bummer too. Crack the Skye and Hushed & Grim are my two favorites by them, so sadly, they were underrepresented this time around. But that's okay. It was cool hearing seven songs from Leviathan and Blood Mountain.
They played 15 songs, total (setlist.fm has it wrong, they did not play Circle of Cysquatch). The cut the set a song short from the other night in Portland. Troy mentioned before "Blood and Thunder" that they had to make curfew (they have a show tonight in LA), so that was a bummer. Gojira did the same thing. They cut their set short by one song from Portland.
Interestingly, I thought this would be Mastodon's show, as they are closing the gigs. I was wrong. The crowd was really mostly there for Gojira. First time seeing them. I have Fortitude, and I like it. Seeing them live really pushed forward this thought, and my wife shared it - the drummer, as talented as he is, overplays. That's funny considering Brann Dailor from Mastodon's playing style. But while it works in Mastodon, and there's space to sing and breathe in the songs, for Gojira, I felt like their older stuff was a wall of sound. Talented guys, but way overplaying. Could be the old fogey in me, but I thought songs where they had some space in there to take a breath were much better.
For my wife and I, it was all about the mighty Mastodon though. When I saw them on The Hunter tour, it was in a 900-capacity club. No video, no spotlights (they played almost in the dark). Last night they had all the video, and had lights (and spotlights). What I also noticed, and loved, was just like 11 years ago, Mastodon was FULLY live. Every vocal was live, every effect was live (they brought on a keyboardist). Whereas Gojira, they had vocals piped in, as nobody else by the lead vocalist/guitarist sang. So there were instances he was singing with a vocal backing track. That's fine to me, to make up for layering, which is what they did it for. But I was really happy to see Mastodon going old school and playing completely live.
Anyway, a great double-bill. And anyone who is a fan, try to catch them. Tons of fun last night. I have some videos I'll share and update this post later today.
Topic: The Official Mastodon Thread (v. More Than I Could Chew) (Read 544 times)